T5 W5 (WITH PICTURE)

This is a picture of Elder Martineau & Elder Wilson, after dinner in a members home. She texted it to me. Made my day! Here is Gunner's letter:

Alright, this week was a pretty slow one, mostly due to sickness. I think my new favorite thing about being out here is the College Branch. Even though only like 10% of our investigators are there, they come more consistently than the other 90%. Unfortunately, almost all of them have family concerns, but things have definitely been moving forward. I think this will be my last week here in Rock Springs, so I'm probably going to start packing soon. It's so strange, I feel like the apartment I've lived in all this time is like my home. Like I have MY study area, MY closet, MY bed. It's going to be weird to leave. Also, I have to go through everything I have so I don't become a packrat or anything..

Today, we'll be taking some pretty cool pictures in a decked-out Wyoming Cowboys school bus, so look forward to those. Also, last Monday all the misionaries got together and had a car-washing party *rolls eyes*. I guess that's just not my thing. It was fun though. Last Wednesday, Elder Aris came down from Pinedale for exchanges, he has ADHD, and I was worried that he might talk my ear off (since I'm not the most talkative person), and that we wouldn't get along great, but I was totally wrong. He's probably my new favorite missionary, and taught me quite a bit. We even had 2 appointments for the same time, and I was able to send him to one of them while I covered the other, and it worked perfect. He's a very powerful teacher, and I'm glad I got to be with him.

Well, that's about it. I love you all. I'll let you know if I'm leaving or staying next week (I'm leaving).

- Elder Martineau

T5 W4 (WITH PICTURE)

Gunner's Mission President and his wife, President & Sister Eberhardt, made a trip to Wyoming. Sister Eberhardt said that President had a good visit with Elder Martineau. They emailed us this picture.

Well, I'ma be honest, not a lot happened this week. I think the amount of time I spent in was equal to the amount of time we were out. Elder Wilson came down with a sinus infection early Friday, and I only left the apartment to go to our appointments (with another person of course) and to go to church. Some things that actually happened were: 

Elder Connell, (the travelling AP) made his run through Wyoming, to be with all the District leaders. Last time he came through, I wasn't there because I was up in Pinedale, so it was cool to be able to spend some time with him. Our mission president also came through Rock Springs, and we got to eat breakfast with him and his wife at iHop. 

Something else that was awesome was that one of our college age investigators who was worried about what her parents would think got the nerve to ask them what they thought of her being baptized. Her Mom was all for it and is willing to support her, now all she has to do is talk to her dad! But things are looking great! She'll be on-date by next week most likely. 

Other then that, I slept and cleaned the apartment. Lots of fun.. I hope Elder Wilson gets feeling better soon, otherwise I'm going to go stir-crazy, haha. Anyways, Have a great week! Until next time.

- Elder Martineau

T5 W2 (WITH PICTURES) and T5 W3

T5 W2

Last week Gunner didn't have time to write a group letter but he sent the following:

No time left, just have enough time for pictures. Carrie got baptized and I love her!

Post-baptism with Elder Kirsi

T5 W3

I should actually have time to write this, yay! So now I have to think back over like 2 weeks of nonsense, which'll be rough I'm sure. As per pictures from last week, Carrie and her family were baptized on the 31st and confirmed on Feb 1st. Everything else on my mission is insignificant next to this event. (Not really, but really) To their credit, they went from the ER to their baptism, back to the ER, to their confirmation the next day, and then back to the ER afterwards. They've been too sick to leave the house since then. So if you're ever too sick to go to church, chances are you're not.. haha. I wish all of our investigators had that much drive. So with Carrie and her family out of our pool, we have no-one left on date, but we have a couple people who are really close. Opposition from family members is abounding.

It's been SO WARM up here, we're talking 50-60 degrees every day. It's been raining every now and again, which is bizzare. People are saying the world is ending. Gas is still freakishly low, and like 40,000 people got laid off in WY (I think that was the statistic) which is like a third of the working population... Of course they all work in the oil field, so there's not a lot of work for them right now. Something I've learned is that the news just likes to make up stuff. I think I've heard 6 different reasons why gas is so low from people quoting the news, and all of them were so different. It's pretty funny.

Elder Wilson and I have been deathly ill for this last week (ok, not really, but it sure felt like it) We actually ended up taking the entire day off to rest Saturday. I think we slept from like 1pm-10am the next day. It didn't really help me, since I just had a really bad cold, but it sure helped Elder Wilson. I also had (have) what could best be described as an eye-zit. Yea, not fun. I felt like my eye was going to fall off. After like 2 days of it really hurting just to blink, I looked in the mirror close and found that I had a HUGE zit on my eyelid. I popped it (which was hard), and a whole bunch of pus came out, which I just washed out.

Well, I also went on exchanges to Evanston again with the Zone Leaders, there's an Elder there who snores so loudly that they have to have this fan going to drown him out (which hardly makes any sense). I got very little sleep that night. Other than that, nothing much has really happened. The transfer is halfway over, and then I'll probably be leaving Rock Springs to the valley, but who knows. I love you all, and send you my best!

- Elder Martineau

T5 W1 (WITH PICTURES)

Awesome things happened this week. We had a baptism 2 days ago for Karen. She's wonderful and was crying throughout the whole thing. After she was baptized by one the Elders that began teaching her, she stood in the font for like a whole minute extra. It was a very special experience for everyone, especially one of our close-to-baptism investigators that came.

We have another 3 baptisms coming up this weekend; Carrie, Tera, and Hannah. It was around 5 months ago that I randomly knocked on their house. She always talks about how normally she would've sent us away with a Ouija board (lol), but something told her to let us in, and now look where we are. :) Since the new year, she's only relapsed two or three times smoking-wise, and she knows she can't for a week before her baptism, so please pray for her. Her and her two daughters are my shining example of what living the gospel can do for a family.

Everyone makes jokes about how I'm still here, and that maybe I'll serve my entire mission here (which I don't think I would mind too much). Rock Springs is definitely the Sion of the SLCE mission. Well, that's about it. After Carrie gets baptized we won't have any people on date, but we're working on that. Hopefully we should have a couple more in the upcoming weeks. I love you all, and thanks for your support!

- Elder Martineau

664: $500,000 Ford GT

665: $100,000 Dodge Viper
667: District Lunch at Sonic!
668, 673: Karen's baptism
674: Elder Wilson during lunch-time

T4 W6 (WITH PICTURES)

So, this last week of the transfer was an awesome one. We got a lot done, and we worked really hard for some 'out-there' goals. We set a goal of 20 lessons with a member present (as apposed to the 8-11 we usually get) and got our 20th at night. It was definitely a week full of miracles. Oh yeah, since this is the last week of the transfer, I'm sure everyone's wondering if I'm staying or leaving. The news came in today that.. I'm staying! Again! 7.5 months in Rock Springs. Maybe I'll spend my whole mission here... haha. The other two Elders in our apartment are also staying.

Gas prices. I don't know what it's like down there, bus gas is $1.89 right now. I think the world is ending. I heard it had to do with America producing more oil, and so the Middle East dropped prices to run American oil companies out of business.. but I'm a missionary, what do I know. Also on the note of weird things; it was 60 degrees yesterday. People are convinced that I brought the Arizona winter. It's supposed to be -40 until April, so I'm not sure what's going on.

We do so much in one week it's hard to keep track of the important things.. we had 7 investigators show up at church, but not the 4 on date to be baptized >.>. We should have a baptism (if we can see her before then). Her name is Karen, and while her parents are really against it, she knows it's right. I can understand where she's coming from, because I couldn't imagine telling my Mom I was joining a different church. It must be hard. Hopefully everything will go forward as planned.

The following weekend we have Carrie and her two daughters being baptized. For the longest time Tera (12) had been against it, but during one of our lessons she piped up and announced that she was going to join her sister and Mom. They said they wanted me to baptize them, which will be an incredible experience.

Well, that's all I guess. I'm looking forward to this next transfer! I love you all!

- Elder Martineau

100: Our speed ball with my letter G all over it

101: Our College Branch Ward Mission Leader helping someone move

105: Shayla, our Investigator is in the middle. She's working towards a baptism date. Other girls are members of the Basketball team and are members

106: Our 20-with week :)
Other: Our district

T4 W5 (WITH PICTURES)

Well, I actually have time to send this, which is good. So, a lot has happened in the last two weeks. Miracles were abundant. We managed to hit all of our goals last week, and James Kline was baptized. It was a really awesome week, and we watched the last few lessons we needed fall into place night!

During the previous week the temperature dropped down to -33 (without the wind (and there was a lot of it)), but now it's up to the 40s again. People are talking about how this is the weirdest winter ever. I mean, it's supposed to be -20ish from October till June, but here I am with no coat on or anything. It's weird.

We've been very blessed with a lot of new people to teach. We found 7 new people last week and we're up to 28 Investigators, and should pick up a couple more this week. It's not like we're doing anything special (I mean, we are working hard), but people come up to us and introduce us to friends, or we just run into people that want to talk to us. There's a great fire in the hearts of the people here.

I'm looking forward to this (possible) last week in Rock Springs. I don't know what's going to happen, but Elder Wilson thinks he might be leaving, which would be pretty funny. I wouldn't mind staying here though :)

Take care! I love you all.

- Elder Martineau

07097: James and Us

07098: James, his Wife (Jess) and Us

07099: Our goal board for last week 

(black is goals, blue is actuals)

T4 W3 (WITH PICTURES)

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, because I sure did! A lot of miracles have happened this week, which I found surprising, since it was the week of Christmas and all.. I'm very grateful for all those who showed up to Skype with me, and for those that didn't, I expect some letters next week... haha.

We had planned to have a baptism this last Saturday, but since her parents had gone out of town, we've moved it to the 10th of January, which is also when James' baptism is. They are both ready and willing, so we're excited about it!

The crazy miracle happened two days ago. Someone from a neighboring town gave us a call about one of their friends who lives in our area that wants to learn more about the church, which is already a miracle as it is, but don't worry, it gets better. This friend said that he wanted a Russian Book of Mormon, and we found out that he's from Russia. Now for those of you who don't know, Elder Wilson, my companion is fluent in Russian because he started him mission in the Ukraine. So that was crazy enough, that the only missionary who speaks Russian in Wyoming happens to be in Rock Springs when this person calls. Not only that, the person who gave us a call also speaks Russian because he served his mission is Moscow. So when we meet him, I won't be doing much of anything as the only non-Russian speaker...

Well, that's about it! It was a slower week because of the holidays, and I'm definitely looking forward to this week. I hope you all have a happy new year, and I look forward to hearing from you all!

- Elder Martineau

1. The straightest stretch of road ever.

2. Stuffed pizza from Papa Murphy's

3. My new candle!

7-9: Christmas Eve with Carrie

12: Our Tree

14: A stocking at an investigator's house

15: A truck with it's youth

16-17: What I did on Dec 26... haha

Other picture: Missionaries is Rock Springs last transfer.