I love being a missionary!

Alright, here we go! (one more time, everybody's feeling fine...)

Well, this has been a much better week in terms of missionary work!  Everything we do is an adventure to me haha.  My trainers think its funny how I'm excited about tracting and everything, but i just love it.  If there is only one thing you take out of this email, I want it to be this: I love being a missionary.  I'm learning so much every day, and am trying to learn everything I can from the good AND bad examples being set for me.  More on that later?  We'll see.  Anyways, as I was saying, Tracting!  Well, let's rewind further actually, all the way back to something I haven't even brought up.  D&C 4!  I'll have it memorized soon (we recite it at almost every meeting it feels like) but in the mean time I just want to share one part of it, and its a phrase you hear all the time when reading the scriptures, and it says the field is white, already to harvest.  What that basically means is that God has ALREADY prepared people to hear of the Restoration, to hear about Jesus Christ, and they are ALREADY ready to be baptized.  As a missionary I've already had the opportunity to plant lots of seeds (the weather conditions last week made TONS of service opportunities haha) but that isnt our main objective.  We are here to harvest.  There are billions of awesome people in the world, bringing people closer to Christ, and that is great!  But with the restored gospel we are the only people with the authority to baptize, and without entering through that gate, they can't progress further.  This is the WATAC, and we baptize:) Don't worry, we aren't number obsessed, but I'm gaining a strong testimony that there are people whom God has prepared, and our job is really to find them. 

We went tracting a few days ago, I was with Heiner (he's been out about 5 months, and really isnt very experienced, so when we do stuff together, we are really both learning a ton.  unfortunately, neither one knows exactly what to do either)  And first we knocked on this door, this nice lady opens the door and knows who we are, but isnt a member, and she kept trying to start talking to us, but her neice, about 3 years old I'm guessing (name is Zoey :) kept interrupting her and inviting us in.  So eventually she was just like do you want to come in elders? and we obviously accepted.  She started this super casual conversation with us and then we got to talking about religion and religious beliefs and such, and she is very Native American (her dad grew up on a reservation and everything) and so her beliefs are very earthy, she has a lot of disagreements with general christian beliefs, but she is very respectful of everyone else's beliefs as long as they respect hers.  oh, and she doesnt like the idea of God being male.  anyways, I started talking to her about the Book of Mormon, about how it is a record of Native Americans and stuff like that, and she was really interested.  she wants us back over to talk about it all with her husband there, who has been studying a lot of different religions.  We'll see how that goes, but I'm excited! (her name is Ashley by the way)

Then, the door just across from her in this little apartment complex, we knocked, and this girl answered, she wasn't really dressed, per se, so she was like behind the door talking to us with her head sticking out, and she was really friendly and stuff but she wanted to go get dressed, so she called over Johnny, (her boyfriend) and was like Johnny come talk to these boys, so he did, and he looked like a stereotypical skater guy, and he came over and I was just like man, this guy's not interested, he's gonna kick us right out, and I was disappointed because I really thought Sevannah seemed interested, but then he just invited us inside (score!) and started talking to Heiner especially, they both liked skating and BMX and I was talking to Sevannah's son, can't remember his name right now but he's about 5 and he's a crack up.  I was wondering if Heiner was ever going to get around to talking about Church (In WATAC we have a huge emphasis on Church Tours) and then he finally did, and Johnny was way chill about it.  He said something like "I don't get why everyone slams doors in your guys's faces, people sit around all day and talk about **** that doesn't matter, that they don't even care about, but then they freak out when people talk about God.  Why is there that block there?"

It was cool.  then we invited them to church, and they couldn't make it yesterday, but they have been texting us (super good sign) and are scheduled for a church tour tonight.  They are prepared, I can just feel it.  Johnny loves Sevannah's kid like he was his own, it's really awesome, and they are just this little family, and Johnny told us something like "I just really need something like this in my life, I just need to start going to church and stuff again"  And the spirit was really there.

That's one of the last things I want to talk about (I'll try to explain via snail mail the internet situation today, but basically I'm low on time)  and that is the light, or lack thereof I see every day.  We tract a lot of really low income houses.  People who are struggling are often more humble, and therefore receptive.  We knock on these doors, they open, and inside it just feels like a vacuum.  We believe the light of Christ is given to everyone, and it's hard to see people with almost nothing left.  you look in their eyes, and it's just empty.  on the flip side, occasionally we'll tract into a members house, and they invite us inside, and the spirit is just so strong in some of these houses.  You can really tell that they center their lives and their homes on Christ. 

 My trainers are such funny people.  I really like them both, they are way cool.  W reminds me of Uncle Mark sometimes, just the faces he makes and the way he jokes with everyone, but also is suprisingly considerate of people's feelings (With uncle mark it's obviously not surprising, that's just who he is,)

K is more quiet. not quiet, but more quiet.  W talks a lot haha.   Hopefully in a letter I'll tell you more about them.  I really have a lot of good things to learn from them, but also some bad examples I'm trying not to pick up.  Sometimes they aren't very diligent, but that gives me more time to read scriptures I guess.  I started reading the New Testament when I came to Lacey (It is so awesome, I've never read it through before) I'm currently in Romans, I'll definitely finish it this transfer.  They call RM's all the time, I think it's pretty funny.  They tell me they will call me when they are home and I'm still in the field haha, but hopefully I'll still be obedient throughout my whole mission.

I love Lacey, I love my mission president and his wife, I love members, I love my trainers, I love missionary work, I love the people in Lacey, I love the scriptures, I love my family and friends, and I love being a missionary!

Write me!

First letter from the field

Family!

First I'll answer your questions to the best of my ability.

My first area is Lacey, we are a foursome so my three companions are Elders W, K, and H.  More on them later hopefully.  I'm living in an apartment complex with the three Elders I just mentioned, and our address (hope I have this right) is

4625 45th Ave SE Apartment M1

Lacey, WA 98503

Technically an hour on the computer, but I think we'll have to leave before then.

First impressions of the field... haha wait for the rest of the email. 

Ok, I'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.  Actually I won't start at the beginning, but I had to make that reference, sorry.

Let me try again.

Ok, so, I have done next to zero missionary work this week, it's really all been about survival. I got here Tuesday, met companions and stuff, did 5-7's, then came back and moved my stuff in to the apartment.  Wednesday, it snowed.  It snowed a lot.  We are supposed to get 2 inches a year, and we got over 2 feet in Lacey on Wednesday.  Then, on Thursday, the power went out (about 7 AM) and the weather was pretty bad, apparently these are the worst ice conditions or whatever that this area has seen since the 70's or something.  I don't know, I have no clue whats been going on.  Not missionary work though, I can tell you that.  Mainly, we have been huddled in the dark, trying to keep warm by a "fire."  For fuel we've been using:

a)frozen tree branches we gathered from the outside world 

b)our possessions

c)our possessions which we really shouldn't burn, like the Grandfather clock we broke apart and burned, and only kept us warm for like 15 minutes. 

Everyone keeps telling me this isn't what a mission is like and I believe them, but I have yet to experience anything else.  This morning our power finally came back, but it's also a P day, so still haven't reallly done missionary work.  Anyways, If can look up stuff online about the weather conditions here if you want, I want to share other stuff. 

So, on Tuesday, all the new missionaries got together and we met the mission president and his wife, and had lunch, and then an orientationish meeting.  Right after the meeting we were going to meet our trainers.  But we were still waiting for some trainers to arrive, so to kill time, there was a little musical number, and an Elder played the piano and another one sang.  They did "Be Still My Soul" And as the Elder was singing, he looked at me (really, only me) and looked at my name tag, and as he was singing I knew he was going to be my trainer.  Sounds kinda weird, but I just could feel it.  Afterwards, they set us up with our trainers, and Elder K (the one singing) ran up and was like "who is my boy??"  and when he saw it was me he was really excited, because we both thought it would be us.  So that was exciting.   Elder K and Elder W are my trainers, Elder H has been out about 5 months.  K15 months, W 22 months I think.  

This is probably the worst email I've ever written, my thoughts are just so jumbled. 

Um, Elder H is really really funny.  I don't have time to share half of the stories about him, but hopefully I'll remember some in 2 years and I can tell you everything when I'm home.  Remind me sometime to tell you the one where he was like "Oh DANG, I wish I was him!!!!"  that was funny. 

On our second day without power I think, He went outside and grabbed an icicle, and Elder W was just messing around and he was like "hey H, stab yourself with it"  And then he did.  He just stabbed it into his leg as hard as he could.  Fortunately the icicle broke, not his skin.  It was documented (K and W have been making short video clips documenting our hardships) and its one of the funniest videos I've ever seen. 

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I've been learning to play the ukulele, apparently President is ok with Ukes and Guitars, I've seen a number of them.  We also have been playing Monopoly.  It's been pretty boring, President told us not to go out in the weather, and to cancel all appointments.  (normally I hear he always always makes missionaries go out, this is pretty much a first, so none of the missionaries have any clue what to do) I think we're tracting today though, I'm looking forward to that. 

Oh, just so everybody knows, when you leave the MTC for the mission field, you miss a P day, so that's why no email last week and there haven't been letters- hopefully I get a chance to write some today!

Also, the mailroom in the MTC was closed from saturday til i left, so anything that was there should theoretically get forwarded out here, but theres at least a 50% chance that it won't, so if i don't reply to anything that was sent around that time, sorry, but I never got it!   Same goes for any transfer,  I hear missionaries lose mail alllll the time around transfers.  So yeah, the week before a transfer I'll send an email to remind you all not to send anything til i get to my new place.  Transfers are 6 weeks, so the address I gave earlier is good for awhile though!

There are a couple things I would like sent up here, but I can't even think of what they are right now so I'll send that by snail mail.

Oh, even though we were supposed to cancel all appointments, we didnt, So we met with a few larcs (less actives/ recent convertrs.  Missionaries use a bunch of words I don't understand) 

The ____ are a less active family that are starting to come back, and they are so awesome.  They made us delicious cinnamon rolls.  So wonderful.  Members are beautiful, beautiful people.  I really like them.

Speaking of members, went to church on Sunday, and was there for like 6 or 7 hours.  I will never complain about a 3 hour block again!  Really though, I loved it.  The members here are such great people, I can't wait to get to know them better.   I almost had to speak on Sunday, one of the speakers couldn't make it because of the ice conditions.  Fortunately, the other speaker took up the whole meeting, so I was off the hook!  

This is really a terrible email.  Like I mentioned before, I'll try and write some letters later today, which I'm really looking forward to.  It has been such a crazy week, with so much time just thinking in the dark, I really miss all my family and friends.  I wouldn't say I'm homesick, but I really miss you all.  I'm reluctant to end this email, just because I know it will be a full week til I'm back here, but I will anyway.  Write me!

Love,

Elder Lonas

2 more pics of the cousins

pictures!

No word yet from Chase, but my sister just sent these pictures of the two cousins together in the MTC.  Chase left on Tuesday and James left on Wednesday.   Very fun to have them there together!

in choir together

trading ties

with his "musical instrument"

Excerpts from his handwritten letter received on Saturday, Jan 14th.  This Monday will be his last day in the MTC. 

First of all, I depart January 17th, very early in the morning.  I CAN'T WAIT!!
....
So - and please share this with everyone else - (consider it shared)  I accidentally hugely mixed up all my letters, so I don't know exactly what I already replied to and what questions were asked.  But because of the way DearElder works, I have a bunch of puzzle pieces to those letters without the time to put it all together.  So I am SO SORRY if I don't reply to someone.  I promise to be more organized next week.  Also, just to be clear, I read and love every letter.  So if I miss something - please don't stop writing me!
....
I can't wait for music in the field!  Just so you know, I'm bringing more music to the MTC every day though in the meantime.  Elder Kohl and I have started singing hymns every night in the dorms (I'm getting better at just making up harmonies on the spot) and Elder Eliason and I take turns beat boxing while the other sings Primary songs.  If you bring  the spirit, I say it's OK. :)  Lately, I just want to sing hymns all the time.  I love being myself, but also being a servant of the Lord.  I believe He wants me for who I am, and I can serve Him best by not forgetting that.  Thanks for reminding me.
....
When I read Ether 6:3 I thought the stones also represented the scriptures.  I still think this is true.  However, it has also taken on new meaning.  I am just a 19 year old kid.  I am just a stone.  But the Lord can touch me so I can bring light to men, women, and children so they don't have to cross the great waters in darkness.  The Lord uses the low and weak to show His strength and power.  I am honored to represent Him and humbled at the same time.
....
I miss you all, but I know I'm serving you most by being here.  It may be a cliche, but I'm not from Utah ... so whatever.  But I really believe that it's a small sacrifice to give up two years with my family so others can be with their families for eternity.

Elder Lonas

Drinking from a fire hose...

He'll be in the MTC for another week.  He hasn't given us a date, but I'm guessing he'll leave next Wednesday, January 18th.  DearElder will be a free and easy way to write him until then!   It will still be easy when he's in Washington, it just won't be free any more.

Dear Mom,

Holland compared learning at the MTC to drinking from a fire hose.  Enough said. 

I can't believe its been two weeks!  It's true what they say, the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days.  Thank you so much to everyone who wrote me, I can't tell you how happy it makes me!  Maybe the best way I can describe it is through an analogy.  Getting mail at the end of the day in the MTC is kind of like working a 16 hour day without any alone time, and you worry that you won't be good enough as a missionary or a leader, but then at the end of it, you get a letter from someone and you just feel completely re-energized and happy!  Just an analogy. :)

If this was the end of my mission, I would come home and share all my experiences with you and it would be great!  However, I'm about 1/48 of the way through (I think)  and won't be home for awhile, so I'll just share what I can in the limited time that I have.  Let me tell you though that anything I write down is just a fraction of what happens here!  Every day the spirit can be felt so strong, every day I feel the Lord's tender mercies, and every day I laugh my head off at least once. 

As I mentioned, I have tons of spiritual experiences I want to share, but first, guess what?  On Monday mornings (get up at 5:25, be there by 6:55) we have service projects, and you just work for 75 minutes.  I love it because you and your companion actually work in different rooms, so it's alone time!  Plus the work (janitorial stuff usually) is pretty fun if you have a good attitude about it.  Anyway, as you know the MTC does not allow you to bring in musical instruments.  But then they went and handed me a vacuum and left me alone in a building.  Pretty inconsistent, right?  As it turns out, the vacuum hums a G!  For almost an hour I sang a medley of every Hymn and Primary song I could think of, and then just played with harmonies. 

Let's see... This timer in the corner makes this hard!

Well, at Devotional last night Russel M. Nelson came!  The minute he walked into the room, the air became so thick with the spirit you could almost drink it.  It was an amazing experience to have things such as Love and Light, which are thought of as intangible, become so real and full.  It was like the Spirit just came down and told each of us  that this was an Apostle of Jesus Christ.  (I talked to a lot of people afterwards, almost everyone felt this way I think)  His talk was on one of my favorite subjects, the Scattering and Gathering of Israel! Anyone familiar with Brother Hank Smith's Book of Mormon class understands why I love this topic!  (Thought of you Justin- write me!) It was absolutely incredible, I won't get into content, but I loved it when he pointed out that the Book of Mormon is the key to the Gathering of Israel.  It has been prophesied about and written about for thousands of years, and now it is being fulfilled, and I am so happy to be a part of it!

The time goes so fast!  Either that or I write really slow.

In TRC, we were teaching Junichi (awesome guy.  He's a member (I think), but roleplay here feels really real!   And the spirit can be there just as strong!) and he would NOT let us teach about the gospel.  The first day there he almost didn't let us in.  It wasn't until I think the 3rd time that he was interested in what we believed.  But without any Christian background, it was a little difficult to get concepts across.  But he loved the idea of primary, and asked us about Book of Mormon stories, so we each shared our favorites.  We also mentioned that primary children sing lots of songs about these stories, and THAT intrigued him.  He wouldn't let us go any further til we sang to him.  That wasn't a problem for me, I opened my mouth and sang Army of Helaman for him :)  The Spirit just felt like a warm blanket. 

Oh! Speaking of the Spirit, I want to share another TRC experience.  Shoot, the time is getting low!

We were teaching an elderly couple, who were self referrals (I really don't know if they were roleplaying or not) and wanted to know about us!  So, we started teaching, and it was just going great, the spirit was so strong, and they could feel it.  We were talking about the Restoration, and it was my companion talking at the moment, and he led up until Joseph Smith, and I thought he was going to continue, but he turned it over to me for the First Vision.  My mind went completely blank, I couldn't remember the First Vision for the life of me!  I don't think I could have even told you my name at that point.  Anyway, I opened my mouth and the words just flowed out.  I finished ("This is my Beloved son, Hear Him!") and the moment those last words were out, the Spirit hit each of us.  I felt an explosion of chills go through my body, starting in my heart, and moving outward through every limb (I could feel it in my legs all the way back to class afterwards haha)  and the lady started crying as she described the exact thing I just described to you. 

Time really low.  This isn't even 1/10 of 1% of the things I want to share, so I'll try to get more in on letters later.

Thanks again for all the mail, it is so wonderful! If you Dear Elder me today, I should be able to write a letter back to you today!  Next week I'll be out in the field!  I'll try to answer all questions and things like that in personal letters, sorry you won't get them for a few days! 

I love you so much!

Elder Lonas

First letter!

( The "please keep Dear Elders coming!!!" near the bottom refers to this service.  See details to the right for his info.)

Dear Mom,

There is a time on the top right hand corner of my screen, counting down from 30 minutes, when it reaches zero I wont be able to email again til next week. So, that is making me a little stressed!

I don't know exactly where to start, last week feels like a year ago, but it also feels like yesterday.

When I left, I was still actually in full on denial. When I got to the MTC, it was a little different, but I still didn't feel like it was really happening. The closest feeling I know is one you probably aren't familiar with. Parkour isn't supposed to be dangerous, because you only attempt that which you have prepared for. Nevertheless, no amount of preparation will make the jump not scary. You still stand there for awhile, assessing how ready you are, calculating the risk, etc. But then there comes a point when you just jump. But the way it feels at least, you don't hit the ground right away. First you fall for awhile, and there are no thoughts whatsoever, you let your body and your muscle memory take over. After falling for however long, you hit the ground, and then you find out what you go yourself in to.

I got here and I was still falling. We did a lot that night, hopefully I journaled some of it. I met my companion E..W. and the rest of my district. (more on them later) Basically, after a good, but long day, I went to bed, and woke up, but I still didn't feel like a missionary. Day 2 (or my first full day, however you want to look at it) was a really busy, but great day. I basically figured I'd just keep following the Elder in front of me, and try and get through this whole MTC thing. I didn't feel the least bit homesick or anything, because I didn't really know I was gone... haha. Anyway, So that night we met with our district and the branch president came, we had a little meeting where we talked about leadership and stuff. It was fine, and then he called me up and asked me to go into the other room with him. So I did. He said Elder Lonas, Would you accept the call to serve as District Leader?

And then I hit the ground.

I accepted of course, and since that moment I've been a missionary in the MTC. Right after that, I had a really cool experience. We walked back to the classroom, and he told everyone I was their DL etc, but as soon as I walked into the room and looked at the Elders in my district, I felt such love towards all of them. I liked them before, but now I loved them. I believe Heavenly Father gives us a tiny glimpse of the love he has for the people over which we have stewardship.

I am running out of time fast, I want to tell you so much more. I feel this way every night I journal (I haven't missed a night yet!) Lights out always comes way before I'm ready to stop writing.

My companion is E.W. and we are different! To give you a really general idea of what he is like... I don't know, but maybe the closest I can think of is L.   He looks similar, tall, glasses, very intelligent, and speaks similarly.  We have some great similarities, we both know why we're here and want to serve the Lord, we both played Ultimate and Parkour (now we both play volleyball too! He got me into it our first day at Gym. I LOVE it!!!!! I never thought I'd enjoy volleyball, but I definitely do, I look forward to it everyday) I think E.W. is a really great guy. The other night he taught me how to shine shoes. He comes from a far more humble background than I do.

We also have very different ways of doing things and thinking about things, so that can cause contention at times, but I really try my best. I won't write anything negative in here for the time being, nor in my journal, because I really want to only focus on all of his positive attributes!

I want to tell you all about every Elder in my district, every spiritual experience I've had, messages for you to give to everyone back home and stuff, but I just don't have the time for that.

Our first lesson went pretty rough, and I was discouraged. (I didn't have the tiniest grasp on how realistic and effective roleplay could be. The spirit can be there just like a real lesson)  I thought maybe E.W. and I wouldn't be able to teach together effectively, especially when I saw how well our teachers taught, and how well the Missionaries who have been here a little bit longer could teach. Our second one (it was on Friday, so just one day after our first one on Thursday) was worlds different. The learning curve here is absolutely unbelievable. When I compare the lessons we taught yesterday, both in our Progressive Investigator scenarios and in the TRC, with myself a week ago, it is just crazy. Shoot, running low on time. Just know that I am progressing so much! I still have so much to learn, but I already can't wait to get in the Field.

I absolutely love being a Missionary. I love the MTC. Its hard, the schedule is strict and busy, sometimes things are frustrating and hard, but I love this place.


I love you all. I love you all so much.  Please share this with everyone in the family, I have to go right now, please keep Dear Elders coming!!!! we check once a day. I love you all sooooo much, bye!!

Elder Lonas