November 26, 2012

Connor as OC Sportzcards with a famous baseball player.

Hi mom,

First a very happy early birthday. I don't have enough money right now to send you a card. I just want to let you know that I didn't forget. I hope that you have a happy birthday.

I'm going to miss the minivan. Crawling all the way into the back just to get whiplash and carsick from all the sharp turns in it. Those were fun days.... I hope that the new car works out. I'm glad that Jaylen is getting a lot of offers. I hope that she goes to a good school. Is she talking or thinking about a mission? She is one of the ones that could go right out of highschool right? Ha ha she doesn't have to just wondering if she is.

Thanksgiving was great. We went to the Moates. They are a Part Member family who are super awesome. It was just five of us and a 22lb turkey. We have a ton of leftovers. It was really fun I had a good time. I can't wait to be with my family again though on Holidays. We have to do it with Nana and Papa. They are retired now so they can do whatever whenever they want now right? Ha ha. How were they late to Thanksgiving if they were retired? Don't retired people show up early to everything? lol

Elder Mackenzie is doing great. He has been in the U.S. for 4-5 months now. We are getting along great, he is a really cool kid.

We still haven't been able to track down Mili. Still looking for her.

The Rodriguez family wants to be baptized so bad. They just are unwilling to changed their life style right now. We are taking baby steps with them, trying to get over coffee with them and get them lots of friends in the church. I am afraid that if we baptize them too soon they will stop coming to church and be like, I'm baptized now so I don't need to do anything else.

Well our weather doesn't change it is 70s during the day and i can get down into the high 50s now at night. Freezing!!!!! It already rained twice this year so it shouldn't rain again till next year ha ha.

For Christmas I would really like a really nice Phillips Norelco electric razor. My face can't take the razor blade. I bleed and then break out every time that I use it. So I have been using a crappy electric razor that a missionary gave to me. I would like a nice new one.

I did get you package thank you for the CDs. I loved the secret song also :) that was really good. Thank you

Our zone isn't the most athletic zone in the mission. So our P-days have been pretty lame lately. We have been playing hackysack and four square lately. Normally I just go shoot hoops while they are doing that. But today we are playing basketball so I am super pumped.

I still do take my vitamins, and it is hard to exercise at 6:30 in the morning. I will do like a six weeks to sexy workout six weeks before I go home :) Plus I ride a bike now.

I do eat fruits and veggies at members houses.

I love you mom. Thank you for everything. You really do a lot for me, thank you. I hope that you have a really good birthday.

November 19, 2012

Connor with his companions and his great friend Tyler that he baptized!!!

 

 

Hi family,

So this week on bike has been a crazy one. I did get a bike and it is permanently mine now. It is an old 80's racing bike with the skinniest tires I have ever seen. I have had to do a lot of tune up work on it but it is okay. If I die on my mission though it will be because of that bike ha ha. Elder Mackenzie was really lucky and because he is from Kenya the mission bought him a brand new bike to use. A missionary that went home gave me his bike to have so that is how I got this one. I can go super super fast on it though. My brakes don't really work though so I have to kinda start braking really far before I need to stop lol.

We found a new investigator. He watched the mormon southpark episode and was really curious about it so he referred himself on mormon.org and we went over. He read all of 1 Nephi in one day and loved it. He has a date for the 8th of Dec. We are super excited for him. His name is Jeramie, he is kinda of a stoner dude but wants to make a change in his life so that is why we are here.

The Rodriguez family are doing really good. We had a good lesson with them. They want to be baptized, they are just having a hard time. They don't want to read or go to all of church. We are still trying to help them quit coffee. It is tough, sometimes you wish you could make them choose the right choices haha. But that would defeat the purpose.

Our other investigator Mili is playing hookie with us and we haven't seen her for two weeks now. We are worried about her. We hope to see her soon.

Other then that I am doing good. I could use some batteries though. AA and AAA. being on bike again I use my CD player a lot to play my CDs. Can't wait for your CD your sending me mom. Thank you guys for everything. I love you so much. I am super busy down here especially on bike so sorry if this e-mail is short.

Connor

November 12, 2012

Connor's 20th Birthday!!!!

Ha ha so speak of the devil I'm back on bike. We are getting 100 new missionaries in the next four months so they took my car away to give it to someone else in more need of it. Elder Mackenzie doesn't have a license though so I drove everywhere. The mission is buying Elder Mackenzie a nice new bike today because he doesn't have the funds to get one himself. I am looking for a bike to borrow again, I think I may have to fight some Elders for one but I should be able to get one. Until then we are walking ha ha. Never can catch a break.

I sent Jaylen a Birthday card yesterday I hope it gets there soon. Wish her a happy b day for me.

We get fed really well here, an average of three meals a week.

I think that Jaylen needs to develope her talent for soccer and use it while observing the sabbath day. The church doesn't pin down specifics on how to keep the sabbath day holy for a reason. It is really between her and God. Not my decision to make.

I really do love California. It is a lot like Utah. Even the wards are super small and the church is really strong here in OC. OC is very different from the rest of California though. It is super republican and conservative here with the California hang loose attitude also though. I really like it. People aren't as nice as in Utah though. But it is super super expensive here though.

Um we have soup plantation, taco bell, target, panda express, flame broiler, Subway, five guys burgers and fries, that is all I can think of right now. (I had asked him what restaurants were in his area.)

So the Rodriguez family is going to have to have their date pushed back for a coffee addiction. Also they told us they weren't going to keep the Sabbath day holy either. Bro. Rodriguez wants to watch his soccer and take his family to the movies, beach, sporting games, and what not. I understand where he is coming from but it is frustrating when they are so close to being baptized. Other then that I am doing fine. I could use some deodorant. Thanks for everything that you do love you mom so much!

Letter from Connor's Mission President

Sister Hinckley,

First of all, thank you for sending us such a powerful, obedient boy to our mission. We are so blessed to have him and he is doing a wonderful job here. I was with him two days ago, and visited with him for a few minutes. He is a strong boy and he has unshakable faith. He read section 31 of the Doctrine and Covenants and told me that this is now his section. He said that he has total trust in the Lord; and he does.

I pray that the Spirit will be able to enable you to face this trial that you are going through. I always listen to a mother’s council. I will see that he gets the blessing.

Warmest regards,

President Bowen

November 5, 2012

Hi mom,

So this is California, with the California girls...... of course everybody is good looking here. Especially at Newport Beach! Ha ha Texas is just different.

So that's lame that Halloween was so dumb. I love Halloween. We are going to celebrate it super crazy this next year. I can't wait. We went over to a members house and helped them run a haunted house. We handed out the candy when they went through it all. Everybody thought that being Mormon Missionaries was our costume. They would not believe that we were actually missionaries. It was really funny.

I do have a CD player.

All missionary homes are apartments

I'm doing okay though. Just plugging along. Our investigators are doing really well and progressing really good. We are having some trouble with the Commandments with a few of them but nothing we can't work past. Reading is also hard, people just don't like to read. Other than that I am doing well. Thank you for everything. I love you mom.

October 29, 2012

Hi Mom,

So the ward is doing well. It is so super small though. Yesterday we had only 9 (including us) in Elders Quorum. Super small ha ha. The members are really good though. We are starting to form friendships and trust which is really cool. Mili came to church yesterday which was amazing!!!! She has a 7 year old daughter and she enjoyed it too. Mili said that she never felt like she wanted to leave or was bored. She also said that she wanted to come back next week. Also she wants to feed us this week. It was so cool. I was so worried that she would feel lost or forgotten or uncomfortable at church I was praying so hard for her to have a good experience. The Rodriguez's are super solid also. They didn't come to church but we chewed them out after ha ha. They promised us though that they would come this week. We had a super good lesson with them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. I love learning and teaching simple things. I have really learned to hate deep doctrine out here ha ha. I really do delight in plainness like Nephi did.

I like our area a lot. We have a ton of businesses in it. Target, 99 cent store, a ton of restaurants. The only problem is, is that it is Newport Beach so everything is super expensive again.

The temple was good. All I could think about though was dad going through with me when I went. Really weird, idk, it was a different experience. We go four times a year.

I love Elder Mackenzie. He has really taught me a ton about how I need to be grateful for what I have. His father just got electricity in the house last month and they are one of the more well off or middle class of Kenya. We had a really cool experience where some Kenyan's came to America to promote their non-profit organization Kenyan Keys. People from America support or pay for a college student who is smart and has the grades to go through college but doesn't have the money to do so. They talked and couldn't believe all the stuff that we have in our schools. Smart boards, projectors, computers, even desks. In some schools it is four kids to a desk. Elder Mackenzie told me about walking two miles to school and learning to use addition with twigs and rocks to count with because that is all they had. He is 25 now and was fortunate to go to college. It really is different there.

We had our ward Halloween party this Saturday and that was really fun. I came up with a fantastic three dollar costume idea also. We went to the dollar store and bought a large serving plate, a little trick or treat cauldron, and toy swords. I then took a sharpie and wrote spirit on the sword, salvation on the cauldron, and faith on the plate. Then we put the cauldron's on our head and made a duct tape handle for the plate and we wore the armor of God. Everybody loved it ha ha.

You can't send me that book sorry, I can only read the approved Missionary stuff. I forgave dad though, it was easy because he felt sorry and apologized. Jess doesn't though, she doesn't think she did anything wrong, that is was okay to cheat on me, lie to me, and do things that she did. That really hurts, the fact that she doesn't even care. I'm done with it though, I haven't talked to her since and I never even want to see, hear, or think of her again. It is hard sometimes. I am doing okay though, don't worry.

Don't you know why Psychiatrists and Psychologists become what they are? Not to fix other people's problems, but to learn how to fix their own ha ha ha ha.

I love you mom

October 22, 2012

Hi mom, thanks for the virtual hugs. I have a hard time letting people in or looking hurt you know that. I just don't want to be a special case missionary that has all these problems ha ha. I'm doing fine though now. It is a little hard to not care about some stuff. That is what everybody is telling me, "You don't have to worry about it while on your mission, don't think about it, don't think about Jess." It really isn't like a switch in my brain that I can just click and everything just goes away ha ha. I am doing a lot better though you don't need to worry about me.

I did get the package. Thank you so much for it.

 

The work here is going really really well. We have five investigators committed to baptism in the month of November. Mili is a single mom and is super strong. She wants to be baptized. The Rodriguez family (a family of four) also are super strong. In our last lesson the dad was just bawling because he felt the spirit so strong. It was really cool, it was our first lesson with them also so that was really neat. Hopefully we will be able to pull five baptisms next month. That would be so neat. Especially because the Ward hasn't had a single baptism this year. The members are super nice. I gave a talk yesterday in church and a lot of people complimented me on it. I used it to help me gain member trust and get people excited for missionary work. I hope that it worked.

We haven't gotten back to the hoarder lady's house yet. I hope we never do ha ha. We are really trying to get our investigators to church though. It is a huge tough thing to do here. Everybody is just so busy. We have the Halloween party coming up this Saturday though so hopefully people will come to that.

Money wise I'm sorry. Just got super depressed and we got whitewashed so like the apartment didn't have anything that we needed because the other Elder's took everything from it so I had to buy like pots and pans and stuff like that at the beginning of the month. I will do better though.

I love you guys a lot, Thanks for everything.

October 15, 2012

I'm writing you both because I am a little tired of repeating myself ha ha. So all the Jess stuff has been revealed. She is serving a mission, she has been seriously dating other guys for the last six months, and doesn't want to be with me anymore. It feels kinda weird to have someone you love so much to cheat on you and still tell you that she loves you and that she is waiting for you while she is doing it. I know now that we are not suppose to be together. She is changed and a different person, someone who I really don't like right now ha ha. It still hurts a lot, but I know that if she wanted me back right now I would say no. I need someone who actually can stick with me through the hard times, especially if I want to continue in my career of Criminal Psychology. That is something that Jess never did for me though, she never helped me through my most trying moments. I always had to be the strong one in the relationship. I loved her though and was willing to look past that and work with it. It is hard also because this was sprung on me so suddenly and is so new while she has had the last six months to get over me. She is talked like what we had was nothing important and just some simple pre-mission fling. I know that isn't how she felt because of the promises and things that she said to me, but maybe it is her way of coping. I just want to forget her. She hurt me bad, I guess Poison was right when they said "Every Rose Has a Thorn" but, I am tired of thinking about her. So in the words of Bryan Adams "I ain't going to cry over you, you're history baby." So I guess that all that I can do now is just say what Whitesnake said so well, "Here I go agian on my own, down the only road I've ever known, like a drifter I was born to walk alone.".........I miss my rock music ha ha. Mom, though I disagree with you on one thing. I believe that their isn't many people that you can be with and fall in love with. I truly believe that their is only one, and it hurts when you are so sure, and so positive that you found that one, and then she hurts you bad. I don't know what I am really suppose to do though. I still am waiting for the spirit to help me and what not. It comes to others so much and so powerfully. I want a hug more than anything, From a woman doesn't matter who just a female ha ha. I am doing better though, still having a hard time sleeping. It's like I can't shut my brain off at night and when I do fall asleep and dream about her and wake up sweating and then can't fall asleep. Just sucks. The world goes on though. Thanks for helping me through this guys, you are good parents.

I did get the package with the rice krispees. Thank you they were very good depression food and they were like really really good. The ward is really taking us in, we had church for the first time here. It went really well, apparently the Elders that have been here before were really bad, and disobedient so they are super excited about us. Can't screw up now ha ha. Not many people come to church though, like not many. There are more Less Actives then people coming to church in this ward so we really have our work cut out for us. We got a new investigator lady though. Mom you would have gone nuts though because her house is horrible. Straight out of one of the Hoarders episodes. We helped her move stuff around, didn't throw anything away, she was sure to tell us that. But we made some more pathways in her house so that she could sit down and eat at the table and start "organizing" stuff. It was really bad ha ha. We have really been trying to meet all of the investigators though in this ward. Some of them are progressing and some are just Eternal Investigators (they have been taught forever). Whitewashing is hard because you don't know who to visit, people don't trust you because you are new. We are doing well though. The temple trip is today and I have been looking forward to that. I am going to send all my Jess stuff home to you, I told her to send back my Spider-man stuffed bear that I gave her to you guys to so be looking for that. I love you guys thanks for everything.

October 8, 2012

I am retraining a kid from Kenya who does not know how to be a missionary because his trainer went home early for messing around with a sister missionary, and I am in a new area and don't know any members trying hard to just get through each day. I want him to help me, I just don't know how, or what I am doing wrong to have him help me.

My companion Elder Mackenzie is my favorite so far though. He is so funny and me and him get along really well. I get to explain little American things to him like why Mexicans are flagging us down on the side of the road (because they want work). Ha ha it is really funny. He is 25 though but he is super skinny like super skinny. The ward is good, it is nice being down in Newport again. It is a lot cooler and just the people are nicer. Our members seem pretty cool, we didn't have church though so I have to still meet a lot of them. Other than that I am doing pretty good. I could use some man soap, toothpaste, and contact solution though. Thank you mom for everything. You have a big heart, keep working with dad. I am over what he did. It still hurts having your biggest idol and who you want to be more than anyone turn out to have done something that you feel is worse than anything. But I'm over it. I love you mom so much. keep fighting the good fight.

Love,

Connor

Letter from a ward member

I had to tell you how much I've enjoyed having your son in our ward for the past few months. He was there for me at the hospital when I was not doing well. He gave me a blessing on more than one occasion that made a great difference in my health. He's come by and always been willing to give me a blessing or help me and my husband with things we couldn't have done. I love that he sees what needs to be done and then does it and does it well. He has knowledge and experience beyond most. I thank you for doing such a great job in raising you son. He's a wonderful example for others.
He and his partner are being transferred tomorrow to different places. They will be missed by others besides me. I have a picture of them I will send you when I get help in attaching attachments.
My thanks and appreciation for being able to have a missionary such as your son come into my life to help me when I needed it. Jan H.

- From the desk of Jan Hamutoff

I'd asked your son several times before he agreed we could take his picture. I think he knew I wanted a picture to remind me of him and Elder Healey. AND I wanted you to see a picture to know he's OK.

Your son is proud of his family and did mentioned you're a runner. (momruns5 is another clue) The best compliment I can give you is that I will miss your son.

- From the desk of Jan Hamutoff

September 24, 2012

Hi mom,

I'm doing okay :) I know it is your job to worry about me but don't. I love you so much and you are being so strong. I taught my record number of lessons this week. 10, so the work is not suffering. That is good to hear about Kate. She needs that big testimony and soon as she can get it. By that I mean before High School there ha ha. There is definite power in the temple mom. They are treated like gold out here in the mission field. When we get to go it is just awesome! Thank you for buying me the garments. Those should be fine. My legs have gotten a lot bigger. My garments won't stay down anymore because of my calves ha ha. It'll go down in a few months though because this is my last week in this area and on bike. I don't know where I will be going next. I really liked this ward. I am going to miss Tyler most of all. We took him shirt shopping two Sundays ago because he needed a white shirt and black pants. I help him tie his ties also before each Sunday because he never learned how to do it. He told me I was like the older brother that he never had. That really meant a lot to me. He is such a cool kid, and he is going to be my friend for life. I was supposed to come on a mission for Tyler. More so for me though than for him.

I wasn't around the mission president when I called. He told me in the morning before church then I had to teach a Sunday School class about being a ward missionary and then answer missionary questions that the youth had in the 3rd hour. It was a long day ha ha. President told me that I could call later that night. But to keep it short, the office tracks our calls so he could see how long it was.

I love you mom, keep being strong for you and the girls. I finally got all my pics onto the flash drive and I will send it to you this week.

Love,

Connor