Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Week 4...2nd Week In the Mission Field

Hi Everyone. 

It'll be 4 weeks on Wednesday, that means I'll only have 100 left! We've been getting referrals left and right as summer's coming to an end. Meaning people are finally back in town and there's things to do again. I see us maybe being able to have 3-4 baptisms by the end of this transfer. 

Last Tuesday, we got to go down to Salt Lake for New Missionary Training. Why they couldn't just have it before I left is beyond me. It was basically a rehash of everything I learned in the MTC, plus Stress-reduction stuff, which is not something I usually deal with, but it was still interesting.

On the way down there though, (we got a ride down, because we only get a certain number of miles per month, and they're precious) we, and by we I mean the old guy that was driving, got lost more times than I can count on two hands. We were staying the night at the President's house, and were supposed to arrive at like 9:00. We got to the valley at 8:40 and didn't arrive until 10:00. The mission president himself had to drive out and find us. Now, what was ridiculous was that the guy driving wouldn't call the president, instead he told his son to get on Google Earth, find where we were, which changed every two minutes of course, and then ask for directions to the house. You could see this little nerve in Elder Jenson temple start to stick out, which was kinda cute (Like most things he does). The wife taught me a valuable lesson though. These annoying experiences, aren't necessarily bad, 'we're just making memories'. Deep stuff. 

Everyone here is either Catholic or Mormon it seems like. And being Catholic seems more like an excuse not to see us than a religion. haha. We've had a lot of success though. We have 2 on-date to be baptized, and about 5 progressing there. It's incredible how much time I have to read the Book of Mormon. I've read like 250 pages this week, I've been blessed with a strong desire to fully understand the gospel, and I have a whole lot of reading I can get done in two years: the BoM, Bible, D&C, PoGP, and all the teachings of the presidents of the church.

I've been blessed out here, and am looking forward to next week!

- Elder Martineau

Monday, August 11, 2014

Week 3: Arrives in Utah SLC East Mission (WITH PICTURES)








Note from Tami:

Hello everyone.  I was finally able to learn how to post pictures to the blog. So, above you will see Gunner's mission picture and a picture of him at the airport when he was leaving for the MTC.  

During week 2 at the MTC, Gunner was able to see his cousin Koby Alva. Koby is serving in the Mexico Merida Mission and it was nice that they had a couple weeks of overlap in the MTC. My sister and I especially enjoyed getting a picture of the two of them together.

Last Tuesday Gunner left the MTC and arrived in the Utah Salt Lake City East Mission. His Mission President's wife sent these pictures as proof that he arrived safely. We have been anxiously awaiting P-Day so we could get his new address and see how he was settling in. Here is his letter:


First week down!

When I got to the mission home, we were crowded in a room, and we sat there for like 5 hours listening to people talk, telling us to do obvious things, like 'don't get in car accidents' and 'don't leave your companion'. My least favorite part is how everyone talks about how disappointed they are to end up in Salt Lake, which really bugged me. Kinda ruins the experience for someone who's excited to serve I guess. The food was really good though. I think I introduced myself 3 times within a few hours, so I had my little story down by the end. I ended up being sent to the Wyoming Zone which was, guess where, in Wyoming! Yay! I got assigned to be trained by Elder Jenson. He's a pretty cool guy, and like my exact opposite. The only thing we have in common really is ping-pong (which I'm better at, but don't tell him that). 

In the car ride up, the driver was also from Arizona. He was sent to the Ukraine, and was stationed on the border next to Russia. Yeah. And then Russia happened as we know, and he had to be Emergency Transferred out, and is now in Wyoming. Scary stuff. 

Our apartment has a ping-pong table, and a huge TV, (that we don't use of course), but other than that it's pretty ordinary. So far, missionary work has really just been talking to people, and most of them have been pretty friendly. The only thing this area really needs is for the people that are already LDS to stay active, so much of our lessons are to less active members. 

New address: (send anything here and not to the mission home!)

3220 Dewar Dr. #208 
Rock Springs, Wyoming
82901

They feed us dinner here. Every day. Like, they sign up for it and whatnot. Weird. Also, some guy payed for my groceries the first day I got there, and apparently there's places where missionaries can eat for free. Crazy stuff. 

Like my 3rd day out, we went out to visit a new investigator, and I was able to commit her to baptism on the 30th. Which was a pretty neat experience. Things are still slow, but not nearly as bad as before I came.

Living with three other guys can be kind of annoying. For instance, no one does the dishes or takes out the trash. Also, everyone eats frozen meal packs. I got everyone to say they'll wash a dish after they use it, which is a start I guess. People. Send me recipes for stuff. I'm going to have a lot of practice cooking, and there's no way I'm gonna eat this frozen stuff anymore.. haha. 

While in the MTC, I did a lot of studying in Revelations and D&C, because I was really interested with the signs of the 2nd Coming. I'm moved away from that recently, it's important not to get caught up in it, and am now going to be focusing on reading the Bible all the way through. However, some of my favorite scriptures were:

Revelations 8-9 ~ A lot of the signs of the times in here but my favorite is where it talks about 'there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp... and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter...but that they should be tormented 5 months'. If you were an ancient prophet, and this is only my theory of course, how would you describe a bomb? and how would you describe radiation? It's said the world will end in fire, but how much will Christ have to do?

Revelations 11: 2-13 ~ Two prophets (missionaries?) preach in Jerusalem for 3.5 years/42 months/1260 days, are killed, and then resurrected 3.5 days later. 

D&C 131:7-8 ~ Back in Psychics, I learned about Dark Matter. Basically, scientists observe faraway galaxies rotating. Depending on how much matter(mass) was in them, they should rotate at a certain velocity. But, these galaxies were rotating MUCH faster than they should have been. In order for this to be, a galaxy needed much more matter then was visible to these astronomers. This 'missing matter' is called Dark Matter, or matter to pure for the mortal eye to see? I hope I'm right about my description about this, otherwise I bet I'll be made fun of. haha.

Well, I guess that's all, I always look forward to receiving letters, even small ones. I love hearing from all of you!

- Elder Martineau

When writing Gunner on DearElder.com you will need to select his mission Utah Salt Lake City East Mission and then you can put in his address to send it to him directly. It will cost .49 per letter.  When using this service they print the letters and mail them from Provo which means probably a 1-2 day arrival instead of 4. Transfers are every 6 weeks so, keep that in mind.  As always he can be reached on his email at gunner.martineau@myldsmail.net.  :)

Thanks for supporting our missionary.  We are excited to hear about his experiences in Wyoming. xoxo

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Week 2 - MTC

Thank you all for all the love and support you all have given me. It's been very comforting to know that right before I climb into bed, I'll receive anywhere between 2-6 letters.
The big thing we've been doing this week is learning to talk to people we've never met before. It's funny, because since I'm going to Salt Lake, I'll never have tract or talk to people on the street hardly ever, but I suppose it's still useful.
We got to go to the Provo Temple last Saturday, and will get to go again later today. It was very beautiful, especially the hallways, but I still like the Gilbert temple better. haha
Before I came here I never played a game of 4-square in my life, but lately it's become my favorite thing to do. They only have B-ball, V-ball, and 4-square in the gym, so I'll just stick to dominating 4-square.
Yesterday, I had to sit through In-Field Orentation. 9.5 hours of just sitting and listening to people talk to us, without very little action required from us. I ended up having a pretty bad headache around 3:00, and the rest of the day was torture. My right butt muscle hasn't been the same since.
I may be leaving in 3 days but I've learned so much during my time here. I'm excited to finally get out in the field!
- Elder Martineau


Note from Tami
Gunner will be leaving the MTC on Tuesday so, if you want him to get a letter soon, you'll want to send one tomorrow or Monday morning (before 11am our time) through www.dearelder.com.  If you want to use this service, you will need the following info:
Select:  Provo MTC
Name:  Elder Gunner Martineau
Unit code: 146
Mission code:  UT-SLC-E
MTC Departure Date:  August 5, 2014
Email address:  gunner.martineau@myldsmail.net


Gunner's address will be coming as soon as he is assigned.  Until then, any letters will need to be sent to the mission office.   This can be done through www.dearelder.com (for the cost of a stamp) or you can send it yourself to the following address (per Gunner, it takes about 4 days to get to him):
Elder Gunner Vohn Martineau
Utah Salt Lake City East Mission
3487 S 1300 E West Entrance
Salt Lake City, UT 84106
(801) 487-6098 - the phone number in case it is needed for the carrier you are using

Or you can always just send him an email at gunner.martineau@myldsmail.net.  Just keep in mind that he gets very limited computer time and can only check his email on P-Day so, if he can have already read your letter, he can spend what time he has sending out letters, instead of just reading them.

xoxo