"How hard can it be?"

Chase asked this week that I post a link to this video in a prominent place on his blog.  I've added it to the header, but here it is again: A Book of Mormon Story

Hello!

Mary's baptism was this week!  It was on Wednesday!  It happened!  It was a spiritual day, with a lot of tears from her, she really felt the spirit.  I guess you had to be there. 

We got a lot of pizza this week! I love pizza. 

We had our park day this week (the one day each month where the car stays in "park" all day.  Not to be confused with the kind of park day where you go to the park and chill all day.  two unrelated concepts) and we almost got run over on our bikes 193489230 times.  I dont have any idea why there is no shoulder on any of the streets in our area, except that whoever designed these streets does NOT like Mormons
.

Hey, so like a month ago or so I sent some letters, and most them have been returned to sender, one of them i just got back like 2 days ago.  So sorry if you haven't gotten a letter in a trillion years.  I sent out some more a few days ago, but maybe these will be returned to me also haha. 

This is gonna be a good week.  It just will be. 

Gail needs to be married before she can be baptized because she's currently living with Ricky.  So my goal is to have a marriage this week.  How hard can it be?

I know I haven't written much, but I'm really hungry.... so I'm gonna go...

Elder Chase Lonas!

"With smiles and rainbows and hearts, but like in a manly way"

I am so happy!  Missionaries are the happiest people I know, and I'm the happiest missionary I know.  I can't even put my finger on why, but Life is just so good.  Oh by the way, turns out my companion knows Ally (a cousin)! 

 

So, one of my first nights in Puyallup, it was about 8:45pm, and we see a guy on the side of the road, give him a Book of Mormon and invite him on a church tour.  His name is Dean, but you've never heard of him before, because shortly thereafter he fell off the face of the earth.  Then we give him a call a little bit ago, and he picks up!  says he's still interested but won't meet with us because of all the stuff going on in his life.  

Two days later, we're out knocking doors on this one street, and we pass a guy, so we invite him to church, and he's like "wait a minute, I think you guys called me the other day.."

 hahah i'm like "DEAN!? is that you!!!???"  

and he's like yeah!  

so then he follows us down to the church, and we start the church tour.  

 

We always start with an opening prayer in the foyer.  During the prayer he's making some noise which i didn't think much about, but afterwards he's just like "wow.... just then, I felt like...the presence of God around me, telling me this is good.  It felt so warm, what was that?"

:)

So we explain, and then finish the church tour.  He happily committed to be baptized on september 1st. 

but the next day, he told us to meet him outside the safeway at 3:00.  So we're there, we wait for 15 minutes, and look all over for him.  We know he spends some time in the forest behind safeway, so we also looked for him there, but to no avail.  So we still need to find him again.

 

Mary is set to be baptized on Wednesday at 12!  And it's finally solid! 

 

Last night we were down in Olympia doing the missionary music fireside thingy, it was so great.  We sing a few songs (best of all, Amazing Grace, and I get to belt the tenor part way loud) and i'm part of a ten piece musical number, How Great Thou Art.  At first there was just 8 of us, so we called ourselves "How Great Thou Oct"  hahaha  get it? but 2 more got drafted in, so we became "TENder Mercies" which became "TENor Mercies" 

We clearly have too much time on our hands.

Lil Krees (Elder C, a previous companion) is also in a musical number, which is sounding tighter than ours, except the arrangement is pretty boring. 

but, Krees, Major, and Rhodes are doing this trio for Come Thou Fount, and it's the most legit thing i've ever heard.  It sounds, SO good. 

Oh, and Sis. Grenfell is conducting this whole thing If i didnt already mention it, and it just makes me so happy haha, she is so good at it.  

 

Anyways, so last night we're there singing and I just realize how so so so so happy I am, and it makes me so so so so sad to know that one day my mission will be a memory. 

 

The happiest, best, and sweetest experiences of my life have been in these past 8 months while serving a mission, If anyone by chance is reading this and considering whether or not a mission is right for them, It is.  Please don't deprive yourselves. 

With smiles and rainbows and hearts, but like in a manly way,

Elder Chase Lonas

DL, dead animals, and direct answers

First things First!  TRANSFER CALLS! 

I've never been so not nervous for transfer calls, because I was so sure I was staying in Fruitland, and keeping my boy!  anddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd..... I was right!  So I'm very excited about this!  It's gonna be another awesome transfer, and we're gonna tear it up!  

 

Transfer calls were pretty funny for me, because I actually got calls from both AP's, and President Weaver too, haha.  First one AP (Assistant to the President) called to give me my transfer call, that was normal.  Then the other called to give me some information for the Mission fireside things we're doing, and then President called to tell me I'm going to be the new DL (District Leader) (ACK!!!!) So it was an eventful night, and the whole time I got these calls, we were still with an investigator.

 

Let's see. 

 

So a few weeks ago we were driving down 128th (A street in Washington) and we see a guy on the side of the road trying to cut these bushes for no apparent reason, so we pull over and offer help.  He assures us that the situation is well under control.  (the situation= the fact that bushes exist) We invite him to follow us down to the church, but after giving it serious consideration, decided that this was not a good night for him.  But he set up a return appointment for one week from then.  So at 8:25, the next sunday, we returned to 128th and stood by what was left of the bushes, but he didn't come.  But sometime this past week we were driving by again and this time saw him outside in his yard.  We pull up and talk to him, and ask him what he's doing.  Turns out, he's about to bury a dead kitten. So we offer to help him hold a funeral.  He buries the kitten, I give a little eulogy and a prayer (It occurs to me that this is 3rd or 4th funeral for an animal I've been involved in on my mission)  and he cries for a minute and then starts talking to us about church.  As it turns out, he is already a member!  He just hasnt been to church since he moved to Washington from Arizona.  So this week he came to church!  Before Elders Quorum he was telling this guy about his story and why he was at church this week.  It was pretty humbling to hear his point of view.  We see so many people every week, and invite so many people to come to church, and helping someone bury a kitten is pretty easy stuff.  But for him, it was a direct answer to a prayer he said about 5 seconds before we showed up.

 

Mary should be able to be baptized this Friday!  I'm so excited but also kinda stressed, because it all hinges on a follow up interview taking place on Thursday.

 

But we have quite a few people progressing towards baptism, and I'm so glad me and my boy are staying!  Puyallup has been in a bit of rut, so we're gonna change that, and then blow up this mission :)  

"...but even then, life is still good - it just feels bad"

Well, it's been a great week.  I can't believe we're starting week 6 of the transfer,  in 5 days we get transfer calls.  It's been the fastest transfer of my mission.   Hey, I just realized that this is August!  the year is practically over!  and by extension, my mission is practically over.  that is totes cra-cra.

 

Oh :( we got dropped by Rodney this week :(  I dont remember if I've ever told you about him.  actually he might have dropped us last week, but the point is it was recently, and I'm thinking about it right now.

Rodney is an older man (one of two older men we are teaching at the moment actually)  in his 80's.  The first time he invited us in he played us some piano and sang for us, it was pretty cool.  Heather, every time he plays piano or sings for us I always think of you, because you would LOVE it.  he plays these old sweet songs, and his voice is so... old.  but like, you can tell he had/has a great voice, its just old now.  He has pretty bad tremors, which make it difficult to play the correct notes on the piano, but he's still pretty good.  So we would go over there, do a lesson, he'd play us a song on the piano, sometimes we'd play him one, and thats kinda how our visits would go.  and he LOVED talking to us, because he's very lonely since his wife passed away.  But then the last time as we were leaving, he just dropped us on our way out the door, it was so sad :(  It's Dbow's (his companion) first time getting dropped, he described it as feeling like a break up.  yep.

 

You may recall Mary, or maybe not, but she is probably going to be baptized on Friday :)  She's all set to go, the only issue is scheduling the baptism itself, her schedule is unpredictable, and since she has just about 0 monies,  she takes work whenever it pops up.  But we'll meet with her tomorrow and finalize the schedule hopefully. 

 

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Life is good.  except yesterday, which was over 90 degrees, and the whole time we tracted I dont think a single door opened up.  but even then, life is still good, it just feels bad - haha.

 

OH!  one more thing, remember that boy Tony we're teaching?  So here's how we taught him the commandments.  Well, first of all, to preface, when we were teaching Mary the commandments, I took a piece of paper, and drew a beach.  I talked about how beaches are fun, great places, but you have to be careful or you can get hurt.  I talked about riptides, unstable cliffs, stingrays, etc.  and then drew pictures of warning signs, and then related each warning sign to a commandment, and how that keeps us safe in our lives :)  The analogy worked well, so I'm gonna keep using it.  So with Tony, he's an 11 year old boy, so to make it fun, we went to the dollar store and bought some brown paper, some blue stuff, some posterboard, and we made a beach in his backyard!  Then we went through the beach and talked about different stuff, and me and dbow would act out different concepts like falling off cliffs, getting carried away by riptides, stung by stingrays...  actually, I think in every commandment either me or Dbow got injured in the demonstration.  But it was fun haha. 

So yeah, that was the highlight of yesterday :) 

 

Welp, Love you!

The Blessed, Blessed WATAC

Monday, July 30, 2012

 

 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the WATAC!  The Blessed, Blessed WATAC. (Washington Tacoma Mission)  It's hard for me to imagine loving anywhere else in the world this much. 

 

And at the same time, I dont know what to write about!  I wish I could just film the whole thing and play it back as if you guys were here experiencing it with me. 

 

Most of our funniest moments aren't funny at all, I could write em down but it'd just sound dumb.  You just have to be here, haha. 

 

Shoot, I wonder what stuff would be good to talk about. 

 

Well, first of all, it kinda happened gradually but quickly, if that makes sense, but our teaching pool has grown so much!  I realized a few days ago that we are teaching more people now than I have at any time previously on my mission.  Almost more than I've had up til now combined!  It's awesome.  

 

Being with a new missionary is really interesting, Because I know exactly what my strengths as a missionary are, as well as my weaknesses, and they are all apparent, haha.  But I've really learned how to play off my strengths, and use my companions strengths where I am weak.  It's an obvious concept, but it's never been one I've really understood til now. 

 

Umm, there is a chance we'll have a baptism this weekend, but it really all depends on what happens on Tuesday, so I can't say for sure or not...

 

Oh, did I mention my boy is way good at basketball?  I've been having him teach me, I'm getting a lot better!  It's my favorite sport to play right now, besides ultimate.  So I'm gonna stop emailing so we can go practice.  We're gonna play all P-day! 

 

Love you to pieces mom.  Sorry for the short email, it's been a great week, I just don't know what to say!  

 

Love,

Elder Chase Lonas  

Sunshine and smiles all around :)

Monday, July 23, 2012

First of all, I am using a computer with a spacebar that barely works, its driving me crazy, and takes forever to type things....  so if this is shorter, that is why.

 

Second of all, I love my boy!  Having a good companion makes all the difference in the world haha, my life is so much better right now.  So yeah, it's sunshine and smiles all around :)  We get along great,  we make each other laugh a lot, and we're having a blast being missionaries in the beautiful WATAC, so I couldnt ask for anything more!

Being in Fruitland right now is awesome.  We have as much missionary work going on here as any of the best areas in the mission, including Bremerton and Tacoma.  :)  We are teaching tons of lessons each week, the missionary-ward relationship has never been better, Bishop loves us and we love him [[he actually called president this week to tell him how much he likes us]] and I feel like I'm just living some kind of missionary fantasy life haha.  I'm praying that Pres.  leaves us here for as long as possible.  I think we're going to continue to do well here for the rest of the transfer, and if we both stay, the momentum will carry over, and we'll break records next transfer :)  Furthermore, me and my boy both have similar rap influences, so we are definitely gonna do a collaboration this transfer. 

 

Oh yeah, and I've been coming up with a lot of new ideas for teaching!  We were teaching this kid Tony, he's 11, about the plan of salvation, and we forgot to bring paper haha, so I made up this thing with a stick of gum and mormon.org cards, its so cool :)  And when we teach him the commandments, I got permission from his grandma to set up a lifesize object lesson in the backyard.  It'll be fun, haha.  I might make videos of some of my teaching ideas, I'll send 'em home and you can give some feedback?  

 

Typing on this keyboard is driving me crazy, haha

 

DeeDee, the lady who was baptized a week or two ago, is doing excellent!  She hasn't missed a day of church, she loves meeting with us during the week, and we're gonna talk to her this week about working towards her patriarchal blessing.  Last week we showed her lds.org, which she thought was cool, but she has dial-up, so its very slow! But anyways, my point is she's way solid, and It's so cool to watch her!  Hopefully she'll be off to the temple in a year, and me and Elder B will be able to go with her!

 

agh, can't take this keyboard any longer.  

 

Love you so much!  

"Come to ours, of course!"

July 16, 2012

It's been a crazy week!

Haha,  I just realized I could (and probably do) start every email that way, I can't think of any week where I couldn't start out that way.  

Anyways, the point is a lot happened as usual! 

On Tuesday, we went to the New Missionary Meeting.  Get it? It's funny, cuz I was there just a few days ago it feels like, and now I was there again!  But not as a new missionary!  so weird haha.  I got to see some of my favorite people there which was a lot of fun, and afterwards we were eating lunch in the mission home.  So I'm sitting down eating and I get a call from DeeDee (whose baptism is in like 5 days.)  We had a lesson at 4 o'clock that day, which she cancelled because she said she wasn't feeling well.  Then she went on to say that her friends had been talking to her about why she shouldn't join the Mormon Church, and she should go to a bunch of other churches instead, and listen to what other preachers had to say about mormonism, and she said she didn't want to get baptized anymore, maybe she would consider it down the road.  So we reschedule the lesson for Thursday. 

 

So on Thursday we're trying to have this lesson, and Sister C (in the ward) is supposed to come as well

Except Sis. C is lost and we have trouble getting her there, so we're like 25 minutes late, and we call DeeDee on the phone and she's just like telling us about her day and how terrible it's been and everything she's going through- it was all so stressful!  But eventually we get in and everything falls into place. Sis. C and DeeDee click immediately, and throughout the whole lesson, she is just the perfect person to be there for her.  DeeDee felt the spirit really really strong, and definitely recognized it.  She said she still wanted to be baptized on the 14th and hoped it wasn't too late.  I told her it wasn't too late :) [[because I never cancelled it in the first place hahahaha]]

Her baptism was awesome, and I remembered to bring my camera, so I have a picture of it!  My boy (his new companion, Elder B, fresh from the MTC) got to baptize her, and I witnessed, it was AWESOME :)  I'm so proud of him, I may or may not write more about him later, but he's legit.  

DeeDee was baptized on the 14th, and I got to confirm her on the 15th and I'm so excited for her! She likes meeting new people, so Relief Society has been awesome for her, and a lot of awesome women have been welcoming her with open arms!  

Oh, also when we went to church, we ran into the bishop before sacrament meeting.  He told us that a nonmember was talking to his LDS friend, and this nonmember, Marius, asked what church he should go to.  The LDS friend told him to come to ours, of course haha :)  

So he showed up, by himself, at church!  We sat by him and answered his questions and such  (He was an active catholic, so he knows a lot about church, but had never been to an LDS service, so we talked about some of the similarities and differences), and we are going to meet again on Wednesday for the first discussion.  

But my favorite part is this- He was gonna meet with the bishop after sacrament meeting, so he goes out into the hall towards his office.  At this time, Elder B and I are talking with other people, so we aren't there, but as Marius walking down the hall, he passes some missionaries from the other ward.  They notice he is wearing jeans, so they are talking to him, and ask if he's a member, and he replies "No, but soon to be."   hahaha isn't that awesome?!?  One of the missionaries who talked to him was my friend, Elder H, so he told me about it about 5 minutes later , haha.

Welp, Love you a lot!