Greenie Fire!!

January 26, 2015
Hey ho and away we go!!!!

This week has been pretty challenging, but a whole lot of good things are about to happen so I'm super stoked for it!

a few things that are changing,

1. My Companion Elder Martin is finished with his two years and goes home on Wednesday, I take him to Pittsburgh tomorrow for his final Transfer meeting.

2. I will be getting a new companion, and as the subject line suggests... I'm Training!!!!!!! Wahoo!!! Gotta love that greenie fire eh? I cant wait to see what the future holds for this next companionship, because I'm pretty sure it's something awesome!!! hahaha

A few things that are staying the same,

1. I am Still District Leader in this area, I really enjoy giving the weekly trainings and exchanges, and whatnot, even though it is stressful at times. I'm still happy to have this assignment for the time being :)

2. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! I don't care what they say... being a missionary is fun. Hard, yes, at times, But fun!!! I will continue to work hard and show my new Greenie that I've been feeding "gospel logs" to my greenie fire for the last 5 1/2 months!!!! hahaha it's basically a Greenie Bonfire by now!!!!! Working hard is the only way to go folks!

So basically that's what's going on here the next few days...

So about my last week. A few things that happened are

1. On P-day we went to the Ice-rink with the Mosser family and I totally learned how to ice skate!!!! It was sooooo much fun!!!!

2. There are about 5 people right now that are so close to becoming investigators, I'm so excited for this new Elder. As soon as he gets here we are hoping to pick up about 4-5 investigators in the next 2 weeks!!!! Oh ya!!!

3. Also, Elder Martin and I re-connected with one of his old investigators at the perfect time! She is soo ready to be

taught, and we couldn't have seen her at a better time!

4. I am constantly learning more about myself, about the savior, about Heavenly Father, and about missionary work. I honestly wish i had more time to study in the morning though. 1 hour never seems to cut it for me... There is sooo much to learn about, AND SO LITTLE TIME!!!!!!!! hahaha

well that's about all I can think of for now, so i'll send you guys some pictures!! haha

Thanks for all your help!

-Elder DeFreese

　

1. Pres. Johnson called us while we were at a dinner appointment to tell me i was training!

2. Can't you see how happy and not incredibly nervous I am!?

no time

January 19, 2015

hi, I literally have no time... sorry

　

still alive,



love the mish,

working hard,

-Elder DeFreese

1. This is the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh... But I think I'd probably call it Hogwarts :)

2. The Cathedral outside

3-5. Keeping up with the funny sign tradition we've started. I present to you the peek-a-boo stop sign...

 

 

Trampolines are fun :)

January 12, 2015  Well it's been another week, and a lot has happened so i'll try to type as quick as I can and get all the juicy details! :)



Last P-day after I wrote home, We went to a trampoline park in Pittsburgh!!! There were about 15-20 missionaries there, and it was soooo fun!!! Even though it seems like everybody and their dog can do a backflip.... arrgghh okay new years resolution.. Learn how to backflip. #impressive #conversationstarter #newfindingidea #success ;)

Also, the Hyitas came to church for the third time in a row!!! They stayed for all three hours and they really enjoyed themselves. Elder Martin sat with them for Sacrament, (I was speaking so I couldn't sit with them) we went with them to Gospel Principles class, and we sat with Brother Hyita for Elders quorum! It was Awesome!!! The Hyitas are the young Less Active family that told bishop they wanted to come back to church and receive callings and all that jazz. They are such a cool family. They also invited us to dinner on Saturday and it was sooo good... He Grilled steaks.... not impressed yet? It was 3 degrees outside when he was grilling them.... Oh yah, he definitely loves us :) haha we also played Gestures with them after dinner, I am absolutely terrible at it, but it was still way fun.... mostly cuz we won :)

Also this last week I had to prepare a District meeting on Thursday instead of Wednesday because President Johnson was coming down to Interview us.... You could say I was pretty nervous to have him there. ;) I thought that Sister Johnson would be coming as well because the last time he did interviews, she sat in on the meeting and took notes.. So I thought to myself "I bet she would love to be included in the meeting instead of just sitting there..." So I planned on using her to help me teach for most of the meeting.... well she wasn't there.... So I just changed all of my plans and winged it!!! hahaha So I taught a few things in the meeting, One thing I taught was a simple illustration that shows how people should be taught so that they will most likely change. I learned this illustration from a man in our ward whose job it is to go around to different companies and train them on how to be more productive. They all LOVED it!! I wish I had a picture so I could show you what it is, but even then it would take me a while to explain... so just trust me when I say, It was awesome ;) haha Another thing I did was basically one of the most nerve wracking things ever but both my sister and my mother encouraged me to do this.. so I did. I sang to them... No piano, no music, nothing but my voice and a room full of confused missionaries. There was a time in the MTC that my companion Elder Smith and I were really nervous to teach this lesson to one of our fake investigators. We had no idea what to teach him and we were encouraged to listen to what the spirit told us to teach him. So we had to bring the spirit stronger so we could feel it better. So we went into a room, closed the door, and I sang him my favorite hymn as he just sat there listening to the spirit. The spirit was strong, he understood what we needed to teach, and the lesson went great!! So with my district I did the same thing. I had them pull out a piece of paper, and just sit and listen to what the spirit told them to do differently this year. I prefaced this by telling them that we all have something specific the lord wants us to do differently this year, whether it's doing more of something, or stopping doing something else, or whatever. I encouraged them to listen to the spirit and write down what it told them to do. Then I sang Hymn 335 Brightly Beams our Fathers Mercy. My favorite hymn. They sat, and sat, and eventually started writing. I didn't ask

them to share what the spirit told them to do. But I encouraged them to strive to do whatever it is they were told to do. Then I bore testimony of the spirit and the power it has in our own conversion, and in the conversion of others. I felt the spirit strong, and I hope they did too. I got a lot of compliments for this one, and I hope that means they learned something, but either way, I'm just glad my Mother and my Sister encouraged me to look for opportunities to sing to people. We all have gifts that we were meant to share, It doesn't matter if someone is better at that gift than you, what matters is what we do with it.In church I was asked to speak on the Atonement. Probably the most flexible topic I can think of. You can take the Atonement in so many different directions. At first it was hard to pin down where I wanted to go with this talk, but then I had an Idea that I needed to change the way we looked at the Atonement. In true Braden DeFreese style, I had to use some sort of food in my talk, so I compared the Atonement to a big Chocolate cake.... yep... a cake. haha I was saying basically that for me, a chocolate cake isn't doing anyone any good just sitting in the refrigerator instead of in my mouth!! Just like how the atonement isn't doing anyone any good if we don't use it! haha They got a kick out of it... not sure if the bishop did.... oh well. I went on to explain how to use the atonement, pointing out that we need to commit to living the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to fully repent, then pointing out that in order to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we need to use the Atonement regularly. They go hand in hand. Then I went to 2 Nephi 2:25 I believe that's the scripture that says men are that they might have joy. So then I said, If we are supposed to have joy in this life, but we are also supposed to be using the atonement regularly, then that must mean that the Repentance process is not supposed to be a sad or a scary thing. But in fact it is the single greatest thing we can do to bring happiness in this life. When we repent we are simply put, aligning our will with God's will, and letting Jesus Christ pay for our past mistakes. How great a blessing it is that we know how to do that! So I encouraged them to make the Atonement a more prominent part of their lives, and to look at it as an opportunity to grow, both closer to your Heavenly Father, and the rest of the Godhead, but as a person in general as well.

Other than that I'm not sure what to inform you on. We haven't taught a lot of people this week, but it's definitely not for lack of trying. We have been searching as best we can, just haven't found them yet. But that's okay, we'll just try to make a difference wherever we go, and trust that the lord is preparing people for us to teach, and that when they're ready for us, we'll find them. :)

I hope these e-mails are slightly more informative than my previous e-mails! haha I'm trying to do better with these so that you know what's going on with me... So now you should definitely write me and tell me what's going on with you!! hahaha I love the Gospel, and I love being a missionary, even on the hard days. Thanks for everyone's Prayers and support! I love you and I miss ya!

-Elder DeFreese 1. This is a picture of us at the Trampoline Park last week :)

2. I found a sweet Jacket at a second hand store that I think you'll really like. It's a Levis Jacket that was originally over 180$ but I got it for like 30 bucks!!! I also got the tie in the picture :)

3. Emergency Shower? (Do you think this belongs on Batman's Utility belt?)

4. Sweet Gigantic icicles!

 

What a Wonderful World....

January 5, 2015 If you looked at the title to this e-mail and didn't start singing this song in your head with the raspiest voice you can muster.... Dishonor!!! Dishonor on you!!! Dishonor on your cow!!!! ;)

Well let me tell you. This has been an eventful week to say the least....

.... funny how right after I typed that sentence my mind totally went blank on what actually happened this week.... ugh... I'll do my best....

New years! New years eve was really awesome! We went to dinner at a members house and let me tell you, this member is the best member missionary ever!!! As we were leaving we saw the cooks walking in. Chelsea Cook is a fantastic potential investigator. She Prays, she's been to church, she just struggles because her husband is a member, but he doesn't go to church at all. He has a bunch of tattoos and the whole intimidating look going on... But he is one of the coolest guys I know for sure... Anyway, They had been invited to the members house for dinner and to spend new years eve with them! Apparently they've been over to the members house a few times. She has been totally friend-shipping all of our potential investigators!!! It's really awesome :)

Then after we stayed and talked to them for a minute, we went home, packed up our stuff and drove to Uniontown to spend the night with those Elders down there. They're in a trio right now so it was fun to have 5 of us in one apartment for a night. We drank some sparkling cider before we went to bed haha it was kinda lame but funny at the same time :) then we stayed in their area to work with them for the better part of the next day.

Okay this is one of the sweetest experiences on my mission so far... There's this family we've been working with since I got to this area about 6 1/2 weeks ago. They are less active, but they don't act like they are. They are totally a gospel oriented family! they just never come to church.... Why would anyone do this?.... ugh.... anyway, We made a really good friendship with them and actually ended up spending a p-day with them a week or two ago. We brought almost the whole district to their house, they fed us lunch, we played games and laughed a ton. It was so much fun... Then out of the blue, the came to church the week I was sick! It was really cool but we didn't think too much of it, since less actives tend to come to church every once in a while, we didn't think anything had really changed. But then they came yesterday as well! the bishop pulled him into his office to talk to them after sacrament. We taught the young men about the Godhead during the third hour, and after church the bishop pulled Elder Martin and I into his office to talk. He told us that the family explained to him that they have changed, that they want to come back to church, that they want to take callings, and that they want to raise their kids in the gospel!!!!!!!!! Holy cow!!! can it get better than that?!..... yes it can... Bishop then told us that when he asked them what changed, they told him it was us. That our visits had truly helped them to realize what they needed to do. That they had been touched just by having us in their home.... Okay now that is definitely the sweetest thing of my mission so far. I have never had such

a confirming experience that actually says that what I'm doing is making a difference. wow..

So remember the Cooks I talked about earlier? So since that member was doing an awesome job of fellowshipping them, we decided to capitalize on the situation and go visit them again. We stopped by just to talk one night and we hit it off with them really well too! They invited us to have dinner at their house! SWEET! So we did it! we had dinner at their house on Saturday and it was awesome! Chelsea's husband said a prayer over the food, and she said a prayer for us as well! it was super good.

Now, some back story on the Less Active family I just talked about earlier. Every time we went there, we had a lot of fun talking, but we felt like we wasted our opportunity to teach. We never had a legitimate lesson with them. We never invited them to church, we never had a really powerful spiritual moment.... So how did their situation change? It was very simple. We were their friends. They knew we loved them. They felt the spirit with us. They felt it. They changed.

This is exactly what's going to happen with the cooks. That member family is inviting them over for fun things, being their friends, never being pushy. We had dinner with them and shot his blowdart gun at a zombie face and talked about motorcycles that day. We were not being pushy, we were being their friends. The spirit does the rest. Ultimately it is their decision to change. What we can do, is be their friends and be ready for them when they're ready for us.

Does this sound like something we can all do? I think we all know we can. Be someones friend. Invite them to your house for dinner. Be genuine. Be ready. The spirit will do the rest. And you'll be blessed for simply being who you are. Don't try to change yourself to fit into some imaginary missionary mold. It's more simple than that. Be yourself.

Thanks to everyone for all your prayers... They really payed off this week :) haha



love,

-Elder DeFreese

1. Dad used to point out stupid signs to me. This one reminded me of that.

2. Talkin to everyone...
 

Felis Navidad!

December 29, 2014

hey hey hey! guess what! no time... :(

Who likes bullet points?! good! cuz that's what you'll get!!

Wednesday: super fun christmas eve, we had breakfast at the Hoffmans, and dinner at the Mossers where I had the most amazing drink, Guarana!

Thursday: AWESOMENESS!!! We had Breakfast at the Johnsons and dinner at the Langs! I got some great gifts and we had a lot of fun!

Friday: Woke up feeling really sick, tried to do some work anyway. but basically collapsed at the end of the day,

Saturday: Couldn't work. Just stayed in the apartment and tried to clean a little. Then I was feeling better so we went to help Bro. Mosser move some really old really heavy tube tv's. That was a mistake.

Sunday: was so sick I couldn't even go to church. I just layed in bed and slept for about 23 hours. Bro. Mosser came over to give me a blessing and viola! I'm feeling a little bit better today!!!

Thanks for everyones support!

-Elder DeFreese

1. Love trampolines!!! this is at Bro. Robkers house when we did the bon fire!

2. More fun on the tramp!

3. Little baby at the Johnsons keeps steeling my candy!

4. Funny Mustaches at the Langs on Christmas!

5. Cutest baby keeps photobombing me at the Johnsons on Christmas!

Bring the base!!!!!!!

December 22, 2014

Well i'm sorry to say that I don't have much time this week either. so i'll get right to it with some more Bullet points.

1. Being a District leader is a challenge. A challenge that i LOVE!!! I love going on exchanges, trying to figure out how everyone is doing, how i can help them or serve them. I love getting calls or txts from them, I even love recording the numbers and reporting them to the Zone Leaders! haha

2. We have been caroling senior centers like crazy this last week. It's really rewarding to see the smile on their faces, and to sit down and talk with them for a bit. It really helps me remember that missionary work is never about the numbers. Even though our numbers for these last weeks have dropped, I feel like we've been a big influence for good in the lives of a lot of people. And all it took was to sing them Christmas songs, and have a short chat with them, The spirit does the rest.

3. This district seems like the most unified district i've ever seen, and i literally cannot wait to see what we can accomplish together.

4. I found out that even if i get fed pizza for lunch and dinner.... cold pizza in the morning still sounds amazing to me!!! hahahaha

5. I have found no greater joy, than bringing the spirit through song to people that need it.

Thanks for all the support everyone!!!!!

-Elder DeFreese

1. Super cool fire thing!

2. I know the pic is too bad to see the score.... but I totally won!!!!!! hahaha

3. Can you see me?

 

 

Christmas time in the city!

December 15, 2014

 

hey everyone!

Hey so guess what?

I have absolutely no time.

sorry.

Bullet points,

Today is the last day as a tri-panionship.

I'm the new district leader in Monongahela.

Working hard is funner than having fun.... don't laugh, I'm not a poet. ;)

I love being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!

-Elder DeFreese

1.My district