2011 Aug 22

2011 Aug 22

Hey Guys!

This week was pretty good. Yesterday was actually Elder Bennion's 20th birthday so that was fun. Here is something crazy, my half birthday (2-21-91) is exactly his real birthday (8-21-91). So that is pretty crazy. And I don't know if I’ve already told you guys but he is also from Federal Way (Milton) Washington. He said that he lives really close to Wild Waves which is crazy because that means that I drove by his house every single Saturday and my way to TYSA. So that was fun.

This week has been kind of funny/hard though. We talked to Oscar and Carlos on Tuesday and challenged them to be baptized and they told us that they were too scared to change religions because they had already been baptized in the Catholic religion when they were babies and that they didn´t want to be "jugando con Dios" (playing with God) so after a little while of trying to convince them, they said no still. We just left them with the challenge of reading and praying to know if they need to be baptized to the Church of Jesus Christ. It is kind of sad because when we were trying to set the fecha with them, the spirit was so strong but so sweet at the same time so I know that they felt it but they still chose to not act in accordance with it. It´s kind of sad because they are missing out on so many blessings but what are you going to do right? They still have their agency.

Yesterday, Rolando and his family, when we went to their house to pick them up from church, said that they couldn´t come. They all had tos and they were afraid of having a coughing attack in church so they decided to not come. The whole family is way pilas and yesterday, when we were talking to Idalia (the wife) she told us that she knew in her heart that all of the things that we are teaching them are true! And that felt really good to hear so I know that they are going to be baptized but they are just going to have to wait until the next transfers because we can´t baptize them until they go to church. But I am really excited about that family.

Also, we were contacting a little while ago and found a less active returned sister missionary (inactive, really, but I guess we don´t use that word anymore) named Fania and in our missionary correlation yesterday, we mentioned them and apparently only she is the only member in her family and she a lot of kids and a husband that are not baptized. So we are going to start working with them and I am exited about that. We are also finding some other families too but they are not progressing a whole lot yet. I´ll let you guys know with any updates on them.

Well, I have to go. Have a great day! I love you guys!

Love,
Elder Froelich

Hey! Remember when I asked for suggestions and you gave me gold? Well, the assistants emailed all of their "best" elders to get ideas for the mission and I basically copy and pasted what you gave me. So thanks. J

2011 Aug 15

2011 Aug 15 PM

Last week, I sent a letter to President Bautista because that is what I always do. Usually, because he has about 200 other Elders to respond to, he sends short replies but this week, he gave me a really good reply. I asked him how I could be a better Junior Companion, and he said:

Hi Elder Froelich,

I'm glad things are working out between you and Elder Bennion. I'm so happy about your goals. Big goals means big results...it is a wonderful act of faith.

John the apostle was 2nd co, yet he was Christ's beloved. To be a good leader we must be first be a good follower and respect that authority. I'm guessing sisters and mothers have to struggle with the concept of feeling a bit "second" all their lives because of the priesthood. One time a non member with me present asked my wife, "Doesn't it bother you that you can't hold the priesthood and your husband is stake president and leads and you don't? Doesn't bother you that he has all the 'power' and you don't?"

She shot back, and said, "Who says Lewis has more power than I do?" I'm a mother and happy to be so. My children love me and follow me too and I have great influence over them. Who has the most influence. Someday my husband will be released and where is his power then? His is temporary, at least in the priesthood sense but as a mother mine is forever."

I don't know if that makes sense to you or not, but it tells me that a senor or bishop or stake president is designated for a relatively short time to lead and we have to follow because God is not a God of confusion but of order. In reality Elder Bennion doesn't not have any more power and perhaps less than you do. He who has most power is he that loves most. Who is the most obedient. Then you have real power. That is the truth. You are a great elder and are obedient. You have immense power and influence with me as long as I know you are being a loving obedient elder. Your light can't be hidden.

Anyway, I hope you understand in part.

Love,

Pte B

What a freaking baller right??? So I love him. He is a great, great guy.

Oh yeah! And I got the package of macaroni and cheese on Friday!! It is soo so good. Elder Bennion and I have enjoyed it a lot. Oh yeah, and my shoes came too. :) I like them a lot. I wore them to church on Sunday and it was great.

And as far as the investigator front, it is going great. We are teaching a family with the names of Rolando, Idalia, and Jeanette (who is their daughter of 9 years) and they are looking very positive. We are teaching them and they are accepting everything and they definitely going to get baptized not this Saturday but the one after that. So we are really excited about that. They are not married but have all of their papers that they need to do so which means that it will be very easy to get them married with the mission lawyer. And they are very excited about baptism too so I am pretty pumped about that.

We also found a guy and his brother named Oscar and Carlos. We found them in the street contacting and they came to church with us yesterday and they are looking very positive. We think that they are going to be baptized this Saturday.

But we are being so incredibly blessed by God right now with baptisms. It is amazing how much God is blessing us. So I feel very lucky right now.

The Zone is doing pretty well too. We got to do interviews with Elders who needed some encouragement and my companion encouraged the garbage out of them! And tomorrow for district meeting, I'm planning on giving a talk about having a week fast from your iniquity that will blow their socks off (well, the Spirit will hopefully being doing the blowing, I am just excited to be the instrument.

But that is what is going on right now.
But I am running out of time really quickly and I have not even written to the pres.
Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Froelich

2011 Aug 1

2011 August 1

Hey!

This week was pretty cool, though. We had 3 baptisms on Saturday and they all got confirmed yesterday in church. They were named Aron, Jesus, and Elma. They are the kids of some less actives that we are working with. Tomorrow we are going over there because it is the mom´s birthday tomorrow. Being Zone Leaders, we don´t really have a lot of time to go contacting so we have been working with members a lot and God is blessing us a whole lot. Right now we are working with some other part member, less active families and they are looking positive as well.

Being a zone leader is pretty cool too. I never appreciated it all and all of the things that they had to do until I became one of them. Sometimes it isn´t all that much fun because you are just running around buying medicine or doing some other random thing that doesn´t really help your own area. But it´s all good. This last week, we had a meeting with Mission President Bautista, the stake president and the secretary of Pres. Bautista. It was fun. I liked it a lot and it pumped me up to pump up my zone up (because some of my areas could definitely use it) and tomorrow we are going down the Xela for a conference of Zone leaders. So that should be fun. It is frustrating sometimes, though, because there are some areas who just do not want to work and it doesn´t seem like there is anything that I can say to change their minds. But whatever. Prayer, I guess.

Helaman 15:3, 15:9 GOOD ONES

Have a great week! Sorry my email is kind of short this week. The keyboard was messing up.

Love,

Elder Froelich

2011 Aug 8

2011 Aug 8

Hey! It sounds like your guys´ week has been pretty fun and crazy!

My week was pretty awesome as well. We went to Xela for a ZL conference and it was really good. President Bautista is very "by the book" and it is great because President Lorenzana was definitely not that way and I felt like the mission was pretty crazy and sporadic and nobody really knew what was going on. But now that we are doing what everything says in Preach my Gospel and everything, everything is going a lot more smoothly. Elder Bennion and I put on a Zone Conference for our Zone on Wednesday and, anyway, it was way powerful. I am really excited about President Bautista.

Something else that is going on right now is that President Bautista is cleaning the mission. He has lately been sending a lot of missionaries home for fornicating and some other stuff. So, as zone leaders, we have had to search the houses of a lot of the missionaries to look for pornography and movies and music and personal cell phones and other stuff like that. I kind of came in in a kind of stinky time to be a zone leader because of all the things and changes going on and it´s hard to be everyone´s friend when you are searching their houses and enforcing new rules. But whatever, I guess. God knows what he is doing.

I haven´t seen the temple in a little while but when I was back in Xela, My house was actually in a neighborhood called "Vista Bella" which means beautiful view and there you had a really good view of the temple. They are going to be dedicating in on the 11th of December and they are going to be having the open house of the temple starting on the 11th of November because they wanted to do it after the elections which will finally be finished on the 11th of September. 11,11,11. That is how I remember all of those dates. But it is going to have 2 levels and will be really beautiful. So I am excited for it.

We are working with a couple of maybe positive investigators right now too. They all said that they were going to go to church yesterday so I don´t know how positive they actually are and we may have to drop them soon if they don´t start shaping up but we´ll see how everything goes with that. We are planning activities like crazy to try and find new investigators. So we will see how everything goes with that.

But I have to go.

Have a great week!

Elder Froelich