A Snuggy to keep him warm during study time

1st Mission Christmas and Birthday

Birthday Dinner the Koski Family took them to Red Robin

zone con was good. and yes i did get great news. max... (ramin my baptism in buffalo.) well his son max is going to get baptized on sat. and do you remember jessica the one that was smoking and a lot of stuff we taught her in the jail. haha she is coming close as well. i am so excited. so elder brooks was there and that was really all i needed. i swear we are bother . and a elder actually told us that we could be. haha but yea me and elder brooks had a good time he is losing weight too but im losing more than he is haha. im down to 179 i never would have though that would happen and yesterday was my 11th month mark. and good news we have 3 gators that want to be baptized!!!!!!!! there are some things they need to over come but mom the lord hears me and know what im giong though. yesterday in zone con. we give our testimony, and my testimony is i read the word to my new fav song of the transfer and the song is hymn 98 i need the every hour. this transfer i have learned that i need to rely on the lord so much. ive never prayed so much in my life.
so geroge our gator is great he is liberian and he has a story that should be a movie he came to america because he wwas going to be killed and then when he went back to see family they tried to kill him and again and when he came to america he has been looking for the truth he has studdies with the j dubs and church isnt working out and when we went over last night we were reading out of the b.o.m. and asked him how he felt he looked at his fianee and said i think that this is the truth. i feel this is what ive been searching for all these years. and then he was saying when he goes back to africa that he is going to take it with him and hes not going to stop. he is going to spread the gospel to his family and friends and village. and i just went into tears. i might not see him get baptized but i know that george has found the truth and is coming closer to christ. these moments are the only things that are helping me out . becauase i have been so down and depressed and the lord knows. but isnt that great.e and been so obedient i am so greatful for the spirit and prayres.

some more random pictures

The burning of the Tie 6 months

hey mom hows it going today, we are at the koski's, but yea the library is closed today . didnt know that it was cloumbus day. well this week was good same ole stuff but it was good we have a new gator and his name is tim he is an older guy , hes got this huge ol beard and we tracted into to him and she said that we could come over. we went back 3 times and the 3rd time we went he was there, so we talk with him about the restoration and we gave him the b.o.m and asked him to read and pray, and he said that he would so thats good. really receptive to what we had to say.you asked about paul, he is doing well he still is coming to church, the thing about paul is he is a little mentally ill, so we are taking things slow he likes when we meet with him and when we teach so he is feeling the spirit no doubt, but for him to be baptized it has to be approved by the bishop. but paul still has somethings to work on.kool experience this week well last night i wont get into details because i wrote about it in my letter home but we were looking for a l.a. but they didnt live there anymore but this girl was there and she said that she would listen to what we have to say so we are going over soon so thats cool.yes it snowed kind of cool but not really. and it melted on sunday but it is snowing right now as we speak so looks like winter is here. and i wrote the things that i would like in the letter so i wont tell yo nowwe are starting to cut fire wood for people so thats fun i like doing that we help out dave when he can.im trying to think of what else happened this week but i think that that was pretty much it. oh well kool thing that happened today. this kid john he is the son of another ex member that we talk to but we were in wal-mart today and he saw us and came over and talked to us for a good little while. he is really and he is moving to vegas soon. so thats cool and he has mentioned that he would like to learn more sometime so thats really kool. i hope that he keeps thinking and searching.i hope that everyting is alright with the dog thats crazyhow is your calling? is it going well do you have your advisiors yet?just remember that you will do great. i love you mom i hope that you have a great day. i love you more than you know. bye mom take care and dont mess with dogs ok. love you

September 16, 2009
Hello Everybody!
Currently I am in the town of Hibbing. Our area is the 2nd largest in the mission. This transfer I was called to be a trainer. My companion is Elder Bair. Elder Bair is from Montana. He is a very hard worker. They don’t call ‘em corn bread feed (fed??)for nothing. Later in this transfer I was called to be a District Leader. This was because we were too far from any other district. So, we’re all alone.
Elder Bair and I have been working hard tracting and finding new people to teach. We now have a pretty good size teaching pool. We spend a good chunk of our time searching out and finding less-actives. The mission plan is to teach these members the lessons again to re-light that fire they had at conversion. We are seeing good improvement. The ward is helping us out a lot by finding more people to teach.
Some good experiences that I have stumbled across on my mission…in my last area the Lord blessed my companion and me with 2 baptisms. After I left that area 2 of the investigators that we were teaching were also baptized. In my last area we also worked with less-actives and we started to see 2 families come back to the gospel.
For the 7 months that I have been a missionary I have seen the Lord’s hand in His work countless times. I am very excited to be a servant in Minnesota. I would never change my decision to go on a mission. (The Church is true, the Book is blue, and Jesus was a Mormon!)
The best part of the mission is to see people’s lives change for the better. To look into their eyes and see true happiness. I am grateful for this gospel, to have grown up in a great ward, and to be blessed with the family I have.
Dad. I love you.
Elder Grondel the Younger