Week 54: A Bittersweet Goodbye to Goshen!

Well, the news is in:

As of Transfer calls from President this morning, after 9 wonderful months I'm leaving Goshen and Elder Pena is staying and getting a new companion. President called though, because he extended me the call of being a Zone Leader. I will serve in the Provo Peak Zone (which roughly is West Provo). We will have our own Spanish Ward, the Grandview 20th, which is the one I attended a few times before at BYU with certain investigators and for Christmas.

In addition, I will cover the Utah Valley Portuguese Ward. Which means that I will have to learn some Portuguese! Although President said not to worry about that too much. We'll see what it entails when I get there next week. My companion will be Elder Harris (they tell Zone Leaders who they'll serve with). I can't believe it! There's a lot of changes coming up this week! We've got a busy two days coming up here to say goodbye to so many people and packing, and then with a whole new world ahead of me next! I am kind of in shock!

As for this week though, we had some great lessons (22 in the end, not bad at all), and we spoke in the Goshen 2nd Ward, and did a musical number, I played guitar and sang with two young men from the ward and Elder Pena played Piano. Milena is still looking very set for baptism, and she brought her less active boyfriend to church yesterday which is awesome!

We had a really cool meeting last night too with President McCune and Elder Levitt of the 70 for all the Bishops and ward mission leaders for the Goshen stake, with a really cool training. I love each and every one of those men, it has been a pleasure serving with all of them. Goshen has changed my life for the better forever, and I will never forget any of those lovely towns of Elberta, Genola, Eureka, Mammoth, Mosida, and Goshen. I will come back to visit for sure while I'm at BYU and who knows... maybe I'll move back there someday!

Well, I'm kind of overwhelmed with words and so I'll close the letter here! God Bless y'all, don't play Christmas carols yet and don't go Black Friday shopping before Thanksgiving day is through!

-Elder Martin
(The longest serving Goshen Bilingual Elder for the stake since the area opened,

and freaking proud of it!)

Me on top of Godiva Mountain

Bishops and WMLs after the training meeting in Payson with President McCune

The Kropf family, who supplied my "vice" and gave me some bottled sodas haha.

The Rambo picture of me after Goshen Ward Dodgeball, 

with the Seamons, Perezes, and Larsons

Me and Brother Vallejo from Elberta, such a cool guy, 

we're going to concerts together after the mission.

Me and Bishop Kay, Goshen ward mission leader and textbook Goshenite, 

he pulled a replica sword of Laban out for a Book of Mormon lesson once, so cool.

The Cowan family, one of the younger move-ins to Goshen.

He's the Elder's Quorum President and just the bomb.com. 

She's in Young Women and was the one that really got things going with Lita. 

Her example with those girls was inspiring.

The Knightons, our landlords. His funny stories are literally the best, I could listen to him tell stories from his life literally for hours (which we actually did prior to taking this photo haha, luckily we were technically "home" so we weren't breaking rules that bad staying up late, right?)

Nick Castleton, Mayor of Eurkea, knows a lot of History and

gave our zone a tour of the town once. He's a great man.

Sister Berry, another long time Eureka resident, her husband Max was away at the time we passed by, he's an old miner and such an awesome guy, I hope I'm kicking as good as he is when I'm that age!

The Brantley Family in Eureka, we ate with them quite a few times and enjoyed it a lot, their home has a beautiful view out into Cherry Creek Valley out of Eureka.

Lee Kirk, from Eureka. I spent a lot of time with this man.

I hope his health improves, I'd like to keep seeing him after the mission.

Brother Greenhaulgh, longtime Elberta Resident and in the Bishopric, 

I went on quite a few splits with him, he would sing in lessons sometimes haha.

Brother Hansen, my old Landlord (Sister Hansen wasn't feeling well), 

we made fun of each other quite often, our witty banter was something to behold haha.

Brother Farrinsworth, this guy is the bomb, he was our old neighbor, we did a fair amount of service with him and had dinner there once, where we heard some non-approved (but freaking rocking) music haha, I asked for the names of the artists and songs haha.

Me with Goshen's senior Citizens, this wasn't a full crowd either! 

They've offered to throw me a party in Goshen when I finish my mission haha, 

They're party animals for sure.

Outside of the Senior Citizen's building.

Bishop Garner, WML in Elberta and super funny guy. 

He's a big Angel's fan and we'd talk baseball a bit.

He and Brother Sabey were the comedic center of our stake correlation meetings, haha.

The Anderson Family and Brother Clint Burdick (her father). 

It looks like he'll be going to the temple in December! 

Oh the lovely Fridell Family. They are so great, words cannot describe.

Bishop Johnson, Genola 2nd ward mission leader. He's so funny - to quote him exactly, 

"With black magic and the Priesthood we are unstoppable" hahahaha.

Perry Thomas and his family, this guy is super funny and cool, 

can't wait to see him in the Temple someday!

Ben and Robert Thomas. Through doing family history work we found that we're 5th cousins once removed haha, Ben hopefully'll be getting the Melchizedek Priesthood here soon enough.

The Goodman Family. They have dived headfirst into activity and it's been so awesome. 

He likes some really cool old music, and they'll be in the Temple next year!

The Lawrence Family, easily some of the coolest cats in Goshen. 

We spent many an hour laughing in his home. 

The Reaves family, bringing some good Southern influence into Goshen (they're from Alabama). 

She's the most amazing Gospel Principles teacher ever, and he's super funny. 

He had a stroke back in the summer.

Stake President Bylund, this man is an inspiration. 

He can talk anything from Football to Revelations, 

He had quite an eye for Missionary work too and really got things going.

The Taylor Family in Goshen. 

Due to his mustache, I would always call him Sheriff Taylor haha.

I went out with him on my first night in the area. 

Their family is super fun too, they might take me hunting in later years! 

The Sabey Family

Brother Sabey's the Goshen 2nd ward mission leader and such a great man. 

He really knows how to get along with people. 

His family is really cool too. The girls are so funny and little Evalyn's a doll too.

He hates Star Wars, so for his birthday (which was a few days after I left) 

I got him a big Star Wars poster hahaha, such a funny guy.

Something funny we found in our new apartment...

Week 52: Just Another Reason That Texas Is Zion

"Just Another Reason That Texas Is Zion" Hahaha, I made another joke of that nature in Sunday school in church yesterday, they were talking about overpopulation and how you could fit everyone into Texas with room to spare.

It's been a good week though! We were able to teach quite a bit. We have another investigator on date for baptism and it's looking like late November. This is when the Anderson girl may get baptized too, but they haven't been able to make it out to church due to family issues (hospital, work, etc).

We were able to teach almost 25 lessons again this week! And we found another family to teach - if we could just get everyone we're teaching in one week-swing, we'd be teaching 30-40 lessons a week, I guarantee it. But ah well, we'll slog at it again while we got it!

Things have been good otherwise, lots of coordination and member support, meetings and ward councils, etc. I also played guitar for the Senior Citizens in Goshen on Tuesday, which was way fun. It's been busy out here in Goshen, and we'll continue to make it that way! God bless everyone!

-Elder Martin

Week 51: Another Baptism On The Way!

Hello y'all!

We had a major cancel spree Wednesday night which cut out 5 or so lessons, but I was able to do three baptismal interviews (as District Leader) for other missionaries which is way fun. We also have set Mary Anderson on date for baptism for the 15th of November, though that may get changed a bit so her Dad can come out of the hospital to visit and see the baptism. We found three or four new people to teach as well all around the stake, and our weekly planning list is growing so much we might need to make it two pages long, and the font is already pretty small on it haha!

We did the last round of service for Hermano Guerra this week too, he's gonna be discing the fields for winter and won't be doing much else. It was way fun though and it's been great to help him out so much.

Last P-day we had an amazing hiking trip on Godiva Mountain, all the way to the very top, with TONS of mines along the way, it was really cool! We came down the Mammoth side too.

We both spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday too, and for part of it as I was talking on the Plan of Salvation I did a little "Hellfire and Damnation" preaching haha, it was fun. Just as well, this is probably the fourth time over the pulpit I have expressed my belief that Zion is actually in Texas. No one's proved me otherwise yet haha! Yes, most people get the Texas joke, but I haven't really convinced anyone yet. I even announced in a stake-wide Bishopric meeting that we should give big Texas flags instead of towels to converts as as the come out of the baptismal font haha.

That being said, I feel so blessed to be serving in this stake still, I feel like I say that every day now. Such lovely people out here, and so much potential to invite others to come unto Christ as well! Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Martin

Week 50: Regular Weeks At Last!

Hello y'all!

As much as I enjoyed Stake and General Conference and the Ogden Temple Re-dedication, I have been rather glad to see just "regular sundays" coming up for the next few weeks. It's hard to have church attendance when there's no church haha! That being said we didn't have too many of our investigators show up yesterday, which is a bit of a bummer, but things happen (e.g. a wedding and a hospital trip in the case of our two closest families). In any case we've found three new families to teach, two less actives and one part member, and if we can finally nail down appointments with all the people we've got, we'll be teaching like crazy. Teaching is great by the way. Teaching the recent convert lessons to Lita is so fun. Her family continues to do very well, and she's on top of everything.

We also got to see the "Meet the Mormons" movie in a chapel before it came out in theaters (a dual zone missionaries-only screening), and despite my original thoughts that it might be lame, it was actually way good! I recommend seeing it to everyone!

We also did a service project picking pumpkins for Hermano Guerra's farm again, it both got me into a Halloween mood and also got Smashing Pumpkins songs badly stuck in my head haha. Hope everyone has a great week!

-Elder Martin

The Lovely Old time Goshenite Jensen Family

I put hot sauce on everything now haha. 

This is just from the past month or two. 

Ah, being a Spanish Elder!

The Pumpkins we helped pick for Hermano Guerra. 

We got to take some of our own home, 

I took a weird one just to smash in honor of Smashing Pumpkins haha.

Elder Pena being a Jewish High Priest haha.

So, dinner last night with the Jewett Family, and Sister Jewett's mother was there. Her name is Sister Atkinson, born in Francis, Utah. My Great Grandmother (my Mom's father's mother) was an Atkinson from Francis, so we look it up, and what do you know - we're related, via my Great-Great-Great Grandfather Amos Stiles Atkinson. That's the second cousin of sorts of found in the area haha, of the joys of serving in your ancestral home of Utah haha.

Week 49: General Conference

Oh yeah, I did love Conference, and as you might have saw with the Facebook pictures, I got to go again (which was very unlikely and unexpected I can assure you) for the Sunday afternoon session. It was the bomb.com.  It was way cool hearing the talks in Spanish too, though it was better when I was actually there, because having just the English subtitles on the conference center screens was much easier on my brain then having someone speaking over it in English, which since I understood and could hear both languages was mentally tiring in the extreme haha. I'm going to go back and watch each in pure spanish, I'm excited.

I also got to go to Conference with Elder Rivera, and boy was that great. We caught up and talked about old times, and just in general affirmed our friendship. I completely get what you mean about appreciating my trainer more now that I am one. He's such a great guy, I can't believe he finishes his mission in December, that will be a sad day for me when he leaves. Luckily he's still looking at schooling here in Utah, so hopefully he won't be far from me afterwards. It was great too to have a real fluent conversation (and lots of hilarious joking) with him in Spanish, oh boy it was great fun. 

We also went to the conference center by linking up in Heber (meaning I got to drive through Provo Canyon for the first time in months, it looks great with the fall, as does Heber Valley) and then going north, passing by Park City and the like up there, which was way fun! I missed Sunday morning session in transit, but Saturday I caught first session with Carma Bell and some of her friends (see the picture to come, I watched conference with a bunch of cute girls, Bishop Kay afterward asked me how our "date" was haha) and the afternoon session with my family-away-from-family, the Davis family. It was a good time for sure. 

Elder Holland's talk was superb, as was Elder Christofferson's, Elder Robbin's, and Elder Benard's. And of course both the Spanish talks. To be honest though, with a lot of them I got the impression that I need to go back and read them, which is a first for me.

One of the Mission Boundaries, out west of Eureka.

Carma Bell and her friends, who we watched the Saturday morning session of Conference with. 

Yeah, these are the girls I run around with on my mission, we're a pretty wild bunch.

Me with my trainer Elder Rivera at General Conference together.  

He leaves in December, so it was great to have some time to spend with him!

We sat on the third row in Conference, we were way close!

Week 24: Quite A Week, and Changes Keep Rollin' On Through

Hello everyone!

It was a busy week (again and as usual), so I'll get right to it: after emails on p-day we headed up to Traverse Mountain in Lehi so Elder Contreras could buy some civilian clothes for his new life ahead of him, though it was not all a loss for me, I got me a sick new Mariner's hat, perfect since with my new short hair hat-head is hard to get!

That night too we talked with Sara again, and she wants her oldest son Deagon taught and, if he still wants, baptized. She is great friends with Heather too, so we have been teaching them sort of together, and the two have been committing together to go to church. The next day we got to meet Heather's husband too, and he's really cool and chill, and fine with us coming and visiting. It'd be nice if he didn't have to work as much so he could be present for the lessons, but we'll do what we can!  Heather accepted being baptized in a later lesson this week, though she's going to talk with her husband before she sets a specific date. It's great teaching her, she's very honest and open with us, which is so nice - beating around the bush wastes so much time. But yes, we're very excited about the progress she's making, and the ward and neighbors have been very supportive and helping her and Sara out with things.

Moving on though, interviews with President also happened, and that was great.  He gave me some great advice and counsel; he is a great man. The next two days we had to run a couple of errands before Elder Contreras left, though per my request we got to treat him to lunch at Station 22 cafe. In the evenings we had another great lesson with Tina, who is a new investigator we had.  She is very set on reading the Book of Mormon to see if it, and the church, are really true. The Rupp family are doing well too, they're fine with their kids taking the lessons too, and hopefully it encourage the parents we well; so two more investigators there too!

We had many lessons with Porter Walker too this week because, as I failed to mention last time, he was gonna get baptized!  Porter is 10, and has been setting a great example for his parents and family.  His brother got ordained a deacon the same day as the baptism, and his parents have set a family goal of getting sealed in the soon-to-be-completed Payson Temple. They are working great together, and they have two half brothers coming to live with them soon that want the lessons too. He was baptized this Saturday, and I was able to stand in for Porter's confirmation the next day, and it's great to see someone that young making covenants and really understanding the weight of them, if not the full extent. Elder Contreras had already left by that point though, we dropped him off the previous morning and he was taken up to Provo. He was a great elder with lots of good experiences and knowledge, but funny and easy to work with. He is already back in Mexico City now and will be working at the CCM soon enough until he heads up to BYU-I in the fall. We will miss him, and it has been quieter without him.

On Friday we had a great lesson with Daniel (Hansen) Curtis, who is going to pray and also will ask if he can get Sundays off to attend church. He has great faith and is really just a swell guy; it has been a joy to teach him. Sunday I gave a talk both in Goshen and in the Spanish Branch, and that was a lot of fun.  We had a lot to talk about at the ward correlation meeting too, so it was a good day!

As of today though, we've learned that Elder Rios is being transferred, we don't know where to yet, but it is way sad to see him go. We only had one transfer together, and it sucks cause we were becoming great friends. He is a convert to the church of about three years, and the people in the area love him. Lucky for me though, I will get to see Goshen in the spring and early summer, which I am excited for! Ah, changes keep coming, but what ever happens, the Lord's in it!

Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Martin

Porter's baptism - Me, Porter, Brother Sabey (the WML) and Elder Rios 

Porter's family

Our Trio at Station 22

New Mailing Address

If you are mailing me a letter, please mail it to our PO Box in Goshen.

The address is:

Elder Alec Jeffrey Martin
PO Box 209
Goshen, UT  84633