MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!!!!

Hi mom, thank you so much for the Valentine's that you have sent me!!!!! The package was wonderful! Thank you for the movie and the Candy. Ha ha I laughed hard when Jaylen said that she didn't like the Valentine's card that you sent out. (She didn't like them because they were all just pictures of her and her sister.)

So the Baptism was amazing and she asked me to baptize her. It was such an amazing experience. Like nothing I have felt before. She was confirmed yesterday and is now a Mormon. She is so amazing and so strong she is going through such a tough time right now but she still made it through.

Something else that will make your day also is that I have been stretching every single night for a month and a half now and can almost touch my toes and I haven't had any back pain at all. Bro. Kiester the doctor who found the cure for scoliosis in my ward took a look at my back and told me that if I stretched every day I wouldn't have any problems and I haven't. You can say I told you so now....

The weather here has been 60s-70s now pretty steady. It gets kinda boring sometimes because is doesn't ever change. When it rains it is actually fun but it rains like once a month if even that. ha ha

I hope Mikey goes that would be so awesome. I know that some missionaries out here with me have more problems than he does so he should be able to go no problem. That is crazy that Matt has parasites in Ecuador. I am uber lucky that I don't have to deal with that out here. ha ha.

Jaylen is a tough girl but she needs to learn to hit back. She is too much like me and just sits and takes it and internalizes it. One thing that I have learned out here is that you have a problem with your companion you need to say it because if you let it sit then the Spirit can't be with you because you are angry. I do remember Belton also don't remember what school they are didn't really pay attention when I went on those band trips.... gosh I hated marching band ha ha.(I was telling him about Jaylen's soccer games at other schools.)

Cori is going to watch Kate ha ha, that is crazy.

I have had a lot of sad moments on my mission. Elder Catmull would get on my case a lot but I would get over it. Maybe one thing that was really hard for me was when I first got out in the field was worrying about home. I read a scripture in 3 Nephi I can't remember the chapter exactly but it was 19 or 18 around. very last few verses. It made me stop and think because in it, it talks about how you don't need to worry about where you are going to eat, or what you are going to wear tomorrow, it says to trust in the Lord and that the evil in the day you have is enough and you don't need to worry about things you can't change. That made me realize that I can't change anything that goes on back home, so I just have to pray that the Lord will take care of the people that I love and that will have to be enough.

Thank you again for the wonderful package I love you guys so much and miss you. Take care and share the gospel with someone.

February 20, 2012

Tell mom thank you for sending those e-mails to Jess. I am sure she appreciates it. That's good that you got to spend some time together finally. Our Golden Investigator is getting baptized next Saturday and I am super excited. My first one, everyone says that after your first Baptism the mission just flies by because you know what the success is like. I am way excited. We are going to meet with her tonight to see who she want's to Baptize her and speak at her Baptism.

I hope that Kate does well. I get called to bear my testimony a lot in church when there is extra time ha ha. I teach the Gospel Principles class a lot also, just yesterday I taught it about Talents and using them.

That is really cool that you just had a Recent Convert. Be sure to become friends with him. That is a really cool story. So where do the missionaries live. There is a guy in my ward that served in that mission Bro. McBride, and he said that College Station had the nickname temptation station because of all the parties that went happened on campus. That made me laugh.

I honestly wont know when I need a bike till two days before I transfer because that is when we find out where we are going or even if we are going to a new area. The odds are that I could never get a bike but there is still a chance that I might need one. I think that English speaking there are 4 areas of cars for every one area on bike.

So I am definitely exploring a new diet out here and that is called: vegetarian. I have eaten so many vegetarian meals since I have been out here. Me and Elder Austin are dieing because he is from Arkansas and is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I just tried my first veggie burger last week and I don't know why people think that salad can be considered a meal but apparently a lot of people do. Ha ha I am actually learning to almost enjoy salad now, but don't tell anyone ha ha.

That is horrible about Lisa and I will definitely be keeping her in my prayers. It is times like these that I thank Heavenly Father for the wonderful gospel and plan of Salvation knowing that everything that was done wrong to us here will be made up in the next life.

I love you guys and thank you for everything that you do. Please forward this to Jess. I miss you guys and am working hard out here to save some souls :)

Love,

Connor

February 13th Mish-Mash of Dad's and Mom's e-mails

Stephanie our investigator is really nice. She is 37 and just finalized her divorce on her second husband who cheated on her. Her first husband and her had two kids who are 14 and 16. They live with her husband and his wife now. Her divorce attorney is Mormon and pointed her in the right direction and gave us the referral. She started to read Mormonism for Dummies and really liked it and then we came by and started to teach her. She runs and owns a company that designs and makes wedding dresses. They are really cool and we have been to her store. She ships them around the world to wedding dress stores and her dress has even been on "Say yes to the dress" twice. Pretty cool. She is an awesome lady and we can't wait for the 25th. Her kids live out of our area and the dad is against Mormons, so don't think the kids will be taking the lessons soon. She wants both of them to start going to the stake dances though.

Elder Austin is awesome and we are getting along really well. He has one younger sister and is from Arkansas. His dad is one of the few that don't work for Wal-Mart there. The work is going good and we teach really well together. He was a little bit of a rebel and came out a bit late. He is fine now though and we are working hard. He sold insurance before he came out and was on track to be making six figures. He want's to do finace and be a sport's team accountant or something like that.

I don't really feel any different. I feel more diciplined and feel like I can make myself do a lot more. But I feel like the same old Connor. Missionaries don't change much when they come out. They are still the same people with the same desires and same wants. I still want to watch TV and still Talk to Jess ha ha but the only difference is that I don't, because the Lord has asked me not to.

That is cool about Cody, don't tell anyone but Brazil missionaries have a bad rap. Missionaries that didn't serve Brazil say that it isn't a real mission down there because people average like 100-150 baptisms down there and just are always busy and no one ever fights them or gives them a hard time. Ha ha so whenever someone says they served in Brazil other missionaries will go "oh so you didn't serve a real mission then did ya?" Ha ha

That is cool about Teri coming down. Living with her was good and was nice to have a lot of space.

Have you sold my computer yet? If not just tell her to use that one or Jaylen's or my old one I think that I fixed it. Gosh I think we have enough computers in the house ha ha.

Tell Jaylen to stop talking to boys!

Tell Kate to punch back!(Dad told Connor that a girl was bullying Kate at school.)

Ha ha sounds like both of them are being successful though. I'm glad that they are both good at sports. That will make their high school experiences much better and easier. Tell them to keep working hard and having fun. I'm proud of them and all they are doing.

I don't think Mom will never stop running ha ha. Did you hear that Jess is running the Logan Marathon? You should give her some tips mom. You can't give up basketball either dad! I still have to kick your butt at church ball ha ha.

I love you guys and thanks for all the support you give me. Have you sent those videos yet? If you have thank you so much! Happy Valentines day!!! I love you guys and thanks for everything you do. I'll send you my baptismal picture after the 25th!

(When Connor was in 10th grade he got his picture taken with the University of Utah cheerleaders. He met a girl in his ward that was a University of Utah cheerleader at that time. He wanted a copy of this picture to see if she was in it.)

Thanks for the picture. The girl in our ward is standing right next to me ha ha. I will have to show it to her. This week went really well. We have a new investigator with a baptismal date for the 25th this month. Her name is Stephanie Kennedy and she is super "golden" which means she is so ready for the gospel. I am super excited because this will be my first baptism. She is 37 and going through a divorce. She is super strong though and has read almost all the way through the Book of Mormon. We have our third lesson with her tonight. So that's all that is new and happening with me. Thank you all so much for everything you do. I love you guys so much and miss you guys.

January 30, 2012

Dad sent me a picture of the Spider-man Broadway play I was jealous ha ha. Hope the girls did good in soccer. They play enough of it now that they could probably qualify to be professionals. It feels like I have been out on my mission for three weeks. Time does fly super fast out here. Are you forwarding my e-mails to Jess also? I really would love for you to do that. Thank you.

I would love to have Brian take me and Elder Austin out. Ya that would be totally fine. Just have him call President Bowen and the office. It would be really fun.

Elder Austin is great. He is awesome and doesn't read my journal when I am in the shower. Me and Elder Catmull needed a transfer. I am happy to be with Elder Austin. He is from Arkansas and is super cool. He loves to have fun while doing the work which is cool because that is what I love. He wants to be out here and has been out for a year. We teach well together and he has a lot of music that I can burn and make copies of. Also he respects my privacy ha ha.

Thanks for telling Nana to send me those things. Also don't forget to send me the Testaments and 17 Miracles. We have gotten permission to watch it and me and Elder Austin are waiting for it. Thank you so much. You guys are the best sending out those things for me.

Weather has been awesome. I am kinda always sick because our apartment has a big dust/mold problem and just all the allergens in the air make it hard. I haven't been sick sick though. I usually just take my allergy pill and I am fine for the rest of the day.

Elder Catmull went north up to the Brea 3rd ward.

Thanks for everything mom. Love you so much! Thanks for the pillow also it is super comfy and I sleep on it every night :