Elder Perry, Shaved Ice, and Goals

Elders Eldredge & Olson helped this family move some cement so they treated all to shaved ice, and then treated the Elders' families to a picture of the event.

5/28/2014

So this week President Brinkerhoff called all the leadership in the mission together for a meeting. We didn’t see it coming. He called off all of the District meetings and told us that we were going to be getting our zones together for a training the day after our meeting. We show up with much anticipation for what President was going to share with us. 

The past weekend was a regional conference. All the stakes, 78 of them, tuned into  BYU-Idaho and listens to Elder Perry, a member of the quorum of the 12 Apostles, speak to Eastern Idaho. The message was great. President Brinkerhoff and his wife got to say the opening and closing prayers and then spent the afternoon with Elder Perry. At the end of the day, Elder Perry looked President Brinkerhoff in the eyes and said, “10 baptisms per missionary.” This was the information President stayed up nights thinking about and the reason for calling this meeting. We have 250 missionaries and our original goal was "Every companionship baptizes every month" but that would leave a missionary with 6 baptisms at the end of the year. Which at the end of the year would be 1500 baptisms. But Elder Perry has lifted our vision. With each missionary having 10 baptisms, which would mean each companionship would need to baptize 20 a year. Making our goal 2500. 

Now, we are not about numbers, we are about people; children of God who are waiting to partake of this saving covenant to return back to our Heavenly Father’s presence. We had an Apostle of the Lord tell us what we can achieve. This is a promise made to us. Now we must do it. But we cannot do this alone. We NEED member help. We need to be more united in this great cause. We are much like Nephi was. The Lord told him to build a ship. This was a huge task! He had to build a vessel that would take him, his family and all of his extended family, animals, food and supplies across the ocean. And he had never built a boat before! How did he do it? He did it the Lord’s way. He was continualy praying for guidance and direction. We must do the same. We NEED your prayers.       

-- 

Elder Eldredge

Another Week in the Life...

5/19/2014

Elder Olson is amazing. I'm so grateful to be his companion. 

This week has been a crazy one. As a zone leader it’s always crazy. I love working with these missionaries and they are the best! We have an amazing zone and I’m honored to be thier zone leader to uplift and help in any way I can!! We as a zone decided to achieve the standard of excellence in the month of June. The Standard is that every companionship baptizes every month. We have the goal of doing so in the month of June. This zone needs your prayers. We need to build the faith to invite people to come unto Christ and be baptized. We need to build our faith that God will send those who are ready and we will be lead to those that are prepared. I’m excited, and nervous, about this challenge but I know we will all grow from this.   

We got a new investigator!!! His name is Papis Fatti. He is from Ghana,Africa. He is SSSOOOO CCCOOOLLLL!!! I love Africa and this guy is amazing!!! He is so willing and ready to learn. We got a referral from the mission office saying to contact a Brother Anderson about his friend. He gave us Papis' number and address then we asked him if he could set up an appointment for us to meet him. We were at his house last Friday and had an amazing lesson. He has been in the states for a year and a half and loves being in Idaho. He has a son still in Ghana that he is trying to get here. Ghana is a Muslim country and the risk is that if they find out Papis is Christian that can put his son in danger. But he believes that as he exercises faith, God will provide. How amazing is that!!!! We invited him to pray and ask if the Book of Mormon is true and we have a lesson lined up for this Wednesday. I can’t wait! Please pray for him and his family. 

Happy Birthday Madeline Rose. I miss you. 

Your Missionary,

Elder Eldredge

New Comp. New Start.

5/12/2014

Elder Olson, Elder Eldredge and kids from the Smith and Jones families at church on Mother's Day

I’m back with the infamous Elder Olson! I’m way excited to get started with him. I miss Elder Downey but Elder Olson is great! He and I were companions before but now we are Zone Leaders and get to work together again! He and I have both grown a lot and we are ready for round 2!

Skyping with my family was the bomb.com!!!! They are the greatest people on the planet!!! I love them with all my heart and I am so grateful to be a part of such an amazing group of people! 

I need your help. There is an investigator we are working with named Calleen. She moved here from Jackson Wyoming, and moved there from NY. She hit rock bottom and hit it hard. She is scared and feels like there is no hope for her. She is born again Christian but is doubting her faith. Please pray for her. Pray for her protection. Pray for her to have peace. Pray that she will pray to know and feel of God’s love for her. She needs all the help she can get. 

The Atonement is real. But there is only one way for you to know this. Use it. 

If there was a giant cake, your favorite cake, sitting in front of you and all you did was stick your finger in the frosting and lick it off... would that be "partaking" of the cake? NO!!! Dive on in! Eat it all!!! Its the same with the Atonement!

1 Nephi 8:12 in the Book of Mormon says, “And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desireous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desireable above all other fruit.”

  

How beautiful is this message! If you had some of that cake, wouldn’t you want to share it with all your loved ones! How about all of Gods children!!! We all need this message. All of us.

I love you all. Keep the Faith. Never Give Up

Your Missionary,

Elder Eldredge

My Week In Pictures

Elder Eldredge sent us some pictures this week, but not many words.  He says he's teaching lots and learning lots.  He told me (his mommy) that there is a new rule in their mission: no "instant messaging" via email any more.  Not the best mother's day gift I've ever gotten.  But I am so proud of him.  He said he was bummed about the rule, but wants to be obedient and asked me to help him.  So I said, "over and out"! (Right after setting up a time to skype with him on Mother's Day!)  10 more months.  Here are the pictures he sent and his words about them.

"This is Chris. He is a less active guy who is working on going to the temple. I love him a lot!!! "

"This is right after a lesson about the priesthood. All 3 boys will be ordained here in the next few weeks. They will have a Decon, Teacher, and a Priest. Then we are taking the whole family to the temple to do baptisms for the dead!!!"

"Elder Downey and I got grilled cheese sandwiches on National grilled cheese sandwich day (as shown on the door to my left) at Reed's Dairy. The only place with ice cream that comes close to Bluebell."

"Elder Govatos, Downey, Me, Huish, and Pedro."