rough week! But the Church is still true!

Hello everybody!!

How on earth are you doing? I hope you have had a better week than I have! I am afraid I may not have a whole lot to report.. But! Let me give you a feel of how my week was in terms of proselyting:

MONDAY - Had district meeting, went to fix a member's computer, Elder Scoggin got sick, stayed inside the rest of the day. Found out he was getting transferred.

TUESDAY - Did our P-Day stuff (laundry, e-mail, shopping...), said bye to a few people, Elder Scoggin had to pack for like 4+ hours.

WEDNESDAY - Transfer day. Elders Scoggin and Flake drove down to the mission office and left me with a VERY VERY VERY VERY sick Elder Passey for the majority of the day. It snow stormed and our new companions got to the apartment late. Found out that the Garland Elders lost power in their apartment so they had no heat or light, they had to spend the night at our place.

THURSDAY - I was once again stuck with a bed ridden Elder Passey during the morning while the other 2 went to District Leader Training in Brigham City. They left their car keys and phone in the Zone Leaders car and before they could tell the ZLs were on the way to Ogden. They got stuck in Brigham City for an extra 5 hours. And I was stuck at home again.

FRIDAY - Went running in the morning on an upset stomach, and puked my guts out. Got home, discovered that I too had contracted the flu! Spent all day in bed, throwing up, etc.

... Does it look like there was a whole lot of time to go teach people? :( It's been rough to say the least. And we baptized a lot of our investigators last transfer so this transfer is going to be arduous and very very very heavy on finding and contacting people.

My new companion is Elder Hall from California. Not just that, but DISNEYLAND California! Hahaha. He's not nearly as laid back as Elder Scoggin, but he's very focused and very bold when he teaches, so it should be a sweet change of pace. I've learned a lot from him already and we haven't even gotten to teach a lot of people yet!

Haha! So guess what? We ate dinner with an older couple on Sunday who told us that they're going to be reporting to the Nauvoo Illinois Mission in March. Well the guy there told us that he served his mission in France ever so long ago. He served there for 2 and a half years and had ZERO baptisms. But that's not the point of the story! Guess who his mission companion was at one point? Go ahead guess!! MITT ROMNEY!! Hahaha. Like THE Mitt Romney. I don't know - I thought it was crazy.

But lets see.. I don't have a whole lot else to say as its been kind of a downer of a week. But I have not lost the faith! :)

Umm.. Questions..

Brittney - YES I received the package/thing you sent!! Those turtle things looked yucky and squished after the mail, you were right.. But they tasted fine! My Zone Leader stole most of them.. but I'm over it! I sent you a letter like the day before I got your letter, so I wasn't sure if I was supposed to send you another one.. But seeing as it's been over a month since I sent it, I may have to..!

Emily - ITS IN THE MAIL! YAY! I hate the mail. But if it shows up, I may just have to jump for joy.

Mom - Yes I ate all the ketchup chips! Also - SCOTTS GETTING MARRIED!? BOUNTIFUL IS IN MY MISSION! NO WAY!! What's her name!? Is it Ryan? Hahaha. Way to go for him! Is Ben getting nervous about leaving or is he just itching to go? I heard from Nathasia that Kepler got his mission call, so that's WAY sweet! When does Cody report? Lets see.. What do I need from home.. Can you send me a few CDs? I promise they're good ones! Just a few of them! Owl City - "Of June" is a really old but awesome album that I was looking for. Also Relient K - "Mmhmm" is a very uplifting album. And can you send me my Classic Crime - "Albatross" CD? It should be in my room somewhere... I guess I need meds? Uhh... I'm planning to start compiling a package to send home! I'll put my memory card (which I took the time to create a sheet with descriptions for EVERY picture on it!) and a few other things in there. I have WAY too many socks! Don't send socks! :) I sent Ryan a letter. I hope he gets it and it makes him smile!

I've given up on sending individual pictures through this mail system.. Which just motivates me to send the memory card. It's probably about that time.. Hahaha.

I love you all! The church is still true!

- Elder Tyler Grant

One more thought...

HI!

Just a thought I forgot to put in my letter... We were talking to a man last Saturday about how he doesn't believe in religion or God. At one point he said "Why would a loving God make one of his children come to Earth in a body that they can barely use?" I thought about this for a while, and an answer came to me. This is just a thought - not doctrine :)

People who are mentally or physically handicapped obviously have a hard time on earth making decisions in some way shape or form. But - those people who can't make those choices for themselves are NOT here to be tested. They have proven themselves before they came to this earth. They are among the "noble and great ones" spoken of in Moses. They are here on earth not necessarily to prove themselves, but more importantly to receive their bodies. That's why we came to earth.

Another thought that kind of spliced with another - When Evan was born, the rate of Autism was around 1 in 10000, whereas now it's closer to 1 in 100. Going along with that, the prophets have told of this generation of youth being the greatest of all time. Choice spirits that were saved to come to the earth at this specific time where it would be the hardest because Heavenly Father knew that we could withstand. Do you think it's a coincidence that rates of mental disabilities are spiking at the same time that we have been told that all of the choice spirits are coming to earth? I don't know if that correlates at all.. But to me, it made sense. :)

Okay! love you!

- Elder Tyler Grant

Transfers....

Hi everyone! I have just received devastating news! AH! Elder Scoggin, who I thought was going to be my trainer for an entire 12 weeks, is being transferred to be a Zone Leader in Hyrum. And I'm getting a new companion tomorrow who no one in our zone has ever heard of... So I'm hoping for the best! But at any rate, it has been awesome serving with him and I'm definitely a better missionary because of him.

This week has been... Umm.. Pretty neat! Elder Scoggin and I have taken turns getting sick and that's been a real treat.. Pause.. Not. But we've lived through it all. I received and consumed 2 more bags of ketchup chips (thank you mom!) and can't wait until some kind soul decides to send me more.. :D

In terms of teaching, this week has been a bit of a slum. We've baptized a lot of our church goers and are rebuilding once more. We HAVE picked up a few miracle baptismal dates though! Want to know how old they are? One is 9. The other is... 9. It's a common theme in this mission to baptize children, you see. But hey! Baptism is the minimum requirement for the Celestial Kingdom, so I'm okay with it!

The first kid is named Carson, and he lives with a fairly less active family. His dad is a Jehovah's Witness and his mom is LDS. How does that even work out..? But anyway. We've tried to contact them for the past 5 weeks and they are literally never home. But we caught them home last Thursday and asked when we could come by and start teaching him. The funny part - after we asked about lessons, his mom said "Nah.. He's had all the lessons already. Let's just get him dunked. How does February 4th sound?" Hahaha! So we went over some questions and reviewed some stuff with him and he's good to go too! Yay for 9 year olds.

Speaking of miracle 9 year olds.. There is a kid named McKade who we literally haven't even met yet. Literally 10 minutes after we committed Carson to a date, we went over to his Bishop's house to tell him about the baptism coming up. Bishop then told us about McKade, a kid who's 8 years old right now and has been waiting for his dad to become worthy to baptize him. Sadly, it's not going to happen for a very long time, and they want him to be baptized on February 4th. Did I mention that February 4th is his birthday? Classic Ogden baptism. Snatch all the 9 year olds as soon as you can :) hahaha.. Just kidding, obviously. But it's still awesome that I get to be a part of it. We've been super blessed to have been here at this time.

Umm. That was so many questions that I don't even know which one to confront first. Gah! Before I do, I have a story here that I think Dad will appreciate... A high councilman shared this story in sacrament this past sunday. Check it out. (: The allegory of the toothpaste factory!

"A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up, and people with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timing so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time.

Small variations in the environment (which can’t be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean you must have quality assurance checks smartly distributed across the line so that customers all the way down to the supermarket don’t get angry and buy another product instead.

Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory got the top people in the company together and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem, as their internal engineering department was already too stretched to take on any extra effort.

The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution — on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time.
They solved the problem by using high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box would weigh less than it should. The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box out of it, pressing another button when done to re-start the line.

A while later, the CEO decides to have a look at the ROI of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. Very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share. That’s some money well spent! – He says, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.

It turns out; the number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use. It should’ve been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He filed a bug against it, and after some investigation, the engineers come back saying the report was actually correct. The scales really weren’t picking up any defects, because all boxes that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.

Puzzled, the CEO travels down to the factory, and walks up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed.

A few feet before the scale, there was a $20 desk fan, blowing the empty boxes out of the belt and into a bin.

“Oh, that,” says one of the workers — “one of the guys put it there cause he was tired of walking over….. every time the bell rang”.

Feel free to relate it to the Gospel. I don't want to massacre the way that he related it, but all in all, funny story!

Lets see... questions slash follow up... MANKINI!? YUCK!! At the same time, it's something that you would definitely do, dad.. Haha. That baptism sounds amazing. Is Elder Faas still there? He's been there so long! It's clear that they're definitely working hard, and it's so sweet to hear about the fruits of their labors. Another small world moment for you - I just discovered yesterday that Sister Maurer, a missionary in my district, was friends with Andrew Baxter  before the mission. She's from New Zealand. Crazy, right? Mom - I've got about a third of my concerta supply I believe... Some more would probably be a good idea! I've sent letters to about every one that I know and still haven't gotten any back :) So maybe I truly am postal-service-handicapped... Blast. I haven't had to wear my boots yet! It has snowed exactly 2 times since I've been here and both times the snow has melted within 24 hours. Some winter... Evan? High School? *Shudders*... Good luck! As for our apartment, we live with a member family. Kind of. Their garage isn't attached to their house, and our apartment is attached to the garage. If that makes sense. It's very comfortable, very warm, and the members we live with are very kind.

Well I was going to attach pictures... But I forgot my camera cord. And my camera. Double drat. Umm.. I'll be sure to send letters your way updating you on my situation in Tremonton with my new companion and stuff and things and stuff.

Love you all!!

- Elder Tyler Grant

The Book of Mormon is True!

Hi once again!

Well family! How's it going? Now that everyone is back in Iowa (and Ryan now knows that I have in fact been writing home...), hopefully everything is falling back into order after the chaos of the holiday season. DAD DIDN'T BLOW ANYTHING UP!? QUESTION MARK!? I'm ashamed.

Well! This week was a very unique one, being that our goals for the week were to have one baptism and one confirmation, but we in were blessed enough to have two! The first one we had was the 11-year-old girl. She was baptized and confirmed by her GREAT GRANDPA!! That's how less-active her family is. But it was a special day for her and her family nonetheless. We were having problems keeping the font filled (the drain leaks and doesn't hold water very well..) and it turned out that she got baptized in a half-full font. Which was interesting.. Considering she's a fairly tall 11 year old. But it all worked out!

The second baptism we had I talked a little bit about last week. Remember when I told you that a guy came up to church and said we needed to baptize his 9 year old son they just adopted? Well.. We committed him to be baptized on January 21st initially. And then, jokingly, we said "We can do the baptism this Saturday if you REALLY want to, since he's been going to Primary for 6 months." I was expecting them to kind of laugh and shrug it off. But instead they said the dreaded words: "Actually.. We'll pray about it." Cue another crazy week. Except this time, unlike Jeremy, Joseph hadn't been taught all the lessons before. So we frantically set up a few more lessons, they went through fine, got him interviewed, and lo and behold - we had another baptism last Saturday. It was so awesome and the Spirit there was just incredible. We're hoping to be able to go to the temple with them to see when they get Joseph sealed to their family, which will be happening soon!

I think one of my favorite parts about being a missionary is seeing what you teach make an immediate impact on those who you're talking to. Last Wednesday we were teaching a less active family with an 8 year old son that Brother McNally wants to be able to baptize. After the lesson, the 8 year old, Mason, said the closing prayer. And in the prayer he said "Please bless me that I can be a missionary someday!" It was so awesome.

Another sweet thing about being a missionary in a place where we have 14 wards is that we get to go to a lot of testimony meetings on fast Sunday! We went to 4, actually.. Oh! So a few weeks ago, we ate at the Rupp family's home for dinner. They have a 32 year old daughter living with them who's autistic, and she looks like shes 18. But she was telling us that she's been volunteering at the Seminary and Institute building for the past few months/years/i don't remember and she's been waiting to get her name tag saying that she's a missionary serving there. She was so excited when she was telling us about the "mission" she was on. Well! We were in their ward for sacrament meeting, and when testimony meeting started, people started getting up. In the middle of someone's testimony, I saw someone stand up and go sit on the front pew to wait in line to go next. I recognized her as the autistic girl who we had talked to, and I thought I saw her wearing something. Sure enough, she walked up to the pulpit and said, very slowly, "Well! I have a few things that I'd like to share with you today, but most importantly, I got my name tag!!" She then bore her testimony very simply and how grateful she was to be serving her mission for Heavenly Father and now she's got a badge to prove it! It was just so sweet.

Guess what? I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time for sure! I've read it for class and for seminary, but I've never taken my own time to just read through it. I've been told it's true for my entire life, but there's just the amazing feeling that Moroni's promise gives us when we read it and pray to know if its true. I felt the Spirit confirm to me that it was true. It was like no other feeling I've ever had, and it was something that I definitely couldn't deny.

Umm.. I've sent many letters off! I have not received any back though! So hopefully I'm not mailing them wrong.. Me and the post office just don't get along...

In short, the Book of Mormon is now OFFICIALLY true, there's lots of work to be done, and I'm happily doing it! That's SO sick that Cody got called to London! I've been told it's a tough mission and a hard area to serve, but I know without a doubt that Elder Pond will be able to go forth and conquer! Haha.. SO sweet! And Ben will be leaving in like a month! Finally! Goodness.. I'll have baptized half of the state before he gets to Australia! Well.. I shouldn't say that. Pride is a dangerous thing.. :P

Umm.. Oh yeah! Questions!

I have not gotten mom's package from Canada yet. Jeremy's ward is actively looking for accommodations for him to live, but hopefully and ultimately he'll move back in with his wife. Waking up is tough! But I have definitely found that sleeping in is much harder... The Lord has promised to bless us with strength if we follow his commandments, so if we follow the schedule, we'll be good for the day! My passport did arrive! I'm planning on taking it to the mission office whenever we head there next, which probably won't be till March at the VERY earliest. Since I'm technically still training, they keep you in your first area with your trainer for a full 12 weeks, and there's no need to waste miles going to Ogden just to drop off a passport! Elder Scoggin may get transferred at the beginning of March, but I'm pretty darn sure I still get him for next transfer. He's been in Tremonton for a month and a half longer than I have. The Kelly's are gone! No! I sent them a letter nonetheless.. At least Kim and Kristian will be there, right? Dad - 15 pounds? That's like.. almost 16 pounds! Hahaha.. :P  We go out with the ward mission leaders a lot, so don't get any misconceptions about us making them do our work for us or anything.. For the record - I did get some new music! The NEWEST OWL CITY CD!! Which is inspiring, uplifting, and .. uhh.. inspiring! DOUBLE inspiring..

Is that all the questions? I don't care! I'm done answering questions today! So be it! I'm hopefully gonna send a few more pictures your way, this stupid e-mail doesn't seem to send them half the time.. But! Be patient....

I love you all!

- Elder Tyler Grant

Christmas in Utah

Well.. Considering mom is in canada, and dad didn't send his "Weekly Missive" ... I don't know what to expect from this. But I'll try. My LDSMail has been freaking out lately and acting up. Lame lame lame lame.

SO! Merry Christmas once again! My Christmas was pretty sweet, but not as relaxing as it probably should have been. We were bouncing from house to house, party to party, and never really got to just take a step back and chill out. But right after I called you, we went to dinner at this super sweet family's house. They gave Elder Scoggin and I BOTH lots of Christmas presents, and we'd never even met them before! They gave us hats, socks, ties, supplies, and chocolate. They also fed us CRAZY well. And I would have enclosed pictures, but.. I forgot my camera cord. Blast.

Uhh... What has happened since Sunday.. For one, we were supposed to have 2 baptisms this Saturday, but I'm PRETTY sure that one of them isn't going to happen. The guy we're teaching may not be as sincere as we once thought, but that's not for us to judge. We have to let him make his own decisions, and if he ends up not getting baptized, we can't do anything but re-extend the invitation. BUT! The other one has been interviewed, programs made up, and ready to go! My first baptism of my whole mission is gonna be a 9 year old  ADHD kid named Kolton. How appropriate :).

Random question - I'm wondering how long Andrew Olson spoke with his mother on Christmas day.. :) I gave you guys 49 minutes for the whole family. All signs point to him speaking for a much longer period of time. Maybe not 6 hours... but maybe!

Last night one of our lessons for some golden investigators fell through, which was kind of disappointing. But the lesson right after that one, we committed someone ELSE to baptism, so it all worked out! We now have 5 people with a date, and like 15 tentative people that we're working with. I love this so much. Sorry to hear that you only baptized 6 or 7 people your whole mission dad! I'll most likely have that by the end of January.. :) Not bragging! I promise! I'm humble as can be! And I'll be sure to tell President Moriyama thank you for the Choco Pies the next time I see him!

Well today, being P-Day, we took a trip with the White family up to Logan to go do a session at the temple. The reason it was so awesome was that right after I got done changing and was about to go get a name to do the endowments for, an elderly man walked up to me and Elder Passey and said "Hey! Are you two doing a session?" We said yes, and he asked us if we could do some of his family's names that he brought for him. So instead of doing a random persons name, we got a specific person. And I don't know why, because technically it was still a random person, but it seemed so much more meaningful when at least SOMEONE knows who the person is and has an idea what their situation was and how long they've been waiting for the work. It was awesome. :)

By the way - In Logan today we went to a store called Leven's and I bought my ties!! So if you're planning on bankrolling the occasion, please do so! :) Hahaha.. Lucky for you, Leven's sells $40 ties and I bought 13 of them!! You do the math! Actually, before you freak out about it, Leven's gives a special discount to missionaries and they give us these $40 ties for $5 each.. and for every 5 ties you get a 6th one free. So instead of spending $520 on ties plus tax, I spent a measly $50. You're welcome. :)

Uhh.. So Elder Scoggin's friend back home sent both me and him presents for Christmas. 12 of them. Each. For the 12 days of Christmas. Never have I felt so guilty to receive presents. BUT! One of them is a Rubik's cube. And even though it's a nasty holiday cube with patterns all over it and is EASILY the absolute stiffest cube I have ever dealt with, it has been providing me with plenty of enjoyment..

What else has happened lately.. Uhh.. Erm.. It's been 2 days since I talked to you.. So .. Uhh.. Gah.. I'm kind of at a loss for words. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my suit! l was tempted to buy a $20 suit at the D.I. today, but I chose not to. I can be patient! But I DID buy a super sweet GUMBY TIE!! I'm never going to be able to wear it, but it was $2 and I couldn't resist.

So I'm realizing more and more as the days go by that I'm not really sure if I've ever read the Book of Mormon cover to cover before! I finished the Alma block and Helaman and seriously? All the stuff in it just amazes me. I don't remember the stories of the Book of Mormon being so epic! I mean, Nephi is just a BEAST! That is.. Nephi son of Nephi son of Helaman son of Helaman son of Alma son of Alma. That Nephi. The one who God gives him the power to literally do anything because he knows that Nephi is faithful enough to never ask for anything contrary to God's will? The Nephi who, when he is being swarmed by people who want to kill him, is "carried away by the Spirit" and basically teleports from city to city preaching the word? The Nephi who people are ANGRY with because there was NO WAY that they couldn't believe what he was saying was true because of the power of his testimony? How amazing is that!? I had a really cool experience, actually!

Yesterday in my studies it just so happened that I stopped my study time in 3 Nephi 10. And today in the temple, in the Celestial room, I had the chance to read 3 Nephi 11. And wow. It was just amazingly powerful. Like nothing I've ever felt.

Well I've got to get going. I look forward to receiving ketchup chips! I love all of you! It was good to hear from you on Christmas. OH! RYAN!!! (Make sure this gets to Ryan..) Have you ever heard of Jon Schmidt? He's an LDS pianist and he is just amazing. 3 Songs you need to look up and learn how to play. "Love Story meets Viva la Vida" , "Waterfall" , and "All of Me." They're all just AMAZING. And you need to look them up. Its not a suggestion. It's an order. PLEASE.

OKAY! NOW I'M GOING!

LOVE YOU ALL!!

- Elder Tyler Grant :)

Miracles in the mission field!

Oh my oh my oh my. This week has just been INCREDIBLE. Where do I even begin..

As you recall, I was supposed to have my first baptism last Saturday! BUT! Kolton was NOT my first baptism! So the story begins:

There is a 35 year old guy in our area named Jeremy who the missionaries have been teaching for a very long time. He's had a super tough life - separated from his wife, and more recently since he has had nowhere to live, he has been sleeping in a tent in an RV park and since it has been cold, in a van. He's been taught just about everything, but was still a bit shaky on a lot of things. We had been teaching him, but our appointments with him kept falling through. On Wednesday afternoon, we went by his van to visit him, and for once he was actually there! We talked to him a bit, and said we were going to have to move his baptismal date back again, and out of nowhere, he says, "Umm.. Can I get baptized Friday morning?" Literally 36 hours away. So we had to drop all of our plans to go find people in the next day and a half and scrambled to find people to speak, baptize, play the piano, confirm, etc. And, SOMEHOW, with a day's notice, EVERYBODY was able to come! The baptism went off without a hitch. It was by far the craziest single event of my mission so far. It has truly been a witness to me that we need to have faith that the Lord can do anything!

After Friday's pandemonium, we were privileged to have Kolton's baptism on Saturday morning too! It was super sweet. He's the hyperactive  9 year old that I told you about last week. The coolest part is that both of his parents are less-active, and his dad's side of the family is completely inactive. But come Saturday morning, basically his ENTIRE family, both members and non, were able to come and see him get baptized. It was just awesome. They all came to his confirmation on Sunday too and his grandpa was able to confirm him. Kolton's principal came to his baptism too and shared a super sweet experience that he had with him. He told us that one day, Kolton came into the office and gave him a pass-along card with a picture of Christ on it. He asked the principal if he knew who it was in the picture, and he said that yes he did. With tears in his eyes, Kolton then said, "That's Jesus Christ. He's dead. He died so that I can be happy." How awesome.

So following along with the theme of miracles, there's a father and son that we are teaching that are just golden as can be. So we went to their church meeting to see them there (they didn't get to make it, sadly) and some guy walked up to us and said "I want you to baptize my son." Miracle #3. They've had custody of this boy since June and they have JUST legally adopted him this last Tuesday. He's been going to church with them and he wants his new dad to baptize him. The only requirements for baptism are that they know the doctrines of the lessons and that they've been to church 3 times, and since he's been going to Primary for 6 months, he already knows everything! He's 9 years old, so he qualifies as a convert baptism and we get to teach him! AND! We may even have the baptism THIS SATURDAY! GAH!! It's just unbelievable what's going on here right now.

And this Saturday we already have a baptism! We've been teaching an 11-year-old named Kylie for a while and she's had her date moved around but she's been interviewed and ready to go! Miracles miracles miracles.

How about another one?? So last night, we got a phone call from a lady and she's like "Can we set up an appointment? We have a friend staying with us and she's interested in the church and wants to take the discussions." Member referrals are rare. And even MORE so because Elder Scoggin and I have to field all the referral calls and pass them on to other districts. We've literally passed on like 7 or 8 referrals to the surrounding areas in the past 4 weeks. But this one stuck! We're gonna teach her on Thursday!

Okay I think that covers it for the miracles segment of this weeks letter :). The funny thing is the reason WHY it's all happening! In district meeting on Wednesday, we were talking about ways to receive revelation and also the importance of sacrifice and fasting. Since fasting is discouraged on a mission for more than it is necessary, we decided that we would give up listening to music in the car. I know. The Owl City CD that we had listened to 40+ times to that point? We decided to give it up. And literally 20 minutes later Jeremy wanted to be baptized. There's gotta be something to it! All of this crazy stuff started happening as soon as we turned it off. So who knows!

I got the package from Papa! He will be pleased to know that I have already eaten BOTH bags of ketchup chips.. It was worth it. I can't save them. I just can't.

As far as my Book of Mormon reading is going, I'm just starting the book of Ether, which I already KNOW is super sick! The Book of Mormon is just so cool! Why didn't you tell me before that it was exciting to read??

I'm going to try and attach pictures of Jeremy and Kolton. Keep in mind that members took the pictures and not me, and the one of Kolton is an ESPECIALLY awful picture. Crop it if you must. You'll see what I mean! I'll also send a picture of the ties that I bought. Yeah, it's an impressive collection. I also discovered that each tie came with a pocket square.. Which I had no idea what to do with. I couldn't bring myself to blow my nose in them.. They're all too pretty!!

Uhh.. What questions was I supposed to answer.. Uhh.. Do I feel like I was sent here for a reason? Definitely! Do I know what that reason is? Not exactly! But at any rate, I am LOVING each and every day here. I dread the day that I actually have to leave Tremonton. There are miracles happening left and right and there are still SO many people on the verge of being baptized that there is no way I want to leave yet! The crazy thing is - all the stuff I've been telling you is in ONE STAKE that we cover! 90% of the work we're doing right now is in the South stake, and there are just as many people to be taught in the West stake, if not more! We're meeting with the last of the West stake ward mission leaders tonight to try and correlate some new efforts in his ward and from there, we just follow up and see what happens! Seriously though. This area is about to EXPLODE! The crazy part is, when we got here there wasn't a whole lot going on. It had been a pretty dry and non-fruitful area for a few months. But I'm steadily gaining a testimony that if you dig in and lose yourself in the work and TRULY try and find people to teach, then the opportunities will be provided. I love being a missionary and I can't believe that I'm having this much fun and success at the very beginning! It can only go up from here, right? :)

Anyways, if there were any important questions that I skimmed over or didn't answer, feel free to ask again. If not, then I was right to skip them! Hahaha..

I love you all!! Happy New Year!!

Love,

Elder Tyler Grant