T4 W2

Another week come and gone. This week was a pretty neat one. We got to go on a temple trip, have a big meeting, and a Christmas devotional / dinner all in the space of a few days down in Salt Lake. We got to spend the night with Elder Kirsi, and then with one of Elder Wilson's friends Elder Hearn. The temple lights were absolutely beautiful, I would have pictures of them, but since we had gone into the temple, I didn't have my camera with me. At the Christmas devotional for our mission we had a surprise guest come in the form of Jeffery R. Holland! The entire room started buzzing with excitement when we saw him walk in. He's so busy all of the time, so just the fact that he was able to fit something like this in was incredible.

We have a baptism scheduled for this Saturday, a girl named Karen who speaks mostly Spanish. Her Dad has been against it from the very beginning, but she said that as soon as she turned 18, she was going to baptized. She knows she's doing the right thing, and it moves her to tears whenever she thinks about it.

Elder Wilson and I have like this new drive ever since the beginning of this new transfer. We've been being perfectly obedient in everything we do, and I've completely changed my attitude about my mission. We've been hitting all of the goals we've been setting, and are now up to like 25 investigators. The ways we've be getting results are out of our control (like people walking up to us in church with referrals and other miracles like that) so I know it's because the Lord is stepping in to help. Elder Wilson has been an incredible drive and motivation for me to be better every day.

So, one last miracle, James is an investigator that we've had for a while now, but he didn't get baptized because he had been living with his girlfriend. They were planning to get married on March 27 (I even have the invitation and everything) and so we were planning to baptize him sometime in April. HOWEVER.Wednesday morning we got a text from him saying 'Hey guys, hope you're having a good morning. I just wanted to let you know that Jess and I got married last night, so we can more forward with the baptism' all nonchalantly and what-not. I really couldn't believe what I was hearing, I think Elder Wilson dropped the phone when he first read it. We're super excited about this, and we're going to put him on date later tonight.

Well, I'm running out of time, but things are definitely looking more and more up here. I don't ever want to leave Wyoming, it's like Zion here!

I love you all, and hope you have an incredible Christmas. I will be skyping home at 4:00 on Christmas day, so for those who want to see my beautiful face, come to that! (please come :P )

Love,

Elder Martineau

T4W1 (WITH PICTURES)

What a great week! Well, it was all over the place, but at least it ended great. We had 6 people come to church, which is the most in a while. We're a little worried about the upcoming week due to the holidays, but hopefully at least SOME people stick around.. Something that we've been trying to work on is our goals. We set weekly goals, but this week we really tried as hard as possible to reach them, and we got some pretty amazing things done. We hit almost all of our goals, and most of them barely. It was a pretty rewarding feeling.

We were supposed to have a baptism last Saturday, but because we couldn't get someone to come do the interview, (and believe me, we tried) and when we visited with her later, see said that she wasn't sure if she was really ready. So, that was a bummer, but she's still working towards baptism, hopefully it'll happen this transfer, because I was really looking forward to that.

Something that I've started to do is to memorize scriptures in the Book of Mormon. There was a promise given by Vaughn J. Featherstone about how if someone memorized a scripture a day for 2 years that at the end they would have a photographic memory. I thought it would be a fun thing to do (and who knows, maybe I'll memorize the entire thing!) and I'm currently at 19 scriptures.

Well, that's what's happening over here. We are still having the most beautiful weather ever, people say this is the warmest winter they've EVER had, and I'm glad I can be here for it. Who knows, maybe I'll even stay ANOTHER 6 weeks! I don't think I would mind that as long as it didn't get too cold.. I love you all, and I'll see you on Skype next week :)

- Elder Martineau

Pictures #1 & #2: Elder Bass and I

Picture #3: Our beautiful tree (it's the top 1/3 of a 3-part tree)

Picture #4: Elder Bass' empty room/closet

Picture #5: Sunrise

Picture #6: My legacy

Picture #7: Our new truck (right before we washed it)

Picture #8: Thug lyfe
Picture #9: Elder Martineau & Elder Wilson - sent to Tami from Sister Linda Brough in Gunner's ward in Rock Springs, WY

T3 W6

So, another transfer has come and gone. The news came in this morning and I will be staying in Rock Springs with Elder Wilson for another 6 weeks! I'm happy because I LOVE this area. This is the most coveted place in the entire mission, and I'm going to be here for at least a fourth of my mission! This'll be the first time that I'll be staying with the same Elder, so I'm not sure what to expect. I'm just glad it's with someone I'm really close to.

Not a whole lot happened this week. We had a flood of new investigators (5 of them), and a ton of referrals, which made me think I was leaving, but since I'm staying I'll be the one teaching them! We are up to 18/19 Investigators; we are extremely blessed up here. We even had a person show up in church, say he wants to get he life back in order, he had gone to Seminary even, and wasn't baptized. We also had a less active college return missionary come to us to help him come back. I'm super excited for these next 6 weeks, there's so much going on, and I get to be a part of it :)

Elder Wilson shared this scripture with the less active college kid, and while it sure helped him. it helped me a bunch too. It's found in the Book of Mormon in Alma. (The person speaking is Amulek) 

 5 Nevertheless, after all this, I never have known much of the ways of the Lord, and his mysteries and marvelous power. I said I never had known much of these things; but behold, I mistake, for I have seen much of his mysteries and his marvelous power; yea, even in the preservation of the lives of this people.

 6 Nevertheless, I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know;therefore I went on rebelling against God, in the wickedness of my heart...

It's a powerful scripture, especially for this time of year, let's not forget all that God has done for us. I love you all, and hope to hear from you soon!

- Elder Martineau

#ShareTheGift

T3 W5

Wow, Thanksgiving week was always hectic at home, but not nearly as hectic as when you're serving a mission. We had a total of 5 Thanksgiving appointments, and on Friday my stomach hurt so bad I wanted to roll over and die. People were just like 'Come over and have some food with us!' (and we can't exactly say no..) But it was fun. An even greater blessing was that the APs (important missionaries) called and told us that we would be getting a truck! I'll upload a picture of it next week, but it's much better than our little Subaru. For those of you who are car people, it's a Nissan Frontier, and I'm sure it'll be useful for pulling people out of ditches when they slide off the road!

It seems that everyone here has a problem with smoking. It's sad because we can only do so much to help them, they really have to just push through that on their own. (With God of course) Everyone we're helping is making very good progress however. One has only had 1 smoke in the past 5 days (D.J.) and we're so happy for him! He can feel himself pushing it off and becoming stronger each day. 

Currently, we still have a great number of people that we're teaching. Ashton, Elijah, Elyanna, and Karen are on date for this month, and while I may not be here, they are very solid, and I'm sure they'll be there for whoever is in this area. We had been having a hard time fining new people to teach, but yesterday someone in the college branch had us come to their apartment with like 5 other members, and teach her friend on the basketball team. It was a wonderful experience, and it motivated everyone involved.

That Sunday was a absolutely crazy day. Well, we were expecting a great number of people at church, but only 2 came, which was a bummer. Then both Elder Wilson and I spoke in the sacrament building for the college branch. Because we really have no time for anything, we had only a short time to prepare for it. I basically was only able to write down a rough outline of what I wanted to talk about and wing it. I was worried I would only speak for like 8 min, and then run out of things to say, but I went on for a good 25 min, and only left 15 for Elder Wilson. No-one fell asleep or started yelling at me, so it must have been good things. I think the reason we got that referral is because we both spoke in that sacrament meeting. Finally, one other thing we did on Sunday was sing 'Because I Have Been Given Much' in the Sister's ward's sacrament meeting. They called us about a week ago to see if we could, and they wanted me to sing the Alto part down an octave. It took a little bit of effort, but I was able to figure it out, and the singing went very well.

Well, that was my week. We'll see if I'll stay next week, I'm really not sure if I want to or not. I'll be pretty happy no matter where I end up.

Love,

Elder Martineau

Transfer 3, Week 4 (WITH VIDEOS & PICTURES)

Man, it's miserably cold up here. So, another week has come and gone. I'm still alive, and the temperatures are above zero again! Woo! Since I've always predicted transfers right, it's coming time to make my predictions again. I know that Elder Wilson is staying, unlike before when I knew Kirsi was leaving, but I don't know what's going to happen to me. I think I'll know for sure by next week.

I've noticed something really cool, that the way we teach missionary discussions can apply directly to any kind of teaching. I'm noticing ways that I can improve my ability to teach not only for when I'm serving, but when I get home as well.

A lot of interesting things have happened this week. For instance, We had a FHE with Carrie and her kids, and about an hour after we left, Carrie gave us a call and asked if we could come back. Tera's lizard had died, and she was pretty upset. She wanted us to come back over and say a quick little prayer for it. So I gave a little obituary for Larry the Lizard. I never thought I would do anything like that ever, but it was really touching that we were the first people she thought to call.

D.J. Harris and his wife had been going through some marital problems, but seem to be doing much better now. We're so happy for them. D.J. came to church for the first time yesterday, and seemed to have a great time. We're going to be helping him to stop smoking on Wednesday, so be sure to keep him in your prayers.

One of the other Elders in our apartment, Elder Hanks, got in an accident a little bit ago. It wasn't his fault, and no-one was hurt, but the car got pretty messed up. There's a lot of accidents happening all over Rock Springs because of how icy the roads are. I should be driving next week, because I want to say I've driven on ice more than once, haha.

Well, that's about it. I can't believe I've been out for 4 months, it doesn't feel like that long at all. Take care, and I hope to hear from you all soon :)

Love,

Elder Martineau

Week the Next (...It's Week 17)

So, right after I finished my last letter we went outside, and it was snowing. Like, snow was falling down from the sky. It was pretty funny because me and a sister from Texas were really excited, and everybody else didn't really care. This week it got down to -17 without wind in effect (then it was -42). It was pretty cold. All of the roads were covered in ice, and there was a bunch of accidents. We managed to get around safely though. I slid around a couple of corners, but now I'm letting Elder Wilson drive...

This week was much slower, but we have 5 people on date now, and a couple others are almost there. I think one of them might fall off, but everyone else is super solid. Something that we have been sharing with members is the 21-day promise. This says that if you make a list of all those who you want to share the gospel with, and pray for each of those people every night, at least one of them will accept the invitation to meet with the missionaries. What a powerful promise. We've seen a lot of success with it, in fact, I would invite everyone reading to do this. It's a powerful promise with powerful blessings!

I found some really cool scriptures that I want to share really quick. The first one was actually sent to me by someone from home, but it had a really big impact. It's found in 1st Corinthians 8:9 

"But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak." 

Is there anything in our conduct, or the way we live our lives that could cause a stumbling-block to those around us that we care about? Even if we do not feel the ill-effects of doing wrong, how are we affecting those around us? It's why the Word of Wisdom was "adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints".

And my new favorite scripture is found in Acts 18:

 9  Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:

 10  For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.

 11  And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

I'm loving my mission so far, and I love serving up here in Rock Springs, or as it's called here, Zion. I love you all, and hope to hear from you every day.

- Elder Martineau

Week-the-next

I've already been with Elder Wilson for 2 whole weeks, it's hard to believe! We've been going through those investigating the church and dropping those who really aren't moving forward. It's sad to see them not progress, but it's important spending our time teaching those who want to move forward.

This week was full of things that I'm not very used to. We did another College Booth at WWCC, and got a really solid investigator with high potential! Also, throughout this week, I went on exchanges 3 times in 3 days. Thankfully I stayed in Rock Springs for each of them. First, an elder from Pinedale came down here, Elder Comer, then I was with an elder in our apartment, Elder Hanks, and finally the Zone Leader (Elder Willie) was down here as well. When I was with Elder Comer, I taught children for the very first time. It was a different experience, but teaching Chess/Math really helped. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It's fun to watch children warm up to you. This week seemed longer than the last, just because there were so many things going on.

Our investigators are still really solid and are progressing, each at their own pace. We have 14 currently and it's awesome to see them move forward. This seemed to be a week where Satan worked really hard on those we're teaching. Some of our investigators' testimonies grew, and somes' were weakened. We've been blessed to finding many new people to teach each week. Now that the members of the wards are trusting us, we are getting a lot of referrals. Even some referrals to teach in their own homes, which is awesome! I'm looking forward to the upcoming weeks because I'm excited about what they'll bring about.

I love you all!

- Elder Martineau

Week 15 (WITH PICTURES)

Another week come and gone. I'm really enjoying my time up here with Elder Wilson. Every 6 weeks I've been given a new companion, so I'm interested in what's going to happen 5 weeks from now. Elder Kirsi and my new companion, Elder Wilson switched places, so he's in Cottonwood Heights. When Elder Wilson came up, he showed me pictures of how EVERY SINGLE HOUSE in their area was labeled Member, Non-member, or Less Active. I'm so happy I'm up here in Wyoming *shudder*

A new apartment thing is not only a ping-pong trophy, but a ping-pong 'ladder' as well. You challenge the person above you to take their place. Not only this, everything has been moved around, so the ping-pong table is up against the wall. Hitting the ball off the wall is part of the game now, which makes everything more crazy. It all sounds kinda ridiculous, but it doesn't really matter to me, cause I'm sitting on top. Heh.

For Halloween we had a ward trunk-or-treat, but we couldn't go out past 6. This is because people will dress up as missionaries for Halloween, and do some stupid things, and the church will get blamed for it. So if no 'real' missionaries are out, there wouldn't be a problem. So we basically hung out at the Institute for like 3 hours.

On Saturday we helped set up for a HUGE event called Cowboys against Cancer. There was a ton of important people there, and when they recognized the LDS missionaries as volunteers, we got a standing ovation, which was pretty cool. Later that day we helped a suicidal man who saw how his life was better and wanted to come back to church. It was probably the most fulfilling thing I've done as a missionary so far.

Sunday was incredible. We had 4 investigators, and many, many less-actives come to church. Since it was fast and testimony meeting, Elder Wilson and I got up to bear our testimonies. After mine, I challenged the ward to come up and talk about a missionary experience they've had in the past little bit. The whole fast and testimony meeting was all about missionary work, and one of our investigators got up and bore an incredible testimony about how she feels God has been leading her to this church, and that she knew this was where she needed to be. (This was the first time she had even come to this ward) We expect to have even more people there next week!

I'm loving this experience, and I'd like to thank everybody again for all of your support. I finally got around to sending out some letters today, and hope to hear from you all over the next transfer!

Love,

Elder Martineau

P.S. (From Tami) One of the kids asked him "What do you do on Halloween? Do you pass out Book of Mormon's instead of candy?" He said that for Hallween he and Elder Wilson switched name tags. I thought that was funny.

Week 14

I only know what week it is because it's the week of transfers! I've really enjoyed the 6 weeks I've had to serve with Elder Kirsi, I'll let you know what's happening to our companionship at the end of the E-mail again.

This week was a much better week in terms of lessons, almost all of our lessons (90%) had the added bonus of a member present. The only downside to the whole week was that we had 1 person come to church. We were planning on 9. It can be a little frustrating sometimes. People just get sick, or don't think it's important. :( Hopefully we can figure out something to get people realizing how important it is to come to church.

Carrie and her kids are still incredible. We're helping her to quit smoking, and it's going really well. They still plan on being baptized on the 14th. Joseph might be falling off date due to parole issues, but hopefully he will still get baptized soon! We were also able to put Ashton, the daughter of a recent convert on date for the 29th. She was a tad apprehensive at first, but her mom helped explain that this is only a showing of your commitment, that she doesn't have to know everything. We were worried at first, but we found out a few days later that she is super excited about it! The area's looking forward to a blessed transfer!

Nothing really funny or interesting really happened this week, again, maybe things are just becoming more routine. Still trying to write back. I'm almost finished with one of my letters... >.>

Now, for the moment you all have been waiting for (hopefully)! *drumroll*

Elder Kirsi will be leaving, and I will be staying in Rock Springs. Again.

It's exciting because I love it here! This place is awesome and I don't want to leave yet. So if you are sending letters, my address is still the same, at least for 6 more weeks. I'm going to miss my personal Finnish companion.

I love you all, and I play for you every day. I love hearing from every single one of you! Until next week,

- Elder Martineau

Week the Next (WITH PICTURES)

​Another week come and gone. It's crazy how fast it happens. Only one week left and I might be somewhere else.. I've grown to like Elder Kirsi, he's a good step-dad. Recently, I've been working on a 'family tree'. Your dad is the person you're with for your first transfer, and your step-dad is the one you're with for the 2nd. (Sometimes these are the same person) I'll add a picture at the end of how I've worked it out so far. It's fun, but hard, since you can't go very far without people dying off, and becoming much harder to talk to since they're home.

This week was a hard and very stressful one. We didn't teach a lot for the first half, people fell, or are going to, off date, and most of our investigators are experiencing different trials and hardships. There are many people that experience opposition from their families, but I think that this will only root them in the gospel more. We have a couple that's living together that we're teaching that don't want to move apart, so they have to be baptized after they're married. The bright ray of sunshine is Carrie and her two kids though and I love being around them.

Just like the stress came very suddenly, it was also taken away very suddenly. I'm able to feel the Spirit and the peace it brings most when I'm teaching. And when we were finally able to teach a really spiritual lesson I was perfectly fine. My headache, exhaustion, all of it was gone. I'm really glad for the experience, because I know it helped me grow. I've made a lot of mistakes out here, but I'm glad that I'm learning from them.

This Friday I was able to go up to Pinedale with Elder Tagg. It was a nice being alone with him up there, we met a lot of awesome people. and we get along well together. We got to start a fire, and we roasted marshmallows while we worked on my family tree. We drove back the next day and got to watch 'Meet the Mormons', which was a great movie. So awesome. A lot of good will come from that movie. We had all 3 APs, the Mission President, and his wife all in the same room; quite a lot of power.

We had stake conference last Sunday, and I happened to give the closing prayer. When introducing me, one of the people in the stake presidency mentioned how I wear a scarf all the time since I was from AZ, and that 'he hasn't seen anything yet'. My scarf has become a pretty regular part of my attire. 

I have had one pretty funny experience though. So, when the alarm goes off at 6:30, we both kinda rustle around and kneel down by the side of our beds and say our morning prayers. Elder Kirsi got to speak in Stake Conference, but he wasn't given a lot of notice, so he was up all night preparing. He got in bed at 1:00, and I heard the bedsheets rustle, which woke me up. I got out of bed, knelt, and said my morning prayers. When I finished, Elder Kirsi was just looking at me funny and he asked me what I was doing. I found out that it was 1 in the morning, and he told me to go back to bed. Pretty funny stuff.

I'm excited for this last week and always look forward to hearing all of you!

- Elder Martineau

Up in Pinedale with Elder Tagg

Up in Pinedale with Elder Tagg

Elder Bass

New Desk

Rearranged Living Room

The message we got...

The Enemy (jk)

Us 'winning' $100,000

Us 'winning' $100,000

 My Family Tree