September 2012

Well this last week was lots of fun down in Juneau.  Zone Conference was great and I was able to learn a lot.  The drive down to Skagway was awesome and then we took the ferry. We got back Saturday night after our ferry was delayed for about 3 hours.  We went shopping for food down in Juneau at Costco so we could bring the cheaper food up here, so we stocked up probably for the whole transfer or more.  The theme for our Zone Conference was Zion's Camp, so for our zone activity we did lots of stuff in the rain, plus it was cold and windy, but I think they planned it that was so we would murmur more.

I gave a talk at church on Sunday on why we go to the Temple and the blessings involved by going there.  It is hard for the people here to go to the Temple too often because it is a good 13 hours away, and the jobs here don't pay that well so money is a problem as well. 

 

 

 

 

New Mailing Address: 

Elder Scott Kvavle

Anchorage Alaska Mission

68 B Teslin Dr.

Whitehorse, YT Y1A3M6

Canada

August 2012

This week has been a busy week for us.  You are right mom, we do a lot
of less active work here. We taught 14 less active lessons this last week.  A lot of them want to come back, but something gets in the way. But there isn't anything too exciting going on here at the moment, just the usual working hard for the kingdom of God.  Oh we have been meeting with a nonmember guy and this week he is inviting his minister to come and talk with us. He is a pentecostal guy.  So we will see how that lesson goes with him.

Well I am learning how to play the guitar now, started a few days ago so we will see if I am any good by the time I get home. 

We had the same lesson on sharing the gospel on Sunday out of the George Albert Smith book.  He was a great missionary. we are finding quite a few new people to teach, we got 2 new investigators last week and we are hoping to get another new one today from a less active family.  Transfers are coming up, we will find out not this Saturday but the following one.  So we will see what happens. I would like to stay but I also want to go somewhere new too, so we will see what happens.  

 

 

 

 

I am getting transferred to White Horse Canada!!  

 

Yeah a big change, there is a branch out there and another missionary set too.  To get there I am taking a plan to Juneau and then taking a ferry to Skagway and then drive to White horse.  It will be and adventure.  My companion is Elder Gardner.  He is still pretty new on his mission.  So it will be crazy.  I am excited though for a change.  The ward is sad to see me go.  So we will see if I finish my mission there.  

 
So the last update on the work here in the Tongan ward is that we have someone on date to be baptized on September 3rd.  She is solid, she the girlfriend of a less active member in the ward.  But she has a few member friends in our ward already, but she isn't Tongan though so it will be up to her if she decides to still attend the Tongan ward or not.  I will still keep in contact with the Elders here in the Tongan ward to check her progress.  Elder Kafoa, one of my old companions, is coming to serve with Elder Tonga.

July 2012

This was a good week,  that scout encampment was a lot of fun.  Boys from all over Alaska were there.  The Lady we are teaching, Tabitha, and her less active boyfriend might be getting married this week and the baptism would follow shortly there after, she is ready but her boyfriend has been dragging his feet.  She will bring the kids to church even when he doesn't come, and HE IS THE MEMBER!  she came 13 Sundays in a row!  So we are pretty excited.  So we will see what happens this week.

I love you both and miss you both,  I am very thankful that you raised me in the gospel of Jesus Christ, I am eternally grateful.

 

'Ofa Lahi Atu,

Elder Kvavle

 

 

 Here is a picture is what my Tongan name tag, which is actually closer to what it sounds like.

This months transfer info.  I am staying with Elder Tonga for another 6 weeks.  But this time around Elder Tonga is going to be the District Leader now!!  It is good for him, he gets to grow in other ways now, President told me I need to help Elder Tonga be a good District leader.  So Tabitha and Tevita are getting married tonight maybe and then she will be baptized tomorrow!!  We are really excited for them.  

We had a really powerful lesson with a less active family this week and we are going to help them get to the Temple and Sealed as a family.  We are going to take them to the Temple and and go in the waiting room and have a lesson about the Temple in there. We think this will be an awesome lesson for them.

 

June 2012

Transfer info, I am staying in the Tongan ward and I am getting one of my old companions again.  Elder Tonga!  We were only together for one transfer then he went to Barrow and now he is coming down from Barrow and I get to serve with him again.  I am excited to serve with him again.  Well I am feeling much better today.  The doctors didn't know what I had.  I had a cough, sore throat, head ache, my eyes were red and infected and were pussing and fatigued all the time.  And when you get up and start doing something you feel way worse.  But I am almost 100% better.  And our one investigator still just needs to get married then she can get baptized quick.  So thats what we are waiting on for right now, so hopefully soon.

So this week I saw my first black bear!  It was in the middle of town, it was pretty big too.  We were driving so we didn't get to watch it for long.  And yesterday we went to a dinner at a camp ground and we roasted 2 pigs!  Like on a stick and everything!  it was a lot of fun. The pig was really really good.  the skin tastes like bacon. It takes a good 5 hours to cook it all the way through, but we had to go before it was all the way done, so we just cut some of it off and ate it on out way out.

I am continually studying the gospel and I just keep getting amazed at how perfect it is and how much sense it makes.  I love studying it.  I am about to finish the Book of Mormon again and I am getting pretty close with finishing the the New Testament as well, then I will re-start the B of M and start the Old Testament.  I really need to read Isaiah after what they what Elder Scott said in conference and I found in the Book of Mormon, in Mormon where he says search the prophesies of Isaiah.

We had a good week this week.  The first week of the transfer the week is always slow.  But the Tongan ward loves Elder Tonga so the ward is opening up to him a lot.  There wasn't too much that happened this past week but this week there is a seventy coming for zone conference.  Elder Koliker, he spoke at conference.  We are having zone conference on wednesday this week, so I am excited for that. 

One of our people that was about to be on date to be baptized pretty much did a 180 this week which is frustrating haha, but we have some of his fellowshippers helping him, and we are still going to be working with him.  But we are doing well with the ward, Elder Tonga and I are working well together.  The work in the ward is different from other wards I have been in.  There isn't anything too new or exciting that happened.  Oh there is going to be a missionary fireside next month that we are going to try and brodcast on the internet so our families can watch, its going to be a musical fireside, so once I find out more I will let you know.  I love you all and miss you.

This week was a good week, we taught a lot of lessons.  We got a new investigator.  This week we get to go do service for the scouts this week.  They are having a scout encampment all this week and we are driving up to Palmer twice to go up.  We are going to go inspire them to want to serve missions.  it is all of the scouts in Alaska.  And a General Authority is coming as well.  They will be set up in companionships and districts and zones, just like a mission.  We are going to trian the scouts on Christ like attributes out of Preach my Gospel.  It will be really cool to be able to help these young men get excited about missions.

We have a few investigators that want to be baptized, one is getting married soon, and like 3 are just waiting to get their answer from Heavenly Father.  So we are excited for them and are trying to help them as much as we can.  Elder Tonga has a great Uncle up here who isn't a member and we had a lesson with him this week, it was very powerful and the family of the him was also listening and most were crying after the lesson, it was all in Tongan and we brought a member who could speak Tongan, I didn't understand too much but I spoke and they translated for me.

May 2012

For Mother's Day this year the family got to skype, which was pretty cool to get to see everyone.
Happy Mothers Day.  I don't think I said that over Skype yesterday.  And for dinner yesterday we ate horse.  Yeah actual horse.  Tongans eat it.. It was actually really good.  I liked it.  I really enjoyed talking to all of you yesterday.

My week so far has been interesting.  I have been sick for most of it.  I went to the doctor and they gave me some antibiotices.  So we didn't get a whole lot of work done this week.  And it was stake conference this past weekend.  We had 2 members of the sevendy come up for it.  Elder Dunken and Elder Call.  So we had lots of meetings with them on saturday and sunday.  We have and investigator who is close to baptism, she just needs to get married to her less active boyfriend.  They are working on it and want to get married, they are just working out all of the details.  So we will probably have a baptism here in a few weeks.  Something I wish I had learned better back home dad was how important members were in missionary work.  We the members should be providing the missionaries with people to see.  Missionaries are called to preach the gospel, not find people to teach.  So maybe you could use part of that some how.

I am still sick and will probably go back to the doctor again today.  I have been sick all last week and haven't been able to work like at all which is frustrating.  Oh so last week I forgot to tell you that I had my first earthquake (at least that I felt).  It was a 4.7 i think.  It was pretty crazy haha.  But Nothing really eventful happened.  We also had Elder Dunken and Elder Call from the Sevendy come up for our Stake conference.  It was pretty cool.  I think one of the favorite scriptures I read this week is one in Romans, where is says something like shake off the darkness and put on the armor of light.  I need to keep my armor of light of and keep the darkness off.

April 2012

New Address for Elder Kvavle:

Elder Scott Kvavle
Alaska Anchorage Mission 3250 Strawberry Road
Anchorage, Alaska 99502


Conference was awesome this weekend!  As a missionary it is better then holidays!  I loved the in conference when they said that you can be active in the church and less active in the gospel, I think that is how many people can tell themselves that they don't need to go to Church.  But they need the gospel. Almost all of those talks were directed toward the investigator that we had watching.  His name is mike and he wants to be baptized he is just sorting through some stuff right now.  Uncle Dave will be ready to come eventually.  I see it so much out here where people get offended and use that as a reason to stop coming,  its so sad.

It is light here now till about 9:15pm now and we are gaining a little over 5 min of light a day now so we are excited :)   I go on exchanges with the district leaders in the zone, and there are 3 districts.  We also go on exchanges with trainers and trainees.  Being a zone leader eats up a lot of time out of our day but we still are running to appointments all day with one of our awesome members.

I had a good Easter weekend.  It was very spiritual and I am very grateful for everything the Savior has done for me.   I have noticed that wisdom comes with a combination of time and diligent study of the gospel.

I got one of the Tongan books today!  Thank you so much for it!  I was fasting yesterday for the gift of tongs and for opportunities to be able to speak the language and for materials to come into my possession.  Prayer answered, and Elder Boyer (my companion) was praying for that as well.  

The investigators that we are working with mainly 3 of them, are progressing.  One is on parole for like 2 years and normally you cant be baptized till you are off parole but there are sometimes cases where they can be baptized, but the First Presidency has to OK it.  So we will see what happens.  We have zone conference once every 3 months.  We have district meeting every week that we attend.

So this pas week has been an interesting one, Elder Boyer and I had to deal with a lot of problems in the Zone.  So last Tuesday a companionship had to be emergency transferred.  So I went with one of the missionaries and Elder Boyer went with the other one.  We were just going to stay that way till transfers which is tomorrow but we got our transfer calls and Elder Boyer is going to Delta Junction to train a new missionary and speak Russian.

I am staying with the missionary who is having some trouble which is in the Tongan ward.  So I guess the Spirit new that I was going to serve in the Tongan ward so that's why I got the impression to start learning Tongan.  So I am not a Zone Leader any more.  I am a District leader Elder MacPherson from Utah.  He has been out only a month longer than me.  So I go where I am needed.  I did not see any of this coming.  But I will go and do....  I know the lord has need of me here and I know that I can help the people here and my companion as well.  Because the Lord knows his people and He knows how to succor them.  And yes I was only in the Campbell Park ward for only 5 weeks!  It didn't feel long enough, and it is getting white washed again, which is always hard on the investigators, especially since it was just white washed last transfer.  So the Tongan ward is interesting, WE EAT SO MUCH!  We get fed like 2 or 3 dinners a night!  But the Tongan people are very nice. The Tongan culture is different than ours.  They will do anything for missionaries.

March 2012

We moved to our new place on Saturday.  And we did got our transfer calls.  Elder Kafoa is staying and I am going to North Anchorage to be a Zone Leader with E. Boyer.  I have served around him and I like him a lot.  So it will be a lot of fun.  I wanted to stay longer but the Lord needs me to go to anchorage.  And yes there are missionaries in the Yukon.  They are in Whitehorse.

My investigators are doing well, and elder kafoa is ok with the transfer.  We had a really powerful lesson with Jimmy.  We commited him to come to general conference and read out of the book of mormon which was huge! for him.  I am glad that he is making progress.

My companion is Elder Boyer from Las Vegas.  He has been out for 16 months.  We are in the Campbell park ward which was the Assistants are so they kept it going really well.  We have a really nice place to live in.  Probably one of the nicest in the mission.  Being a zone leader is stressful sometimes.  We are planning for zone conference, which we have a lot to plan for and its on Wednesday and since Elder Boyer and I are both new to the area we had no clue what the previous planning meeting consisted of.  But we got everything ironed out last night in a planning meeting with president and the AP's even though we were planning till 11pm.  But it is a lot of fun being a Zone Leader.

So when Elder Boyer and I got into the area we both felt a strong impression to learn a new language.  And Elder Boyer feels like he needs to learn Russian and I felt like needed to learn Tongan.  So that's what we are both poring all of our spare time in now.  President Beesly speaks some Russian so he gave some material and CD's to him and I have a little book that helps me learn the lessons.  So we are going today to a book store to find me a Tongan English dictionary.

Last time I was in Anchorage I was in a different zone so this is new for me, I haven't seen anyone from my last ward up here but I will keep a look out.  The work in this ward is really hopping so we are excited to be able to help the ward.  The ward mission leader is so awesome he has lots of plans to help us out.  I love the gospel, something Elder Boyer and I are doing is praying every hour and we pray for the gift of tongs and interpretation of tongs in every prayer.  We have come a long way in just a week.  Reading the scriptures in Tongan helps me get the feel of the language much faster than if you read anything else, that is a huge blessing!

Zone conference was awesome.  We learned a lot of cool things.Here in Alaska we have a pair of missionaries in each ward.  So many companionship's make up a district.  So many districts make up a zone.  So our zone encompasses a whole stake.  And there only 7 stakes in Alaska.

Elder Boyer and I get along great.  He is a great missionary and a great person.  We have wanted to serve together for our whole missions.  As a zone leader we don't have a lot of free time and what little free time we do have we are studying our new languages.  But just a few days ago I said my first prayer all in Tongan!  But as a zone leader now we get a lot more time around President Beesley which is great because he is a spiritual giant.