Mike's mission - February 2007

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#FFFF66" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03c006e0dkfegl.gif"> <div>                          <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > Michael's Mission Page</FONT>      <IMG SRC="04e55390.gif" border=0 width="85" height="57" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                     California Santa Rosa Mission  June 2006 - June 2008    |   <A HREF="http://www.theHaslams.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.theHaslams.com"><U>theHaslams.com</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#009933" TEXT="#080000" background="03dbec00ddwnzy.gif"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission Front Page"><U><B>Front Page</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="latest_news.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission Latest News"><U><B>Latest News</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="photo_album.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission Photo Album"><U><B>Photo Album</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="companions.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission Companions"><U><B>Companions</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>=====================</B></div> <div> <A HREF="may_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission May 2008"><U><B>May 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="april_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission April 2008"><U><B>April 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="march_w008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission March 2008"><U><B>March 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="february_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission February 2008"><U><B>February 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="january_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission January 2008"><U><B>January 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="december_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission December 2007"><U><B>December 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="november_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission November 2007"><U><B>November 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="october_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission October 2007"><U><B>October 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="september_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission September 2007"><U><B>September 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="august_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission August 2007"><U><B>August 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="july_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission July 2007"><U><B>July 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="june_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mike_Mission June 2007"><U><B>June 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="may_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission May 2007"><U><B>May 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="april_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission April 2007"><U><B>April 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="march_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission March 2007"><U><B>March 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="february_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes mission February 2007"><U><B>February 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="january_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission January 2007"><U><B>January 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="december_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission December 2006"><U><B>December 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="november_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission November 2006"><U><B>November 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="october_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission October 2006"><U><B>October 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="september_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission September 2006"><U><B>September 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="august_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission August 2006"><U><B>August 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="july_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission July 2006"><U><B>July 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="arrival.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Arrival in Santa Rosa"><U><B>Arrival in Santa Rosa</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mtc.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission MTC"><U><B>Departure & the Missionary Training Center</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>=====================</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.mission.net/california/santa/rosa/index.php" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mission.net/california/santa/"><U><B>California Santa Rosa Mission Alumni Site</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>February 2007</B></div> <div> <B>February 26, 2007 - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >In his E-mail "The Week in Review", Elder Haslam looked forward to the changes in his district next week. He knows that 3 Elders in his district are going home including Elder Granja. Other Elders here (like myself) have been in the zone for 4 months and some of them will probably be moving on. He concluses, "we will just have to see what happens". The rainy season here continues and even more rain is expected next week. He added, "the rain is different here. It does not feel like it is raining, nevertheless you can get soaked in just a few minutes". Our senior missionaries the Fishers are contemplating extending beyond the 12 months which they originally signed up for.</FONT></div> <div> We had a good week. We added Wayne back as an investigator. He wants to be baptized, but has some work to do before than can be realized. Sister Magarita came to church on Sunday. She calls herself "the dry Mormon of Lakeport". Shannon continues to move forward and we expect to set a baptismal date soon. He told me he wants to be a missionary, but at age 27 that is not too likely to happen.</div> <div> <B>February 19, 2007 - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Michael wrote to say he waited until his birthday on Sunday to open his presents.  He was greatful for his family and others who sent birthday presents to him.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> He wrote that district council meeting on Tuesday went well.  The mission president was in the building, but did not attend. Later Michael had his interview with President Stoddard. Michael asked, "He never asks if I am following the mission rules" [Editors note: That's probably because he does not have to.]. He then added, "The President likes what I'm doing as district leader'.</div> <bR> <div> On Wednesday Brother and Sister Fisher brought their son and daughter-ln-law (from our old Ward) over for a quick visit.</div> <bR> <div> They continued teaching Shannon. He's progressing well and is reading the Book of Mormon. He is our only solid investigator at this time. We have a half dozen weak investigators right now, so sifting the wheat from the tares we will be looking for new ones next week.</div> <bR> <div> In addition to my birthday this weekend, the Ukiah Stake held stake conference. We attended in Ukiah on Saturday because President Stoddard was speaking. On Sunday we watched the conference on television (it was a regional conference broadcast from Salt Lake) from the chapel in Clearlake. President Stoddard talked about "Inspired Questions". So you guys need to find the inspired question for Brother Okamura!</div> <bR> <div> The Wilson's cake (see below) was terrific.</div> <bR> <div> The best part of my birthday was the baptism for Samantha which I was able to perform. She was so exicted she could hardly sit still.  During the ordinance her feet popped up the first time so I got to do it all over again. The second time was a success.  The program was good and their was a good attendance from the ward.  Afterward the Brucshke family treated all of us to dinner. At the dinner Elder Granja had set up a surprise birthday celebration for me including cake and ice cream.  Afterward we went out and tried to do some tracting, but it was not successful.</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="20th_birthday"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>February 18, 2007 - Michael turns 20 in the mission field.</B></FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><IMG SRC="07580e00.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="480" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Cake & Photograph Courtesy of the Wilson Family</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>February 12, 2007 - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >"Rain in Clearlake" was this week's title. Michael says the rain has not let up forcing him to use his rain gear. He added, "All my stuff is muddy since there is so much dirt all over town. We also had some bicycle repairs that slowed us down".</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Samantha is ready to be baptized on Michael's birthday and she has asked Michael to perform the baptism. Mike said, "I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present, (but you guys are still sending something right?)". We've dropped ALL of our other investigators for "failure to progress", so we've got more time to go back to finding. Nevertheless the mission is on track for 42 baptisms during the current 6-week period.</div> <bR> <div> His last comments, "P-days here are boring, none of the Elders want to do anything but sit around or sleep. I can't wait to get back to a zone that likes to have fun on P-day".</div> <bR> <div> <B>February 6, 2007 - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >"Satan rides the waters of Clearlake" was the title of Michael's E-mail. Why? Because the baptism of Genera scheduled for February 11th fell through. It seems that Satan has jumped in the way and turned her from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Michael added, "We tried to catch her each day of the week, when we finally did she was rather rude to us". He added that Elder Grunja who also works in Clearlake also lost an investigator who was committed to baptism.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Samantha our 9-year old investigator is still scheduled to be baptized on my birthday February 18th. It was sifficult teaching the law of chasity to her, while her mother was no help at all. In the end I think we did all right.</div> <bR> <div> We taught a first lesson to a 7th Day Adentist and he came to church the following Sunday. He seems truly interested and we should have a good chance of sharing more lessons with him.</div> <bR> <div> Zone conference was held yesterday and Elder Steurer of the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy attended. He had some interesting advice for us:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Don't say "Have you ever talked to the missionaries before"? That's an easy out. Instead he suggested "What were you doing 100 years ago today"? or "Have you heard of the prophet Abinadi"? or "What dispensation is this?" What ever the unique doctrine is that we are inspired to use. This will spart an interest if they are the elect.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">We hold onto investigators too long.  [ Wow! in Thailand we held onto investigators far longer than Michael does ].</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Based on his experience in the area presidency in Brazil he said, the difference is in the number of people you contact. If you contact more people you will have more batisms.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>