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