A Mother's Day phone call

It was a big we last week with all of our Mother's Day celebrations.  Actually one of the most exciting parts of Mother's Day was the fact that Alex had the opportunity to call home.  He called us right after we got home from church and we were able to spend some time talking with him on the phone.  To make sure that everybody could hear and had the opportunity to talk, we set up the speaker phone in the middle of the kitchen table.  Then we all sat around the table and enjoyed our time as a complete family with one of our family members participating over the phone. 

Alex told us all about his new assignment in Burlington Kansas.  I think we mentioned last time that Burlington is a rather small town in the middle of Kansas.  Alex told us that the whole town is about twelve blocks long by about twelve blocks wide.  He said that the streets in Burlington are empty most of the time since there isn't a whole lot of traffic in a town of about 2,400 people.  In fact most of the time they can just walk down the middle of the street and not even worry about being hit by a car or anything else.  This is a real change from being in Lawrence where there is always a lot more going on all of the time.

Remember that slick 1980's vintage bike that Alex is so proud of?  Well he told us that his bike isn't in such good shape anymore.  Apparently he and some of the other missionaries were having a little too much fun riding their bikes in unusual ways (if you catch my drift).  Alex must have landed his bike in a funny way which caused the shifter cable to break.  Now a bike which used to have ten speeds, only has one.  I'm not sure which gear his bike is stuck in, but Alex told us that it is good enough to ride around on since there are no hills in Burlington.  Speaking of "no hills", Alex also told us that they can ride out to the edge of town, stand in the middle of the street and see one long straight road that only seems to end when it hits the horizon.  That's how flat it is.  So given that kind of terrain, there really isn't any need for more than one gear on his bike. 

Getting back to the Mother's day phone call, hearing Alex's voice on the phone was almost like the good old days sitting around the dining room table and talking.  In fact while he was still on the phone telling all about life as a missionary, I was able to fix Mother's Day dinner, have the kids set the table and call everybody to dinner, including Alex (well, virtually anyway).  Once we all finally sat down at the table to eat and with the speaker phone still in the middle of the table, I called on Alex to give us a blessing on the food.  At that point we all folded our arms, bowed our heads and let Alex bless our Mother's Day dinner all the way from Burlington Kansas.  He gave a wonderful prayer over the phone but unfortunately he couldn't actually eat the food that he just blessed.  But then that might have been to his advantage since it is his mother who is the cook in the family but she had the day off due to it being Mother's Day.  Well, not too much longer after that, our phone call came to an end, we all said goodbye and look forward to hearing his voice again at Christmas. 

The next day was Alex's P-Day which if you aren't familiar with the way a missionary's schedule works, it is basically the one day during the week that they have to write letters, take care of things like laundry, shopping and other errands and also get in a little basketball or other activities.  Being P-day, Alex sent us his usual family letter but obviously since we had already talked with him on the phone the day before, his letter was kind of short.  He told us a little more about the people that they are teaching in Burlington and how they have spent much of their time visiting members of the church who are less active at the moment.  Since there haven't been any missionaries in the Burlington for quite a while, they are having to do a lot of tracting and figuring out other ways to meet people who might be interested in listening to the message that a couple of LDS missionaries have to offer.  From what Alex told us, it sounds like they have been fairly successful in the short time that they have been there.  But then there is only so much tracting that you can do in a small town before you run out of doors to knock.  So being a little more creative like they did in Wamego and Lawrence with raking leaves and shoveling snow, might be the way they need to go.

This week Alex sent us another letter telling us all about the great week that he and his companion have had.  I mentioned that they have only been in Burlington for a few weeks and they have already found several different people who are interested in listening to these Elders.  Alex sounded really excited in his letter due to many of the experiences that they had during the past week.  He described some of these experiences this way:

"But things are going really great out here! We had a killer week this last week! ... [The] weird part about being on a mission, you see a lot of stuff that you never saw back home. Like real world stuff, not just dumb high school drama like getting dumped by your girlfriend ;) lol. But yeah its weird trying to help people through all of these serious crisis’s and trials in their life when you have never experienced anything close to it. It’s a good thing Christ knows all about it, because I sure don’t."

That is the kind of experience that shows you that a mission for a young man is just as much about learning as it is about teaching others the gospel.  It also teaches these young men that life is very different for a lot of people.  Not everybody grows up in a nice house with a good family and great friends.  Count your many blessings.

Alex told us that they discovered a new way to make tracting a little more successful.  Go tracting in the rain.  He said that the other day it was raining fairly hard but they decided that they would go out knocking on doors anyway.  As it turned out, many of the people that they met must have felt sorry for these poor soaked missionaries and let them in to dry off a little.  Tracting in the rain turned out to work so well, that they completely filled up their teaching appointment book.  On top of all of that, a member of the church in the area also invited the missionaries over to teach one of their neighbors.  So needless to say, these two missionaries are very excited about the work in Burlington.  Hopefully things will continue to go well for them and they will be able to help the church grow in this little town.

One interesting story that Alex included in his last letter.  From what Alex has told us before about Burlington, it is a town with a very diverse population due to the nuclear power plant nearby.  There are many very nice houses in town and then there are some not so nice trailer parks.  So the other night Alex and his companion decided to check out some of the trailers in town.  They walked up to one trailer that Alex described as being very sketchy looking.  He said that in addition to just the trailer structure, whoever lived there had also done a little remodeling work using plywood and parts of other trailers.  They decided to knock on the door to see if they could talk to whoever lived there.  Alex said that a man with long hair answered the door and as these missionaries introduced themselves and started talking, this man told them that he believed that God is a woman.  His reason for believing that God is a woman is because only a woman could try us in this way.  Well, they got a good laugh out of that and everybody left smiling.  I guess that just goes to show you that everybody has their own way of thinking and their own beliefs. 

Ready for the big move

This last week marks Alex's first six months as a full-time missionary.  We almost can't believe that six months has passed since that day back in October when we dropped him off at the Mission Training Center (MTC).  In this short time Alex has gained a lot of experiences from being a district leader in the MTC to all of the time spent learning and teaching in Wamego, Platte City and Lawrence.  From the letters that he has sent home, he has enjoyed every minute of his mission so far and we don't expect that to change at all.  Alex has met, taught and learned from so many people in the various areas in which he has served.  He has also had many other opportunities to use his skills from serving up meals at the Salvation Army to being a volunteer wrestling coach at Wamego High School.  Every week we hear about new things that Alex is involved with and new people that he has met.  There just seems to be so many opportunities, that I am sure the next six months will be just as exciting and fruitful as the last six.

Just one little note here.  If you remember in the last post, Alex acquired a new bike which turned out to be a 1980's vintage Schwinn Sierra.  I just happened to find a picture on the internet of what his new bike probably looks like and included the picture in the last entry.  Since then Alex wrote and told us that the picture of the bike is "spot on" except that the handle bars on his bike are a little more goofy looking than the picture.  But there you have it.  If you happen to be reading this blog and also just happen to live in Kansas or Missouri and see an LDS missionary riding down the street, wave at him and tell him that his Mom and Dad say "Hi".

Over the past couple of weeks, Alex and his companion have been getting ready for their move from Lawrence to Burlington KS.  Besides saying goodbye to many of the people that they have met and grown to love, they also needed to make sure that the people that they were teaching, continue to learn and progress in the gospel even after these two missionaries have left the area.  Some of the people that they were teaching, they turned over to the sister missionaries.  Others who have already developed a relationship with members of the Ward, will continue to be visited by those members.  In the end, it is not about the missionary but about the gospel and the testimony that these people gain through the spirit.  Long after these missionaries leave the area or the mission, the spirit that these people felt will hopefully still be with them.

Just before Alex and his companion left Lawrence, Alex conducted his last district meeting as the Lawrence District Leader.  One of the recent changes, at least for this Lawrence district, is that they were allocated new 2010 Chevy Malibu cars to use in their missionary work.  So after their last meeting, they all decided that it would be a good idea to take one last picture of themselves as a district.  Except this time they would all pose in front of their new cars as if they were going to be on the cover of a new (missionary) rap album.  So they lined up the cars and everybody took their positions on and around them.  Alex mentioned that one Elder, who just happens to be a little more on the rounder side, decided that he wanted to pose on the roof of one of the cars.  Well, from what Alex told us, the structural integrity of the roof of this brand new 2010 Chevy Malibu wasn't quite up to the standards required to support this slightly rotund missionary.  Needless to say, this missionary left his mark on the mission that day.  Luckily there was no permanent damage and the picture turned out fantastic.  Just see for yourself.

After Alex sent us this picture, I enhanced it slightly and printed out an 8x10 to post on our refrigerator door.  When Alex's Mom first saw this picture, she couldn't figure out why I had put a picture of a bunch of people posed on cars on our refrigerator door.  Then I told her to look a little more closely.  That's when it dawned on her that her son Alex was front and center in the photo.  Nice job guys.  I'm considering sending this photo to the Chevrolet marketing department.  I'm guessing that with the recent economic trouble that they have had, they could probably use a little help from the missionaries. ;-)

So here is one more funny story from Alex about his companion on their last Sunday at church in Lawrence.  Apparently there is a young family in their Ward who Alex and his companion have come to know.  One day last week, the zone leaders paid Alex and his companion a visit so that they could team up and try to get a little more work done that day.  I've mentioned before just how much Alex has really liked his current companion and apparently one thing that they have in common is their sense of humor especially when it comes to practical jokes.  Well, while Alex's companion was out with one of the zone leaders, this young couple from the Ward just happen to be driving by and saw them.  So to try to play a little joke on the zone leader who wasn't from that Lawrence area, they pulled up to the missionaries and started taking to Alex's companion about all of the new music CD's and DVD's that he had bought.  Alex's companion, playing along with the joke, responded by saying that he and Alex would be over to their house later to check them out a little later.  This, of course, would be a violation of the mission rules and apparently it took the zone leader by surprise hearing about the plan. Of course they finally let the zone leader in on the joke and then went on their way.  However the joke didn't really end there.  Apparently that next Sunday, which was Alex and his companion's last Sunday in the Ward before their transfer, Alex's companion was assigned to speak in Sacrement meeting.  Unfortunately, the printed program had mispelled his name with a "ch" rather than a "ck" at the end of his name.  So when this same Ward member got up to announce the Sacrament meeting program that day, he mentioned how great it was to have these two missionaries in their Ward and purposely mis-pronounced Alex's companion's name according to the way it had been printed.  Then at the same time, over the pulpit, he also told the congregation just how much he enjoyed having these missionaries over to his house to listen to CD's and watch DVD's.  Well, the whole congregation got a good laugh out of that because they all knew just how hard working Alex and his companion are and what good missionaries they had been in their Ward.  It all turned out to be a really good way to leave on their last Sunday in the Lawrence Ward.  They knew that the Ward members had really appreciated all of the work that these two missionaries had done and also knew that it was really going to be hard to leave Lawrence. 

Just as we mentioned in the last blog entry, Alex and his companion were both transferred together to Burlington KS.  Burlington is a small town of around two thousand people with a very small branch of the LDS church. It is also the home to a nuclear power plant.  What I find curious is that Alex asked us a couple of weeks ago at what age a man starts to lose his hair.  We are now wondering if the nuclear power plant might be the reason for this question.  Just kidding, I'm sure not everybody in Burlington glows in the dark. ;-)

Ok seriously now.  From what Alex has said, Burlington seems like a really nice and conservative midwestern small town.  Alex mentioned in his last letter that he and his companion were able to ride their bikes from one end of town to the other without one single person yelling at them or flipping them off.  He told us that it felt really great.  There were even a couple of towns people that waved at these two missionaries in a friendly manner even before they had a chance to greet those people first.  Alex told us that this was a really big change for them, coming from one of the most liberal cities in Kansas to one of the more conservative.  Nothing like a breath of fresh air, even if the air might be a little radio active (ok, just kidding again :-).

Both Alex and his companion are staying with a really nice family from Burlington.  Alex said that they live in a house that is from the very early 1900's and the coolest thing about the house are all of the little tunnels and passage ways that connect all of the rooms.  They spent most of last week getting cleaned up and getting ready for the move, moving and then unpacking in their new place.  They have already been out meeting the people in Burlington and plan to really hit it hard this week.  With the move to Burlington, the mission president also had to put together a new missionary district.  The district is made up of not only Alex and his companion in Burlington, but also several other Elders who are serving in a few of the other nearby towns.  Just like in Lawrence, Alex is the district leader of the this new district.  He told us that they call themselves the CoffeyCan district because they are in Coffey County Kansas.  As much as Alex hated leaving Lawrence and the people that he taught there as well as the members of the Ward, he appears to be very excited to be in Burlington and to see what new opportunities this assignment brings. 

By the way, Mother's day is coming this week which also means that we will be talking to Alex on the phone instead of just through letters.  It will be great to hear his voice and get a little more detail about missionary life and how things are going for him in his new area. 

A change is in the wind

One thing about missionary work is that you better always be prepared for change.  It seems that change will soon be coming for Alex and his companion.  From what Alex has told us in his last few letters, every year around the time that Kansas University finishes up their winter semester, at least a couple of the missionaries from Lawrence (the home of KU) are transferred out for a few months.  I guess with the so many of the KU students heading home for the summer, this gives some of the missionaries a chance to spread out and serve in some of the smaller areas of the mission.  Well, it appears that Alex and his companion will be doing just that and the really good news here is that they are both being transfered together. 

Of course there is a downside to everything.  But for missionaries, this kind of "downside" means that they must have been doing a really good job.  What I am talking about is the fact that both Alex and his companion are really going to miss Lawrence.  They have both spent the last three months in Lawrence where they basically started from scratch trying to find new people to teach.  Now three months later, they are teaching some really good people and have really grown to love them and the Ward.  At least one of the people that they are currently teching has asked these two missionaries who he can call and convince to let these missionaries stay in Lawrence.  Well we all know that it really doesn't work that way, but sometimes we really wish it could.

These two missionaries have also grown very close to many of the people in their Ward.  In fact in the last couple of letters Alex has referred to one Ward member as his Mom in Lawrence.  I mentioned this before in a previous entry. Since his real mother can't be there with Alex during his mission, as his parents, it is always nice to know that there are good people everywhere that are willing to step in and do whatever they can make our son feel at home.   To put it all in Alex's words:

"Well we had another good week here in fabulous Lawrence, Kansas! I have really grown to love Lawrence, and it is going to be super hard to leave! I really love the [the family we live with], our ward, our area, and all of our investigators. It is weird to think that I have already been here for three months, and I only have 9 days left here! Crazy!!"

Next stop, Burlington Kansas.  Burlington is a fairly small town south of Topeka.  Alex mentioned in his last letter that Burlington has a small branch of the LDS church and that there haven't been missionaries in Burlington since 1993.  From the way that Alex has described Burlington, it seems to be a very small town where everybody knows everybody else.  Alex mentioned that it will be very weird serving in a town that has less total population than his old high school.  I guess Alex and his companion will find out whether all of that is true very soon.  But no matter what happens, I am sure that they will find some very good people in Burlington to teach just as they did in Lawrence.  But until then, there is still work to be done in Lawrence.

So Alex told us all about is new ride.  No, I'm not talking about a car.  I am talking about a missionary's favorite mode of transportation, the bicycle (Note: make sure you re-read that last sentence with a very sarcastic tone ;-).  Yes that is right, Alex now has a new bike.  Well, when I say "new", I guess what I really mean is "new" to him.  It is a vintage Schwinn Sierra.  So I just had to see if I could find this bike somewhere on the internet and this is what I found.

Alex will have to let me know if this is really what his bike looks like.  There are no shocks to smooth the ride and the most interesting thing is that there are no fenders.  I can just see him now, riding down a rain soaked street on a hot and humid summer day.  We all know what happens to the person who is riding a bike in the rain with no fenders, right?  You guessed it, Alex is going to end up with one long dirty wet streak right down the middle of this back.  What's even better, this will all be enhanced by the fact that he will be wearing a nice clean white shirt at the time.  I can already tell that we are going to have to send Alex some extra money so that he can buy a 2 year supply of bleach to cover up the zebra stripe he is going to have.  Anyway, Alex claims that he likes riding this bike more than any other bike he has borrowed so far.  From what Alex told us:

"It is so sick! I think it is from the late seventies or early eighties, but man I can haul on it! I can ride faster on that old bike than I could on the brand new Trek. [My companion]doesn’t like it so much because he had a hard enough time keeping up with me on the Trek, and now on my new Schwinn racer I haul butt! Ha ha."

Speaking of bikes, Alex also told us that he and his companion were a little frustrated with the mileage limit that they have on their car.  So, to try to show that they are obedient and willing to take whatever they are given, they decided to see if they could put more mileage on their bikes in a two week period, than they had allotted to them for the car.  Alex told us they biked over 35 miles around town one day while they were traveling between teaching appointments and visits.  In the end they didn't quite meet their goal of 200 miles a week that they needed, but they biked a ton and loved it! Of course I am sure that this doesn't mean that they wouldn't have rather taken the car if they could have, but as the old saying goes, "When you are given lemons, make lemonade".

Ok, here is another funny story that Alex told us and I just couldn't resist including it in this blog entry.  One of the things that Alex took with him when he left on his mission, was a camel back.  If you don't know what a camel back is, it is a water bladder that you can fill up and wear like a back pack while you are hiking or riding a bike.  There is a small hose that comes out of the top of the pack that you use like a straw to drink the water.  Apparently Alex has really been taking advantage of having his camel back with him whenever they are riding their bikes.  He claims that he must be the most hydrated missionary in the world.  The reason he knows this is because they are constantly having to stop for bathroom breaks.  This has become such a frequent event while they are traveling from one part of town to another, that they now have designated "peeing stops".  One of the stops is at JC Pennys and the other is the local Hy-Vee grocery store. 

Then on top of that, Alex also mentioned that whenever they stop at the Hy-Vee, they also have to make sure that they take advantage of the free blood pressure machine.  Being the health minded athelete that Alex is, knowing his blood pressure, heart rate and weight is just something you do whether you are on a mission or not.  Of course you could apply all of this to the scriptures.

"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;"
"And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint."  D&C 89:19-20

One last story before we share some pictures with you that Alex sent home recently.  It seems that one of the people that they are teaching is also trying to stop smoking.  So one idea that these missionaries came up with, was trying to substitute a bad habit with a good one.  In this instance, they felt like it would be a good idea to use exercise as a way to overcome smoking.  One thing that Alex used to do in high school was run on the cross-country team.  So naturally Alex's idea went straight to running.  Since the person that they are teaching happens to be female, Alex thought that maybe if this person decided to take the challenge, he could convince a couple of sister missionaries to run the 5k race with her.  Of course the sister missionaries that Alex had in mind had no idea that they were being volunteered to run a 5k race.  I'm sure that the story doesn't end here, so we will just have to wait and see where this ends up in a future blog entry.  Stay tuned.
 
I promised you a few pictures before we finish up this entry.  Every few months Alex sends home the memory card from his camera.  The memory card usually contains some pictures as well as video of his apartment and some of the activities that the missionaries have been involved with.  This one was no different.

If you know Alex, he doesn't do anything small.  Everything has to be as big as possible.  I guess in this picture he is trying to tell us that he is the king of the world... at least in his own mind. ;-)

That's right... Nicholes, Elder Nicholes

(If you don't get the joke, re-read the above caption with a British accent.

If you still don't get the joke, then maybe it wasn' t that funny in the first place ;-)

 

I'm thinking that even though Alex says that he loves his new bike, he is really looking to upgrade to this sweet new lawn tractor.  This thing has got to have a top speed of oh say... 5 mph.  Check out the chains on the back tires.  It may not be fast, but he will never end up in a ditch on the side of the road again.

Weilding the sword of truth... What more can I say!!

 

Ok, there's not really a joke that goes with this picture.  This is actually at the Kansas State High School wrestling tournament.  If you remember back when Alex was in Wamego Kansas, he helped out for a while as a volunteer coach on the Wamego High School wrestling team.  Alex later got permission from his mission president to attend the tournament to support one of the wrestlers who was also a member of the Wamego Branch and a future missionary.

Low single...

We received a great email from Alex last week. He talked about all of the things that he and his companion had been doing and told us about many of the people that they have been teaching. Alex also discovered one of the talents that is given to many missionaries. That is the talent of being able to respond to assignments in a moment's notice and having to be prepared to teach and speak on any gospel subject.

Alex was asked to speak in church last week and had emailed us previously looking for some good personal experiences that he could use on the topic of faith. After thinking about it for a while, Alex settled on a wrestling story (like you wouldn't expect that) from his final home dual as a senior on the varsity wrestling team. If you were at the church meeting where Alex spoke, you already know how Alex weaved this story into the rest of his talk. For the rest of us who weren't there, I will try to recount what happened that night during his final wrestling dual and how Alex likely related this story to faith.

Alex has a cousin named Matt (actually Matt is Alex's Mom's cousin, but that is beside the point ;-) who had been helping Alex with some of his wrestling technique throughout Alex's senior year. Before this final home dual, Alex and Matt had been working on a takedown move called a "low single". Basically this move is where one wrestler pushes off from the other and then quickly moves back in on his opponent to tie up the leg below the knee. From that point the wrestler can easily takedown his opponent by throwing him off balance.

With the entire gym dark except for a single light shining directly down onto the wrestling mat, it is very difficult to see anything outside of the wrestling ring itself.  Throughout the match, Alex's wrestling coach had been yelling out instructions from the side of the mat. But up to this point Alex had not heard any of what his coach had been saying nor could he see the coach or any of the people in the bleachers. Then at the beginning of the third period after the crowd noise had died down, Matt, who was sitting in the bleachers, yelled out loud and clear, "I WANT TO SEE A LOW SINGLE". Alex looked up at the bleachers from where he heard the voice and with an acknowledging expression on his face, he proceeded to take down his opponent several times with a low single.

Alex told us in his email that he had likened this story to faith. He and Matt had been working on this move for several weeks but Alex never had enough faith or confidence in his abilities to actually use it. Then during this final match, Alex's coach from the side of the mat, was yelling out different instructions. But there was too much crowd noise and commotion for Alex to hear and understand the instructions. Then when the noise finally died down so that Alex could actually stop and listen, he heard the instructions loud and clear from the person that had been teaching him the move. At that point Alex put aside his doubts in his abilities and put his faith in what he had been taught.

Since we were obviously not at the church meeting where Alex recited this story, I'm guessing that when he used this story in his talk, he said that it was like listening to the still small voice. Once all of the outside noise and commotion dies down and we are able to actually listen, we hear the voice loud and clear.  Listening to this voice can give is the confidence and faith to follow the instructions that are being told to us.

For all of you who were in the meeting that day when Alex spoke about faith and for those just reading this blog entry, here is the actual event that goes with the story. The following is a video clip of the actual event taking place during the final home wrestling dual. Up to this point Alex was winning the match but had struggled on a few of his other takedown moves. His coach had been yelling out instructions from the edge of the mat during the entire match. The clip picks up at the beginning of the third period. Pay special attention to Alex's facial expression after his cousin yells "Low Single".  Who would have known that the experiences of this night would be part of Alex's preparation for a mission.


 


So that was just the beginning of Alex and his companion's Sunday as missionaries.  Oh, before I move on to tell you about the rest of his day, there was one other funny part to this story.  As you probably already know, the mid-western states are notorious for tornados.  So one of the things that I guess the people are used to who live in these states, are tornado warning drills.  For whatever reason there was going to be a tornado drill sometime towards the end of Sacrament meeting.  While Alex was standing at the pulpit giving his talk, he knew that at some point the warning bells would ring and that he would have to wrap up very quickly.  Sure enough towards the end of his talk the warning bells rang right in the middle of talking about the stripling warriors.  At that point somebody kicked Alex in the knee from behind, Alex abruptly ended his talk and the congregation got a good laugh out of the whole thing.  Like I mentioned earlier, missionaries have to be prepared for anything.  Who would have thought that a tornado warning drill would have been included in that list.

In addition to speaking in Sacrament meeting, Alex and his companion were also assigned to teach a lesson to the young men in another Ward.  At the same time that they were supposed to also be attending PEC meeting in their home ward.  They managed to find splits so that they could actually be in two places at once and were able to take care of their responsibilities.  Then on top of all of that, they were asked to teach sharing time in primary for both the junior and senior primary kids.  When they were orignally asked to teach the primary kids, they were simply told to teach about prophets and missions and that was about all the details that they were given.  So being good missionaries who are always prepared, they just winged it. ;-)  But when it was all said and done, everything worked out well.  In Alex's words:

"The junior primary was a little rough because they didn’t really participate, but the senior primary was a blast! They asked us questions about what we do as missionaries, and we had everyone laughing! The teachers had more fun than the kids did I think ha ha."

Then right after their church meetings ended, they had other teaching appointments to attend to that day.  All in all, a very busy day for a couple of missionaries.  I am sure that by the end of the day, they were both very tired but also very satisfied with all that they had accomplished.

General Conference weekend was this last week with many good talks given by the General Authorities of the Church as well as the Prophet and Apostles.  Alex told us in his latest email that conference weekend is like the super bowl for missionaries.  They don't have to plan anything for the whole weekend and they get to watch conference and eat food at the institute building.  Alex was very impressed by many of the talks that were given during the various conference sessions.  He told us that the message that most impressed him throughout the conference was making the family stronger. 

As usual Alex told us about several of the people that they are teaching and how well things are going.  I won't share those stories here but in almost every email he talks about how great these people are and how much he looks forward to teaching them more about the gospel. 

One last funny story for this week.  For whatever reason, Alex asked us to contact his doctor who gave him his physical exam before Alex left on his mission.  What he wanted to know was his exact height before he left because he now swears that he is taller because his weight has gone up even though he is still in the same shape as always.  Alex also mentioned that there were a couple of pictures of him and his companion that were posted on a web blog called bakingandboys.com .  It is a blog that is maintained by one of their Ward members who apparently really likes to bake.  Anyway, the pictures on the web site show Alex and his companion with several pieces of very yummy looking cheesecake in front of them (Cheesecake tasting competition).  I sent Alex back a response that maybe we should ask the doctor what his width was before his mission rather than his height. If he keeps eating deserts like that, his weight gain could be easily explained. ;-)  Alex likes to do a lot of baking himself.  But the difference is that Alex's recipes usually come from the back of a brownie mix box. 

A couple more follow ups...

Alex wrote us a few weeks back and told us that he and his companion had recieved permission to go to a Kansas University women's basketball game with a family in their Ward and some of the family's friends.  Alex and his companion really enjoyed the basketball game even though the Jayhawks got creamed.  The funny story about this whole event was that Alex told us that everytime the cheerleaders would come out on the floor to dance, he and his companion would look away.  One of the family members that invited them to go to the game, noticed this and started joking with these good missionaries about not wanting to be tempted checking out the cheerleaders. :)  Anyway, sometime during the event, Alex was able to get a picture of himself with the Jayhawk's mascot so I just thought that I would share it here.

Yep, I agree.  The missionaries are #1!  Since this picture was taken at a women's basketball game, I just hope that the person under the jayhawk costume wasn't actually a female.  Otherwise this might be incriminating evidence of a mission rules violation. ;-)  Just kidding!

You also might remember the newspaper article about Alex and the Wamego wrestling team.  In addition the the above photo, Alex also sent us the original article from the Wamego Times (turns out I was right about the name of the newspaper :).  So I took the opportunity to scan the article and include it here.  The image below is probably too small for you to read.  But if you click on the image, a larger copy will appear which should be big enough to read the entire text.  Enjoy!

Patience and perseverance

How time flys when you have a missionary.  It's been a couple of weeks since we last wrote on this blog and Alex has had a lot of new experiences in that time.  One of those experiences has been learning that everybody has their free agency.  Alex wrote us last week and said that he has had one of the toughest weeks since he arrived in his mission.  It has been a little rough at times trying to get things going in Lawrence.  Alex and his companion have had some successes but they have also had some disappointments.

Six weeks ago when Alex and his companion arrived in Lawrence, they really didn't have anybody to teach.  They were literally starting from ground zero.  Since then they have been able to find a few people who have been interested in listening to the message that these Elders have.  Unfortunately some of those people have also decided that they had heard enough.  That is where the free agency part comes to play.  Alex mentioned that a few days ago they had set 5 different teaching appointments.  As the day went on, 4 out of the 5 appointments never materialized.  Fortunately and unfortunately at the same time, the 5th appointment did work out.  The unfortunate part was that when it was all said and done, it didn't go real well.  Needless  to say, it wasn't a good day in the life of a couple of the Lord's servants.  They don't call a mission the hardest two years of a young man's life for nothing.  But out of every experience there is a lesson.  But as good as that lesson might be, sometimes it is hard to learn.  Maybe this lesson is just to learn a little patience and perseverance.

It wasn't all bad though.  One of the bright spots was that a young man from the Wamego branch (Alex's first area if you remember) decided that he wanted to spend his spring break working with Alex and his companion  in Lawrence, Kansas.  Think about it.  A young man, just a senior in high school, wanting to hang out with the missionaries over spring break.  For a missionary, it just doesn't get much better than that.  To know that you have influenced someone else to the point where they feel that the best way to spend their spring break would be to help the missionaries teach the gospel.  Alex told us just how much this young man enjoyed spending the week with the missionaries.  Alex also said that some really good things happened and the whole experience was life changing.  In Alex's words, "It Rocks!!!"  Things also picked up the next day when they went out to teach some other people that they had been talking to.  Alex said that during one of the lessons, the spirit was really strong and that the person they were teaching could really feel it.  In the end, it really isn't the missionaries that change peoples lives, what it really is, is the spirit testifying to that person.  I'm sure that they must have had many other great experiences that week.  Of course weekly letters just can't capture them all.  But the overall impression was that sometimes things go the way you expect and other times they don't.  It is that whole free agency thing.

In most of Alex's letters he usually includes some kind of interesting story about an event that happened to him.  Well this week wasn't any different.  Alex told us about how he and his companion were baking some brownies to take to some of the people that they had been teaching.  Making food for people is one thing that Alex picked up long before he arrived in the mission field.  There were plenty of mornings when we would wake up to find Alex making breakfast for is friends after an early study session or temple trip to do baptisms.  But anyway, back to the story.  So while they were making brownies, Alex heard the phone ring and knew that it was a call from the mission president.  Apparently they have set a special ring tone on the phone for the mission office.  So Alex picked up the phone and sure enough, it was the mission president with a new assignment.  If you remember back a few months, the last time Alex got a call from the mission president with a new assignment, the new assignment included a transfer to a different area.  Alex was a little scared that this new assignment was going to turn out the same way and the last thing he wanted was another transfer.  Luckily this new assignment didn't include a transfer.  So here is the rest of the story in Alex's words:

 [Mission President speaking] “Elder Nicholes, congratulations I have a new assignment for you!”, my heart just dropped, I thought I was getting transferred for sure! But he told me that I was going to be the new district leader and that my companion and I would be staying together in Lawrence. So I didn’t really know what to say, I mean it’s crazy! I barely know what I am doing as a missionary, let alone a district leader.

Yep, that's right.  Alex is the new district leader over the Lawrence, Kansas area.  We also received a nice letter from the mission president today.  Among other things, it said just how well Alex has demonstrated leadership abilities and because of that and his strong testimony in the restored gospel, he has been called to be a leader in the Independence Missouri mission.  This isn't the first time that Alex has stepped up to be a leader but most of the other times usually had something to do with sports.  I'm sure that this leadership position will come with new experiences and challenges.

It seems like every week Alex is talking about new people that they are teaching.  Sometimes they start out teaching somebody and things don't work out and other times they do.  The thing to remember is that life as a missionary has a lot of ups and downs.  You just have to learn to roll with them.

So here is a follow up to something that happened to Alex during his first few weeks in Wamego, Kansas not long after arriving to the Independence mission.  If you recall, one of the things that missionaries do is try to volunteer some of their time to the community.  In an effort to do that, Alex and his companion at the time, volunteered at the high school to help out with the wresting team.  For those who may not know, Alex was a state champion wrestler during his senior year in high school.  Anyway, the local newspaper found out that there were a couple of "Mormon" missionaries helping out with the high school wrestling team and decided to write a story about it.  Unfortunately before the newspaper article ran, Alex got transferred from Wamego to Platt City.  So finally, just today, we got a copy of the article that ran in the Wamego Times (OK, I'm not really sure what the actual name of the Wamego newspaper is).  The article was titled "Mission on the Mat, Mormon missionaries assist Raider wrestling program".  Too bad this particular newspaper doesn't have an online version, because it was truely a well written article.  Since I can't really reprint the entire article here, I will try to just pick out a few quotes.  The article starts out:

    "Utah's 2009 state wrestling champion in the 152-pound weight class is back on the mat as a volunteer coach for the Wamego High School wrestling team.  
    He's 19-year-old Alex Nicholes, an elder in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon church), who was assigned to Wamego as the first stop on his two-year mission for his church."

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...  "Hartwick said Elder Nicholes has already made a positive impact on the WHS wrestling program. "He's helped make our team a team," the senior wrestler said."

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... "Nicholes credits his faith for his wrestling success.  He has been wrestling since eighth grade.
    "I put a lot of religion in my wrestling," Nicholes said. "That's where I get my strength from." 
    While he enjoys wrestling, Nicholes said the main benefit of being a volunteer coach is that he is "meeting great kids."

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... "Only the LDS church officials know how long Nicholes' tenure at Wamego will be, but Hartwick and other WHS wrestlers hope this assignment lasts at least through the wrestling season. He has definitely found a unique way to help out in the community."

Those were just a few of the many things that this article had to say about Alex, his companion, wrestling and life as an LDS missionary.  After having been in the local PG newspaper several times during his high school wrestling and track career, it was great to see Alex in the newspaper one last time for his wrestling accomplishments.  But this time is a bit different.  More importantly, he is in the newspaper for being a great missionary. 

You never know who you are going to meet...

Can you say "road trip"?  I told you last time that one of the wrestlers from Wamego (Alex's first mission area) who is also a member of the LDS church, would be wrestling in the Kansas state tournament.  This wrestler had asked if Alex would be able to go to the wrestling tournament to support him and help out in his matches.  Alex and his companion talked to both the assistants to the president and the mission president and received permission to go to the tournament.  What an opportunity!  Not only would Alex get to watch wrestling again, but he would get to do it while wearing his suit, tie and missionary name tag.  I'm sure that many people will take notice that there are a couple of Mormon missionaries wandering around a wrestling tournament and wondering why they are there.  The more people who ask questions, the more opportunities to share the gospel.

Anyway, Alex and his companion got up early on the morning of the tournament and headed for Wamego to meet up with the wrestler and his family.  After giving his companion a quick tour of the town, they met the family and were off to the tournament.  To make a longer story shorter, the tournament didn't quite turn out the way everybody had planned.  As we can testify, sometimes wrestling matches go your way when maybe they weren't suppose to and other times they don't when they should have.  In this case it was the latter.  On a more positive note, it always amazes me just how much Alex has influenced for the good, all the people he comes in contact with.  This case is no different.  Alex's influence and I am sure the influence of many others as well, will never be forgotten.  Alex told us that despite the unfortunate outcome of the tournament, it was still an awesome day.

Well after their big day at the Kansas state wrestling tournament, it was back to normal missionary work and trying to find those who are willing and ready to listen to the message that the missionaries have to offer.  From the time that Alex and his companion arrived in Lawrence, this has been their biggest struggle.  But Alex told us that things are really picking up for them and that they are now teaching a number of really solid contacts.  Of course you always have to take the bad with the good and missionary work is no different.  There are always those who start out with a real interest in learning more about the gospel of Jesus Christ but then later, for whatever reason, don't want to continue.  Alex and his companion have been experiencing this as well.  But literally, in their case, as one door shuts another one seems to open up and the work moves forward.

Alex told us a story about how he and his companion where taking down the Christmas lights at a neighbor's house one morning.  Seems a little late in the year to be taking down Christmas lights.  If it were up to me, I would just forget about it and leave them up for next year.  But that is a completely different story.  Anyway, since they were having to climb up and down a ladder while working outside, they weren't dressed in their normal missionary suite and tie.  While they were working, a couple of missionaries from a different denomination just happen to pass by and started up a conversation with Alex and his companion.  At first these other missionaries didn't know that Alex and his companion were actually missionaries themselves, but from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  As the conversation continued and the other missionaries started throwing out bible references, Alex was able to recite the references from memory even before the other missionary had a chance to look it up.  Finally the other missionaries asked if Alex and his companion were Mormon missionaries.  Alex said in his letter:

"...we weren’t going to lie, so I put my arm around one of them and said we sure are!!"

Needless to say, not a whole lot of progress was made on either side, but chalk one up to new experiences.  You never know where it might lead.

Alex and his companion have really been working hard to get things going in Lawrence.  Every week he tells us about all of the people that they are teaching and how well the work is going.  The Ward that they have been assigned to is really stepping up and helping out in the missionary work.  Alex has mentioned several times how much he enjoys working with the Ward mission leader and what great families there are in the Ward.  Alex also mentioned just how crazy it is that there are so many ties back to home.  He said that there are a lot of people in his area that have sons, daughters, nieces, nephews or grandchildren that live in Utah and some that even went to the same high school with Alex.  Alex found out that one Ward member was actually at Alex's graduation last year.

It is always great to hear from Alex and to read all about the people that he has met.  Hopefully Alex and his companion will be able to stay a little longer in Lawrence rather than getting transferred again.  I know Alex would love that.