September 2011

"Yeah being out for 7 months is so crazy!  The time has really flown by.  Because I am serving the Lord I have been blessed with many great things.  With the couple that was just baptized I love seeing the change in them.  Because they are willingly following the commandments they are seeing many blessings in their lives which includes happiness.  They haven't missed a Sunday since I have been here.  I have seen my own testimony grow so much in the mast 7 months,  and I can definitely say that others peoples testimony's have influenced me."


"Last week I was in Fairbanks we went to the Artic Circle with Brother Marshall.  It was a 14 hour drive round trip. The Artic Circle was not as exciting as I thought it was gong to be, but it was still really cool and to have seen it and taken pictures.  I also tore a tendon or a ligament my shoulder and a shard of calcium built up there.  So we had Stake conference yesterday and it was a broadcast from Salt Lake and Elder Holland and President Packer spoke to all of the Stakes in Alaska and Washington, so that was way cool."


"I am loving my mission and the people here and the other missionaries.  They really make it easier up here.  Transfers are coming up and I am not sure what will happen so we will see.  I still have 2 companions for another 2 weeks because Elder Salvador is going home a week after transfers due to his Visa.  But we are having transfers on Saturday so we will see what happens with that.  Yeah I see President and Sister Beesley much more often now that I am in Anchorage.  Probably about every other week.  The mission home is also pretty close to but I haven't been to it yet."


"Our apartment is really small.  A one bedroom, with three of us sleeping in it so there isn't a lot of room, and I don't have a desk yet.  We sometimes have time to cook.  I made carmel brownies and you famous chocolate cake in Fairbanks.  Here we cook fish and rice a lot.  My new thing I like making though are smoothies with protein and oats.  I have also bought some Tang.  Since we stopped buying it after I spilled it as a kid (haha).  I am excited for general conference coming up.  We also have Zone conference this week and we have Elder Walker of the 70 coming up.  And in November Elder Holland is coming up for a Stake Conference up here!  So it is exciting."

"So we found out what was happening with transfers on Saturday.  Elder Salvador is leaving to go home on October 4th.  Elder Ashby is going to be the new District Leader and I am staying with him.  I will be training a new missionary.  So there will be three of us again.  But his is coming out on October 10th due to health problems.  I am guessing he rolled his ankle in the MTC so they kept him longer.  I am really excited to train!  And I will have Elder Ashby to help me out some too.  So Elder Ashby's guess is that once he leaves next transfer I will be the new District Leader because in our district are the Zone Leaders and 2 missionaries in Dutch Harbor, so they have to call in and one of them is an ex-assistant to the president.  So we will see.  I am excited for the October Ensign too!  I can't wait to use it.  Right now I am studying 2 Nephi 20 and I am also reading Mark.  I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time on my mission a couple of months ago so now I want to read all of  the New Testament as well.  I feel like it will help me and my investigators."



"We have a part member family that we are going to start teaching this week and they will probably get baptized, I hope!  The members sign up for missionary dinners like a month in advance, and then they forget about it and they end up canceling.  So we have a dinner by ourselves a couple times a week.  But that's ok, it just helps my cooking skills."


"I learned more at the Temple today then I think I ever have before.  The Temple really is a house of learning. Conference was so amazing this last weekend!  I only have 2 more conferences left!  We watched it at our Stake center.  But we didn't have any investigators come though.  When Elder Walker of the 70 was here for Zone Conference he told us a lot of cool stories about President Monson.  So on Monday Elder Dellenbach (my new missionary) got to the mission field early.  So I took Elder Dellenbach on his greeny tract and we hit 3 doors in 1 1/2 hours!  And we got 2 return appointments.  And one of them is like a solid potential investigator.  We were with him for for like an hour and we were able to resolve some of his concerns by the power of the spirit,  the Lord spoke through us so were were able to witness the spirit toughing his heart.  It was a way good tract.  So all of us ( E. Salvador, Ashby, and me) went into the mission home to spend the night with Elder Dellenbach.  Elder Salvador Left to fly back home to the Philippines on Tuesday morning.  So there is still 3 of us missionaries."

Elder Dellenbach and Elder Kvavle

"I am learning more and more while I am out here that working hard brings happiness.  I am trying my hardest to do that so that the Lord will bless my life and the lives of my investigators and the lives of all of you.  I am reading this months Ensign and its about the Book of Mormon and it is explained so simply.  It really strengthens your testimony of it.  There is one store about someone investigating the church and when the missionaries introduce the Book of Mormon he gets up and goes and washes his hands.  He did that because the missionaries explained that it was a sacred book.  That really stood out to me because I often times take the Book of Mormon for granted." 


"Yeah my birthday is coming up soon and I am going to be 20!   That is such a crazy thought.  I will be entering my 20's, what a strange thought."

Here's a cool picture of the clouds taken by Elder Kvavle