Harvest Time!

 A sampling of some of the fruits and veggies from our garden and yard.  Obviously the carrots didn't get thinned.  It's too hard for me to pull a living thing out of the ground.

Making grape juice thanks to generous neighbors who offered their grapes. 

Holly Nelson and I agree that it's so much more fun canning with a friend.  We bottled 38 quarts and managed to let only one steamer burn dry.  Cleaning that up took more work than the grape juice!

I'm not the only one working hard.  Paul has hauled and placed more rock and wheelbarrows full of dirt than he wants to remember.  With the help of Bob's and Ben's muscles and expertise, three beautiful retaining walls were built and plumbed, ready for planting the greenery.

Dear family,                                                                                                     September 22, 2014

This week has been a good one. Our lessons dropped a bit, but we did a lot of service. We gave 2 blessings with a member, painted a shed, moved heavy antique furniture, helped at the food bank twice, laid sod, and cleaned the church building. The sod was fun, and it reminded me of the day we put our sod in. It was fun to lay it out in squares, then to cut it with a steak knife where it didn't fit or needed to be a different shape. We have family history time every week on Wednesdays, and I've been using that time to trace my lineage back as fas as I can, and in the process, find names to take to the temple. The names I found are pretty far back, and it didn't have much information about them, but they're family, and they need the ordinances done. Hopefully I can find more names to send you a ll to help with in the temple.

We also helped with the Third Thursday activity, operating a family history booth on Main Street. We were actually on exchanges during that time, so I was with Elder Johnson instead of Elder Autrey. Elder Rasmussen and I are from the same district in the MTC, and during the exchange, we both had some practice taking over the area. Elder Johnson decided to do that because in about 3 weeks, I'll most likely be training a new missionary.

We haven't been able to teach as many lessons as we usually do, because of all the service, but we were able to contact a referral, and teach Jacob's sister Tori. We have also been helping Lannah in her quest back to Christ. She's been having a rough time, and we're grateful that we are here to help her and get her back on the path. Also, Jacob and Erin are back! They've been gone a whole month. Jacob doesn't want to work out of state anymore, because he wants to be with his family more. He told his boss that if he isn't put on a local crew, he's quitting. So now he's on a local crew, which is awesome! He'll be able to come to church with us every week now! We have had some awesome lessons with him, and he told us he is going to finish the Book of Mormon by October 18th. We taught a lesson on why God requires His ordinances, and how it all is a progression towards eternal families, because that's what Jacob and Erin both want. We committed him to be baptized on October 11th, and he's trying to finish the Book of Mormon by that date now. We're excited for him, and we really have seen him become happier as he makes changes in his life. He hasn't had any tobacco since he quit, but he's on a "tobacco-less tobacco". He's expressed that he wants to get off that as well.

That's the week we've had. It's been a good week. Thanks for all your prayers, support, and love.

Elder Ehlert

Quilting marathon

For nine years now I have taken a "Quilt Block of the month" class.  Each year has a different theme, this year being "Every Barn Has a Story".  What an adrenaline rush to be sewing the last seams up to the last minute before leaving for class!  I wanted to use gingham and then duplicate it with the checkerboard and like how it turned out.  Designing the quilt top takes creative juices and keeps brain cells alive.  Love it!

Cider in either a yoga pose or taking a nap.  A sunny and warm September so far.

l

By contrast, Daniel's area had their first snow and he is without winter clothing as he was going to buy it when needed.  The shopping options aren't great, so Mr. Mac's may need to come to the rescue.

Dear Family,

As for our LARC (less active/recent convert) list, we have about 14 people we are working with, and we've continued to teach them the lessons over again for them to hear and remember more about the gospel and the blessing that come from attending church. We really have been seeing the blessings that come to people as they are becoming closer to Christ.

We had our first snowfall on Wednesday and Thursday, so that was interesting. My companion and I built a small snowman from the snow on our roof, and we put it where all can see it from the street. I bought a sweater from JC Penney, and that was nice to have. It's warming back up now, with temperatures in the high 70s. I still wear my short sleeve shirts, especially when helping out at the food bank, where it gets pretty hot lifting and unloading heavy boxes of food. 

On Friday we went down to Gillette to the Stake Center for our Zone Training Meeting. Elder Autrey and the Gillette 2nd ward sisters did a musical number together, and that was pretty cool. They sang Come Unto Christ. You can look it up on Google for the song. It's pretty cool, and I hadn't heard it before. Our training was how to use the Sacrament as a way to stress the importance of attending church, and I have been really excited to use that with our less active members. I think it will really help them to see why coming to church will bless them.

It's been a great week, and this week is already looking like it will be amazing! Thanks for all your support, prayers, and love!

Elder Ehlert

End of Summer Fun

It's hard to believe that September is here already, but I'm still holding fast to summer!

I joined the Sandy Rotary Club, the Sandy Boys and Girls Club and the Days of 47 Royalty for a hike down from the top of the tram at Snowbird.  Beautiful!

 Beauty among the boulders - we are trying to get a landscaping project done before the snow flies.

 With Sharon's help and the cucumbers, tomatoes, red and green peppers from our garden, we canned 25 bottles of Mom's famous "Green Relish"

 Canyon FHE with the Stephensons and Auntie Sharon...playing "Spot It!"

Hike to Donut Falls with the Activity girls

Stephanie's birthday haul...no "big bang" present, but she'll get organized, keep her bike in good repair and satisfy her chocolate cravings!

 A talented photographer and friend, Michelle, took these photos of Daniel just before he left on his mission.

Dear Family,

Mom, to answer your questions, I haven't had too many moments of homesickness or super discouraging times. There are sad times, and there are hard times, but it's been an amazing experience, and I guess I would say it's been more happy than sad. Our district was our ward, the sisters who serve in 1st ward, and Ranchester. Now, since our district is combined, we have all three Sheridan wards, Ranchester, and Buffalo. Our district will probably only be this big for one transfer, then it will split again. 

Anyway, as for this week, it's been interesting. We have 4 investigators, and one is out of town working for 5 weeks, then off for 2 weeks. That's Jacob Campbell. Another is getting a liver transplant in Minnesota, and he won't be back till mid October. That's Robin Brown. Another got evicted from his apartment, and moved to Colorado, where he lived before. That's William. The last one is Tori, Jacob's sister. She has sat in on some lessons when we taught Jacob, so we have now been working with her, and she is really progressing. She completely accepted the Restoration lesson, and she said she's seen some pretty cool changes in Jacob since we started meeting with him. So that's been cool. She'll continue to be our only investigator for a couple more weeks.

Because of the lack of investigators, we have been focusing on LARCs. (less actives and recent converts) We have 3 recent convert familes we have been teaching the lessons over again to, and 7 less actives we have been focusing on. It's been going really well. Yesterday at church we had no investigators, but we had 4 less active members show up. It's really been amazing to work with these people to see them remember the blessings that come from the gospel, and that desire to come back return to their hearts. They can really feel of the Savior's love for them and He wants them back. 

Here's a cool experience that happened yesterday at church. In Elder's quorum we had a lesson on the power of the Priesthood and mainly focusing on blessings, and the opportunity and responsibility we have as Priesthood holders to give blessings to those who need them. We act in Christ's behalf, because He can't be there personally. We also talked about preparing for blessings, and that sometimes we have to give blessings at a moment's notice, and how we need to be doing the every day things to make sure we are ready to do those blessings. After church, a member, sister Broad came up to us and said her knee has been hurting and she wanted a blessing. We said we'd love to, and asked her when she wanted it. She said, "Right now." She asked me to do the blessing, and it really was a cool experience, especially following our lesson. 

On Saturday we had the opportunity to help in the First Annual Sheridan Sludge Trudge. It's a 5K through mud and obstacles. It's all mud where you run, and you had to climb over stable walls a couple times, under a gate (slide on your stomach) climb over hay bales. There was a mud slide, or adult slip n slide down to a puddle of bentonite, which apparently is the slipperiest mud anywhere, crawl through a tube half full of mud, run through mud pools. Anyway, you get pretty dirty. We were stationed at the obstacles to make sure no one got hurt. All 3 Sheridan wards helped, as well as Ranchester. After, we were able to run it. All the missionaries did it together, and we did it in our proselyting clothes. We took before and after pictures, but we don't have them yet, so I can't send them this week. Our shirts and ties can't be saved, and my white Nike socks are now a dark tan color. Oh well. Before mom gets a heart attack about my clothes being ruined, we went to Salvation Army to get some cheap clothes to wear so if they got ruined it wouldn't be a big deal. We also got a free t shirt out of that, so that's always fun. Next weekend we're helping with the Indian Relays, which is an all Native American Rodeo. That will be super sweet! I'm way excited for that! 

Elder Ehlert

A letter from the mission field!

We had a great week in Sheridan. Two of our investigators, Jacob and Robin, were out of town this week, so we were able to focus on less active members this week. Our mission president has asked that we reteach the missionary lessons to anyone we meet with, especially recent converts and less active members, so we have been working on that. It's been really interesting to teach the Restoration lesson to 3 different people in one day, then do the same thing the next day. We have been teaching quite a bit these past couple days.

Our P day was switched to today because holidays are proselyting days, we went with the 2nd Ward elders to help someone in Story, a small town in their area. We built a fence and put up wire around their garden and chicken pen so that deer and rabbits can't get in and eat all the plants. There was a foster child staying with the members, so after they fed us lunch, all 4 of us taught the Restoration and gave them a Restoration DVD to watch. Elizabeth, the foster girl, said she was willing and interested in reading the Book of Mormon. We probably won't teach her again, but 2nd ward will let us know how she is progressing.

I didn't do much to celbrate my birthday, but I went to church, and that was fun. I told Becca this, but there is a member in the singles ward here that has my same birthday. I'm only a couple hours older than he is. We didn't have a dinner appointment because we were going to have a birthday party with Jacob and Erin Campbell, but they are out of town. I did have Spaghetti Os to celebrate though, so that was fun. We don't really have to cook much here, we get fed by members almost every night. We just have to worry about breakfast and lunch mostly, so we have soup and pasta and bread and all the good stuff. We get lots of leftovers from dinner appointments as well, so that's nice to have the next day. 

As for investigators, we haven't had much change. William moved back to Colorado, so we won't teach him anymore. He is really close to baptism, so hopefully we'll hear from the Colorado missionaries about how that goes. We're now officially teaching Jacob's sister Tori, and she really is prepared. She has been in quite a few of the lessons we taught Jacob, and she asked them for a Book of Mormon. She hasn't had much time to read it because she works a lot, but she has that desire. Hopefully she'll get in to it soon. We just had transfers, and some big changes happened in Sheridan. We had two districts with only 6 missionaries each, but now they are combined. One set of sisters left the area, but the other stayed. We now have two district leaders, who will tag team the district meetings and duties. Our two district leaders have been out for a year, and they were companions in the MTC, so that's pretty cool. We'll see how it all runs on Friday when we have our first combined district meeting.

We have been helping out a lot at the local food bank. We help them unload their trucks every Wednesdayand stock their supply. Last Saturday they had a food drive, and we went to help. They have a food trailer where they gave out hamburgers and hot dogs, sodas and chips and cookies. We were there from 10 to 2. I was in charge of the grill, and I made quite a few burgers and dogs. We were just in an Albertson's parking lot, and people told us they could smell the food we were grilling inside the store. We didn't charge money, people could donate to the food bank if they wanted to.

That's basically it for this week. It's been great, and my testimony of this Gospel has grown immensely. Teaching really gives you a greater knowledge. I am so grateful for your prayers and letters, and I appreciate the support from all of you.

Love you!

Elder Ehlert