dear family,
this week has been so crazy! i can't believe it's already wednesday. with trying to get to know our investigators, members, area, and going on exchanges, my brain is pretty fried... but it's a blast and i love it. we just barely got back from doing exchanges in Miri, which is a 3 and a half hour bus ride from here. we've gotten up at 5:15 for the last two days! i'm grateful that i was able to sleep on the bus.
first of all though, it's good to hear that everything is good to go with dad's new job at the county. what will you be doing exactly? what does a deputy sheriff do? and i like the car, but it's kinda soccer-mom-ish don't you think? i thought you were going to get a corvette after you retired... what happened to that plan?
tell whitney not to worry, things will work out. cobaan saja. search like it all depends on you, and pray like it all depends on the Lord. it'll happen.
so mahonri isn't Elder Stewart's brother, he's actually his uncle. he told me that mayor stewart was his dad, but he's actually his grandpa. my bad, still the same family though.
anywho, you asked about my area. it's not the biggest area i've had, but it's pretty big. we have a place called RPR, which is just a ton of what they call rumah batu's. they are the more upper scale housing for poor people. then there is a giant kampung called sebatang. it is awesome. it's just hundreds and hundreds of little wooden shacks in the jungle. that is my favorite part about our area. there isn't electricity there, so they either have to use generators, or when it gets dark just candles. it's pretty awesome to teach someone at night by candle light in the middle of the jungle. we've been working with some really good members to give us referrals, and it's been paying off. we contacted six member referrals last week, and we received a lot more.
things are looking promising here. it's awesome to be with elder gulbrandsen. i've learned a lot from him. he and i are a lot alike. he's been blessed with the gift of gab in abundance. me, not so much, but i can keep up.
like i said, we just got back from exchanges in miri. i got to go with elder watkins! oh man, he is so funny. it was a good exchange. plus, i got to see what's going on with the work there and what can and needs to be done. this zone consists of two cities- bintulu and miri. bintulu has been doing really well lately, but miri is still lagging a bit. they've got 633 members in that city, but the activity is less than 25% there. we gave them some pointers on how they can improve, and we left there feeling confident that things are going to start to change there.
in speaking of changes, i probably won't be with elder gulbrandsen for too much longer. he'll for sure be the next assistant, and he should be leaving in just a couple of weeks. i think they'll actually move elder watkins here to replace him, but none of that is for sure yet... just 98% right now :)
i got an email from elder kunioka today saying that he was going back to SUU for school. he'll be playing baseball there. but he has a lot of family in the provo-orem area, so he will occasionally go up there. you should write him an email and see when he'll get a chance to come up so you can invite him over for dinner or something. he's a stud.
i've discovered that i'm an old missionary. when we went to get on the bus to go to miri, i set my bag down on the seat, and as i did that, i heard a tear. all the seams on the left shoulder of my shirt just decided to explode. i guess they'd had enough. as if i didn't already look raggedy enough, as i stood up, my pants hooked on something and once again, burst about 4 inches of seam. it was a rough bus ride. every time i get a hole, i sew it up, and then another one pops up. i can't wait for you to see how awesome my sewing jobs are.
welp, i think that's pretty much it. this is my address here:
no. 44 taman bamboo
Bintulu 97000
sarawak, east malaysia
think i'll probably be here until november or so... but it's never sure. i hopefully will get some packages brought to me at zone conference next week. i'm crossing my fingers that there will be some shoes in there :)
anywho, i love you all.
love, elder troxel
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
I Love MyLDSMail!
dear family,
myldsmail leaves me speechless. anywho, i did get to read your email before it kicked me out, so i was lucky today. oh man, i have a lot to tell you. you asked a lot about president clark. well, apparently some time ago he decided that he wanted to go around and meet all the elders in his first week, but because it's nearly impossible to get to every place in the mission, the assistants planned for him just to go to the big cities, and to bring all the elders to him. i guess he didn't like that idea at all, and so he for all of week travelled to every single missionary house in the mission! i don't think president skelton ever saw most of the missionary apartments the whole time he was here.
he also met with the leadership of every single branch and district in the mission. he got to Kuching on thursday night, and met with all of the leadership in the district here. that won him some HUGE brownie points. then he came and met with each missionary in their apartment on friday morning. he is really cool and a lot more up beat than president skelton was. we didn't get much time to talk with him because he had to catch a flight to sibu, but i quite enjoyed the visit with him. i think dad was right though, there will probably be some pretty big changes.
in speaking of changes, we found out some crazy news. elder palfreyman's group goes home today, and there was an elder named elder Romney who was serving here in kuching that is going home as well. we were excited to hear who would be replacing him. we always find out about transfers on thursdays, so when the assistants called on thursday morning, i knew what it was about. we did our mid-week reporting with them, and then they told us that they had some news. this is how the conversation went:
elder richards: "...we've got some transfer news for your zone. elder Wall will be coming to replace elder romney."
i was really excited to hear that, because i'm pretty tight with elder Wall and i haven't seen him forever...
but then he continued, "elder griffin will also be leaving kuching 3rd branch."
"oh really?" i said. "where to?"
"He'll be replacing you, because you are going to Bintulu on monday."
ADUH! transferred again. i now sit in an Internet cafe in Bintulu, Sarawak. i guess they really like me here in east malaysia. honestly though, after the shock of hearing that i was leaving again after not even 3 months, i was really excited to come to bintulu for many reasons. first, i'm companions with elder Gulbrandsen. i don't know if you remember me ever mentioning him, but he's probably the most successful (numbers wise) missionary in the mission. he really knows how to get things done. plus, we're good friends, which makes things even more fun. second, bintulu is famous for being the craziest jungley place in the mission. and it's true! i fell like i'm in the jungle book right now. it's so awesome! third, i freaking love ibans! fourth, i'm back in the same house with elder semana! i love that guy!
oh yeah, that reminds me... apa hal lah?! how come he got whitney's senior picture before me? no, but it's super fun being back together with all of these elders. elder semana is now training an elder named elder Stewart. apparently his dad used to be mayor of provo or something... i dont' know, that's what he said. he's really green (really green), but he's also pretty cool. the only bad news about all of these changes is that elder gulbrandsen is going to be leaving in august to be assistant (SHHH, don't tell him. he doesn't know), so i'll have to learn the ins and outs of the area pretty fast.
it's good to hear that everybody is doing well. i got to read beau's email to his family. he sounds like he's doing really well. do you know when andrew gets home?
so, i haven't gotten any packages since christmas i think. oh, just kidding, i did get the deodorant one in kuching (thank heavens). i think it's only because i've gotten moved around so much. i hear that a couple of them have arrived in singapore from other areas though, so i think that one day i might get them. it may be when i go home, but i guess that's better than nothing...
i cant' really think of much else. i'm doing well here in my new area, i'm still fat (but i did go running yesterday), and i still love borneo. i think that's it. i love you all!
love,
elder troxel
myldsmail leaves me speechless. anywho, i did get to read your email before it kicked me out, so i was lucky today. oh man, i have a lot to tell you. you asked a lot about president clark. well, apparently some time ago he decided that he wanted to go around and meet all the elders in his first week, but because it's nearly impossible to get to every place in the mission, the assistants planned for him just to go to the big cities, and to bring all the elders to him. i guess he didn't like that idea at all, and so he for all of week travelled to every single missionary house in the mission! i don't think president skelton ever saw most of the missionary apartments the whole time he was here.
he also met with the leadership of every single branch and district in the mission. he got to Kuching on thursday night, and met with all of the leadership in the district here. that won him some HUGE brownie points. then he came and met with each missionary in their apartment on friday morning. he is really cool and a lot more up beat than president skelton was. we didn't get much time to talk with him because he had to catch a flight to sibu, but i quite enjoyed the visit with him. i think dad was right though, there will probably be some pretty big changes.
in speaking of changes, we found out some crazy news. elder palfreyman's group goes home today, and there was an elder named elder Romney who was serving here in kuching that is going home as well. we were excited to hear who would be replacing him. we always find out about transfers on thursdays, so when the assistants called on thursday morning, i knew what it was about. we did our mid-week reporting with them, and then they told us that they had some news. this is how the conversation went:
elder richards: "...we've got some transfer news for your zone. elder Wall will be coming to replace elder romney."
i was really excited to hear that, because i'm pretty tight with elder Wall and i haven't seen him forever...
but then he continued, "elder griffin will also be leaving kuching 3rd branch."
"oh really?" i said. "where to?"
"He'll be replacing you, because you are going to Bintulu on monday."
ADUH! transferred again. i now sit in an Internet cafe in Bintulu, Sarawak. i guess they really like me here in east malaysia. honestly though, after the shock of hearing that i was leaving again after not even 3 months, i was really excited to come to bintulu for many reasons. first, i'm companions with elder Gulbrandsen. i don't know if you remember me ever mentioning him, but he's probably the most successful (numbers wise) missionary in the mission. he really knows how to get things done. plus, we're good friends, which makes things even more fun. second, bintulu is famous for being the craziest jungley place in the mission. and it's true! i fell like i'm in the jungle book right now. it's so awesome! third, i freaking love ibans! fourth, i'm back in the same house with elder semana! i love that guy!
oh yeah, that reminds me... apa hal lah?! how come he got whitney's senior picture before me? no, but it's super fun being back together with all of these elders. elder semana is now training an elder named elder Stewart. apparently his dad used to be mayor of provo or something... i dont' know, that's what he said. he's really green (really green), but he's also pretty cool. the only bad news about all of these changes is that elder gulbrandsen is going to be leaving in august to be assistant (SHHH, don't tell him. he doesn't know), so i'll have to learn the ins and outs of the area pretty fast.
it's good to hear that everybody is doing well. i got to read beau's email to his family. he sounds like he's doing really well. do you know when andrew gets home?
so, i haven't gotten any packages since christmas i think. oh, just kidding, i did get the deodorant one in kuching (thank heavens). i think it's only because i've gotten moved around so much. i hear that a couple of them have arrived in singapore from other areas though, so i think that one day i might get them. it may be when i go home, but i guess that's better than nothing...
i cant' really think of much else. i'm doing well here in my new area, i'm still fat (but i did go running yesterday), and i still love borneo. i think that's it. i love you all!
love,
elder troxel
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Good News, I Saw a Dog Today
dear family,
it was great to hear from you once again. your emails are great. it's good to hear that the backyard might actually have grass when i get home. actually, i'm hoping that there will be a lot of snow on top of that grass in february. but your right mom, that will be really beautiful when it's done, i'm sure. it's a bummer that whitney doesn't have a job yet, but i told her not to give up hope, because something will come along soon, i can feel it.
i'm happy/surprised to hear that i got that announcement from Robert (fromerly Elder) Houston. i love that guy! i remember telling you a little bit about him. i lived with him the first week of my mission in KL. he was my zone leader when i got there. he was later the assistant. i'd heard that he was getting married, but he's only been home from his mission since december. to be honest though, i'm surprised it took him so long. what a stud.
oh man, i'm so excited to hear about the new shoes! i'm definitely going to keep these ones though, just so that i can remember.
this week in Kuching has been really good. we had a baptism on saturday for a sister named Lussy. she's 22, and she's the wife of one of our other recent converts (of only 3 weeks) Meringai. the baptism was amazing. Lussy was the 10th member baptized in her immediate family alone! it was really special, because you could just feel that those two are going to make it to the temple. it's been incredible to see the change in them both. when i first met Meringai, he was the biggest bum. he was a good guy, and i saw a lot of potential in him, but he was from a Bahai religious background, and i've never had much success with them. Bahai's believe everything is true, and therefore really don't believe in anything. but he was always just a disruption in our lessons (and lussy wasn't any better)... until one day, elder tuckfield and i felt prompted to teach a lesson about eternal families to that family.
we got there, and Meringai came and sat down along with everybody else (lussy wasn't there at this time). as we started to teach, we were prompted to turn the lesson towards Meringai. we had just taught about the sealing power, and so i asked him if he loved his wife. he answered very sincerely, "more than anything" (roughly translated). i then asked him if he wanted to live with her forever. you could see the spirit work as he sat there silent for a moment. he looked up and answered, "Mahu" (which means 'want'). anywho, the rest was history, and he got baptized three weeks ago. Lussy saw the changes in him, and decided that she wanted to get serious too, and finally entered the waters on saturday. meringai, after his baptism was told to cut his hair by the branch president so that he could receive a calling. meringai had hair down past his shoulders and he loved it. it was really hard for him, and he kept putting it off. i didn't think he was going to do it, but he showed up to Lussy's baptism clean cut. it was great. Oh man, i love it here so much. there are literally hundreds of stories i could tell you just like that, but that will have to wait for another time.
so, elder ogden and i hit our 17 month mark a couple of days ago... what? how on earth? i don't know, but less than one month from now we're into the forth quarter. it's a good thing that i've been so well conditioned by coach clark, because i feel like i'm still just in the first. i'm good to go for another four if they would let me.
it's so good to hear that greg is turning in his papers. if you see him, tell him i'm proud of him. when you think about football compared to the salvation that could come to somebody because of his sacrifice, it's worth it. anywho, i'm pretty healthy now, and things are going great. tell everybody hello for me. stay safe ya'll.
love,
elder troxel
it was great to hear from you once again. your emails are great. it's good to hear that the backyard might actually have grass when i get home. actually, i'm hoping that there will be a lot of snow on top of that grass in february. but your right mom, that will be really beautiful when it's done, i'm sure. it's a bummer that whitney doesn't have a job yet, but i told her not to give up hope, because something will come along soon, i can feel it.
i'm happy/surprised to hear that i got that announcement from Robert (fromerly Elder) Houston. i love that guy! i remember telling you a little bit about him. i lived with him the first week of my mission in KL. he was my zone leader when i got there. he was later the assistant. i'd heard that he was getting married, but he's only been home from his mission since december. to be honest though, i'm surprised it took him so long. what a stud.
oh man, i'm so excited to hear about the new shoes! i'm definitely going to keep these ones though, just so that i can remember.
this week in Kuching has been really good. we had a baptism on saturday for a sister named Lussy. she's 22, and she's the wife of one of our other recent converts (of only 3 weeks) Meringai. the baptism was amazing. Lussy was the 10th member baptized in her immediate family alone! it was really special, because you could just feel that those two are going to make it to the temple. it's been incredible to see the change in them both. when i first met Meringai, he was the biggest bum. he was a good guy, and i saw a lot of potential in him, but he was from a Bahai religious background, and i've never had much success with them. Bahai's believe everything is true, and therefore really don't believe in anything. but he was always just a disruption in our lessons (and lussy wasn't any better)... until one day, elder tuckfield and i felt prompted to teach a lesson about eternal families to that family.
we got there, and Meringai came and sat down along with everybody else (lussy wasn't there at this time). as we started to teach, we were prompted to turn the lesson towards Meringai. we had just taught about the sealing power, and so i asked him if he loved his wife. he answered very sincerely, "more than anything" (roughly translated). i then asked him if he wanted to live with her forever. you could see the spirit work as he sat there silent for a moment. he looked up and answered, "Mahu" (which means 'want'). anywho, the rest was history, and he got baptized three weeks ago. Lussy saw the changes in him, and decided that she wanted to get serious too, and finally entered the waters on saturday. meringai, after his baptism was told to cut his hair by the branch president so that he could receive a calling. meringai had hair down past his shoulders and he loved it. it was really hard for him, and he kept putting it off. i didn't think he was going to do it, but he showed up to Lussy's baptism clean cut. it was great. Oh man, i love it here so much. there are literally hundreds of stories i could tell you just like that, but that will have to wait for another time.
so, elder ogden and i hit our 17 month mark a couple of days ago... what? how on earth? i don't know, but less than one month from now we're into the forth quarter. it's a good thing that i've been so well conditioned by coach clark, because i feel like i'm still just in the first. i'm good to go for another four if they would let me.
it's so good to hear that greg is turning in his papers. if you see him, tell him i'm proud of him. when you think about football compared to the salvation that could come to somebody because of his sacrifice, it's worth it. anywho, i'm pretty healthy now, and things are going great. tell everybody hello for me. stay safe ya'll.
love,
elder troxel
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Take Luck!
dear family,
the emails were really good this week, thank you. michaels was so funny. oh man, it's true, it is almost time that i need to be thinking about applications and things! i actually have thought a little bit about what i want to do with the rest of my life, but i'm not really sure. and i was thinking of going somewhere else other than BYU, but with 50% off tuition, i think that makes the decision for me. i really have no idea what i want to do anymore, but when i get to only 6 months left, i'll start making it more of a matter of prayer.
so i think i'm almost over whatever bug i had. it didn't keep me in at all, but it wasn't very much fun. i still wake up not feeling so well, but my cough is gone and i feel a lot better... except for the fact that i didn't do any exercise (running, push ups, sit-ups, you know) in the mornings or evenings for an entire week, so i am feeling pretty chubby. i'm back up to almost 190, and it's not muscle. that's a bummer that TJ's sick too. tell him to stop it.
so what're all of your plans for the 4th? i guess by the time you write back, it will have already happened... so what did you do for the 4th? we're planning another barbeque. it should be really good because we've got 2 elders in our zone who are pandai masak (rough translation: really good at cooking); one is from alabama, so he makes good pies and southern food and stuff, and the other is a sri lankan (from australia) and i've never had better indian food than his. so we'll have a malaysian 4th of july with a little bit of an indian twist. i freaking love curry.
so president skelton is officially released from his calling today, and president clark is the new mission president. today also marks 2009 being half way over! lots of crazy things are happening. there's been a lot of rumors flying around about what is going to happen in august when a huge group of elders goes home, including 4 zone leaders and an assistant, but we'll just have to wait and see. i'm sure president clark will change a lot of things.
this last week was pretty good. we had a baptism for a really awesome couple whose names are Anthoney and Emalice. they are so good. they LOVE to feed us. but their baptism was great and Emalice bore a really sincere testimony. things like that make all the getting drenched in the rain, sweat, dogs, and having to deal with drunk ibans, and ridiculous missionaries, all worth it.
we're having our fifth straight week with a baptism this week. it would be cool if we could keep it going the whole time i'm here, but that is very unimportant. the important thing is that each one of these numbers is actually a life that is changed. it would kill me to find out that any of these people some day down the road goes inactive. we just have to prepare them well for the promise they make. our teaching pool took a bit of a punch in the face last week, but i'm sure that the Lord will place more people in our path who are ready. He always does.
so any news on the shoes yet? i can probably go a couple more months on these ones, but not much longer than that.
tell chelsie not to worry, i wasn't worried... just a bit concerned ;) main-main sahaja (just kidding). but thanks for passing on that message mom.
i'm still plugging along, slowly but surely. take care ya'll.
love,
elder troxel
the emails were really good this week, thank you. michaels was so funny. oh man, it's true, it is almost time that i need to be thinking about applications and things! i actually have thought a little bit about what i want to do with the rest of my life, but i'm not really sure. and i was thinking of going somewhere else other than BYU, but with 50% off tuition, i think that makes the decision for me. i really have no idea what i want to do anymore, but when i get to only 6 months left, i'll start making it more of a matter of prayer.
so i think i'm almost over whatever bug i had. it didn't keep me in at all, but it wasn't very much fun. i still wake up not feeling so well, but my cough is gone and i feel a lot better... except for the fact that i didn't do any exercise (running, push ups, sit-ups, you know) in the mornings or evenings for an entire week, so i am feeling pretty chubby. i'm back up to almost 190, and it's not muscle. that's a bummer that TJ's sick too. tell him to stop it.
so what're all of your plans for the 4th? i guess by the time you write back, it will have already happened... so what did you do for the 4th? we're planning another barbeque. it should be really good because we've got 2 elders in our zone who are pandai masak (rough translation: really good at cooking); one is from alabama, so he makes good pies and southern food and stuff, and the other is a sri lankan (from australia) and i've never had better indian food than his. so we'll have a malaysian 4th of july with a little bit of an indian twist. i freaking love curry.
so president skelton is officially released from his calling today, and president clark is the new mission president. today also marks 2009 being half way over! lots of crazy things are happening. there's been a lot of rumors flying around about what is going to happen in august when a huge group of elders goes home, including 4 zone leaders and an assistant, but we'll just have to wait and see. i'm sure president clark will change a lot of things.
this last week was pretty good. we had a baptism for a really awesome couple whose names are Anthoney and Emalice. they are so good. they LOVE to feed us. but their baptism was great and Emalice bore a really sincere testimony. things like that make all the getting drenched in the rain, sweat, dogs, and having to deal with drunk ibans, and ridiculous missionaries, all worth it.
we're having our fifth straight week with a baptism this week. it would be cool if we could keep it going the whole time i'm here, but that is very unimportant. the important thing is that each one of these numbers is actually a life that is changed. it would kill me to find out that any of these people some day down the road goes inactive. we just have to prepare them well for the promise they make. our teaching pool took a bit of a punch in the face last week, but i'm sure that the Lord will place more people in our path who are ready. He always does.
so any news on the shoes yet? i can probably go a couple more months on these ones, but not much longer than that.
tell chelsie not to worry, i wasn't worried... just a bit concerned ;) main-main sahaja (just kidding). but thanks for passing on that message mom.
i'm still plugging along, slowly but surely. take care ya'll.
love,
elder troxel
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Jadilah Babi Yang Bijak
Note from Dad: I was able to translate the word for the title but it must be a common phrase or expression, because the translated word don't make sense in English as far as I can tell it means "the pig who was made smart/intelligent". Not all things translate well.
dear keluarga,
whoa, disneyland sounds like it was a blast! next to the temple, it really is the happiest place on earth i think. i hope there is disneyland in the celestial kingdom... but i'm glad you all enjoyed yourselves. we'll have to go again when i get home.
this week in malaysia has been a sick one... literally, i've been sick all week. not enough to keep me in, but it's just really annoying because i have a really persistent cough. we had some plans to go see some of elder ogden's recent converts today that live pretty far away, but i really just need to rest and get over this whateveritis so i can be 100 percent again. but despite being sick, we still had a good week. we had the most investigators at sacrament meeting this last week since i've been here, and there was a ton more who promised to come, but for whatever reason couldn't make it. so we should have more this week. my goal before i leave this area is to have an average of 20 investigators attending sacrament meeting every week. it's very possible, and we're getting there, but it'll take a lot of work. i'm really pumped to have elder ogden here. we're a lot more on the same page than other companions i've had. but we had a chance to talk about our goals for the area and what we wanted to see happen.
we decided that we needed to meet with our branch president and get him really excited about the vision that we have. it worked and he held another meeting last night with other leaders in the branch to get things moving. i won't tell you all of what we're planning on doing, because it's quite extensive, but if it works it will be so good for the work here in kuching. we'll be doing a lot of things to promote missionary work in the branch, but the end goal of all the things we'll be doing is to have 220 people attending sacrament meeting before the end of the year, and to have 90 convert baptisms (elder ogden and i originally set the goal at 60 convert baptisms, but our branch president didn't think that was very optimistic, so he changed it to 90. i love that man).
anywho, i hope jackson is ok. did aubrey and seth have the swine flu? what is the deal with this thing? i thought it wasn't a very big deal, but everyone here is under the impression that it's worse than the black plague. i hope everybody recovers though. i'm sure everybody will be fine.
well, i'm sorry this email is really lame sauce, but i can't really think of anything else important to say. i do want to thank everyone for all of their support and prayers. i can't express how much i appreciate and need them. you all are also in my prayers also. keep on truckin' yal.
love,
elder troxel
dear keluarga,
whoa, disneyland sounds like it was a blast! next to the temple, it really is the happiest place on earth i think. i hope there is disneyland in the celestial kingdom... but i'm glad you all enjoyed yourselves. we'll have to go again when i get home.
this week in malaysia has been a sick one... literally, i've been sick all week. not enough to keep me in, but it's just really annoying because i have a really persistent cough. we had some plans to go see some of elder ogden's recent converts today that live pretty far away, but i really just need to rest and get over this whateveritis so i can be 100 percent again. but despite being sick, we still had a good week. we had the most investigators at sacrament meeting this last week since i've been here, and there was a ton more who promised to come, but for whatever reason couldn't make it. so we should have more this week. my goal before i leave this area is to have an average of 20 investigators attending sacrament meeting every week. it's very possible, and we're getting there, but it'll take a lot of work. i'm really pumped to have elder ogden here. we're a lot more on the same page than other companions i've had. but we had a chance to talk about our goals for the area and what we wanted to see happen.
we decided that we needed to meet with our branch president and get him really excited about the vision that we have. it worked and he held another meeting last night with other leaders in the branch to get things moving. i won't tell you all of what we're planning on doing, because it's quite extensive, but if it works it will be so good for the work here in kuching. we'll be doing a lot of things to promote missionary work in the branch, but the end goal of all the things we'll be doing is to have 220 people attending sacrament meeting before the end of the year, and to have 90 convert baptisms (elder ogden and i originally set the goal at 60 convert baptisms, but our branch president didn't think that was very optimistic, so he changed it to 90. i love that man).
anywho, i hope jackson is ok. did aubrey and seth have the swine flu? what is the deal with this thing? i thought it wasn't a very big deal, but everyone here is under the impression that it's worse than the black plague. i hope everybody recovers though. i'm sure everybody will be fine.
well, i'm sorry this email is really lame sauce, but i can't really think of anything else important to say. i do want to thank everyone for all of their support and prayers. i can't express how much i appreciate and need them. you all are also in my prayers also. keep on truckin' yal.
love,
elder troxel
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Happy Birthday!!
dear family,
so this week has been pretty intense, but i think things will start to get back to normal this week, now that the transfer is almost over. i'm sitting here with my new companion... and my old companion. elder tuckfield will be leaving for singapore this afternoon, and then it will just be me and... elder Ogden! I got news that elder ogden was coming here last thursday, and he got here on monday. just in case you don't remember me ever talking about elder Ogden, he is Beau's cousin who i roomed with in the MTC. we were good friends in the MTC and i'm way excited to be companions with him. the two pictures i attached are him and me in the internet cafe. I hadn't seen him for almost 16 months before he got here on monday. it's interesting to see how people change. he's still the same, but he's a lot more mature now. i hope i've gotten more mature... but i doubt it :)
anywho, there was a big hubbub this week with the chinese elders in our zone (who we happened to live with). the church owns 3 apartments in the condo where we live; one was an old couple's apartment, one is really big and nice and had four elders in it, and the one in which i live is really small and nasty and also had four elders in it (us and the chinese elders). anywho, a couple weeks ago, they took one of the companionship's out of the zone and closed their area, which meant that there were only two companionship's living in that really big luxurious apartment, and there was four in ours. now, obviously the smartest thing to do is to move one of the companionship's from ours to the other one. anywho, i wanted to move to the other apartment, but the assistants insisted that the chinese elders move. we told them they had to move to the other one, but they were not happy and wanted to talk to president themselves about it. anywho, they stalled and stalled for almost two weeks without doing anything, until elder tuckfield and i just had to tell that they had to move the next day because elder ogden was coming and there was going to be 5 people in this tiny apartment with only two in the huge one. anywho, to make and even longer story short, they threw a huge fit and they still aren't very happy with us. apa boleh buat? (what can you do?) sometimes missionaries can be extremely ridiculous.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHITNEY! whoa, you are 18 years old! how does it feel? you can buy dry ice now! yippee! i'm happy to hear that your recital went well. i wish i could've been there. so what did you do for your birthday? was the alfredo delicious? what did you get?
we also went on exchanges twice this last week. i got to go with my grandson! his name is elder johnson. he is my grandson because he was trained by my trainee (elder Kartchner). i took him to the house of these investigators who were supposed to be getting baptized this week and they fed us a ton of curry and rice. i guess it didn't really agree with his stomach, because the whole next day he stayed in sick. we started the exchange at 4:30 on thursday and finished at about 4:30 on friday, but i had to stay in with him until we switched back on friday. oh man, i was going crazy. that was the longest i've ever had to stay in my house on my mission. i was SO antsy! i hope i never get sick, because i wouldn't be able to stand it. i did manage to sew some things though.
anywho, i love you all. i hope everything is still going well. stay safe and don't get swine flu.
love,elder troxel
so this week has been pretty intense, but i think things will start to get back to normal this week, now that the transfer is almost over. i'm sitting here with my new companion... and my old companion. elder tuckfield will be leaving for singapore this afternoon, and then it will just be me and... elder Ogden! I got news that elder ogden was coming here last thursday, and he got here on monday. just in case you don't remember me ever talking about elder Ogden, he is Beau's cousin who i roomed with in the MTC. we were good friends in the MTC and i'm way excited to be companions with him. the two pictures i attached are him and me in the internet cafe. I hadn't seen him for almost 16 months before he got here on monday. it's interesting to see how people change. he's still the same, but he's a lot more mature now. i hope i've gotten more mature... but i doubt it :)
anywho, there was a big hubbub this week with the chinese elders in our zone (who we happened to live with). the church owns 3 apartments in the condo where we live; one was an old couple's apartment, one is really big and nice and had four elders in it, and the one in which i live is really small and nasty and also had four elders in it (us and the chinese elders). anywho, a couple weeks ago, they took one of the companionship's out of the zone and closed their area, which meant that there were only two companionship's living in that really big luxurious apartment, and there was four in ours. now, obviously the smartest thing to do is to move one of the companionship's from ours to the other one. anywho, i wanted to move to the other apartment, but the assistants insisted that the chinese elders move. we told them they had to move to the other one, but they were not happy and wanted to talk to president themselves about it. anywho, they stalled and stalled for almost two weeks without doing anything, until elder tuckfield and i just had to tell that they had to move the next day because elder ogden was coming and there was going to be 5 people in this tiny apartment with only two in the huge one. anywho, to make and even longer story short, they threw a huge fit and they still aren't very happy with us. apa boleh buat? (what can you do?) sometimes missionaries can be extremely ridiculous.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHITNEY! whoa, you are 18 years old! how does it feel? you can buy dry ice now! yippee! i'm happy to hear that your recital went well. i wish i could've been there. so what did you do for your birthday? was the alfredo delicious? what did you get?
we also went on exchanges twice this last week. i got to go with my grandson! his name is elder johnson. he is my grandson because he was trained by my trainee (elder Kartchner). i took him to the house of these investigators who were supposed to be getting baptized this week and they fed us a ton of curry and rice. i guess it didn't really agree with his stomach, because the whole next day he stayed in sick. we started the exchange at 4:30 on thursday and finished at about 4:30 on friday, but i had to stay in with him until we switched back on friday. oh man, i was going crazy. that was the longest i've ever had to stay in my house on my mission. i was SO antsy! i hope i never get sick, because i wouldn't be able to stand it. i did manage to sew some things though.
anywho, i love you all. i hope everything is still going well. stay safe and don't get swine flu.
love,elder troxel
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Winds of Change!
dear family,
thank you for the emails this week. sorry that i don't put in any translations when i write in a different language. half of the time i don't even know what language i'm speaking anyway. it's exciting that whitney will be doing her recital soon! how does she feel about this being her last one? is she glad, or sad, or mad, or wearing plaid...? or is it just kind of a mix of everything together?
oh man, that was awesome to hear from beau. i got both of the letters. i don't know why he doesn't just send them to me here. i know i've given him my address at least twice. but it was good to hear from him. sounds like he's also speaking a language that they also didn't teach him in the MTC. I don't know if he actually speaks Twi, but he at least knows a few phrases. it's always good to hear from those guys. i got an email from rittmanic today too! he sounds like he's doing well. the only one that i haven't heard from in a long time is andrew. but he's practically dead, so he can just email me when he gets home! man, i'm too young to have my friends coming home from missions.
this week was good, as always. we got news that they're having to close one of the areas in our zone because of a lack of missionaries (and the fact that they weren't doing very much). we have a goal to get 30 baptisms in July, so that's going to make it a little bit more difficult, but from the way things are shaping up right now, we should have about half of that just with our area. things are really going well here. we also got the news that elder tuckfield flies out sunday morning for singapore. i still haven't heard who my new companion will be, but there is a lot of speculation going on. i think it will probably be elder Ogden (beau's cousin who i roomed with in the MTC), but i'm fine with anybody really. but next week i'll have a new companion. i also heard rumors that i might be leaving around the middle of august, but that's a long way away we'll have a new mission president by then, so it's really impossible to say how much longer i'll be here. i'd like to finish my mission in either KL or KK though. i told elder tuckfield to use all of the influence he has to try and make it happen. we'll see.
that's sad to hear about Mike Wear. i've been really fortunate with my health since i've been out. i'm hoping that my luck will last and that i'll never have to see a malaysian doctor. however, there have been a few missionaries lately that have gotten pretty sick (not with the same things though) who will probably have to go home early. i would die.
if you do get a chance to go to Miss Provo, make sure you send me some pictures.
there will be a lot of changes in this zone pretty soon. elder tuckfield leaves sunday, then two weeks later the elder that has been the thorn in my side my entire mission goes home, then a big group of missionaries (including elder palfreyman, but he's not in my zone) goes home july 15. in between all that, president skelton goes home, and president clark will come. by the time that all happens, i'll be dangerously close to the home stretch.
well everybody, i don't think i have much more to say. i love you all. be smart and all that jazz. good luck with the recital whitney!
love,
Elder Troxel
thank you for the emails this week. sorry that i don't put in any translations when i write in a different language. half of the time i don't even know what language i'm speaking anyway. it's exciting that whitney will be doing her recital soon! how does she feel about this being her last one? is she glad, or sad, or mad, or wearing plaid...? or is it just kind of a mix of everything together?
oh man, that was awesome to hear from beau. i got both of the letters. i don't know why he doesn't just send them to me here. i know i've given him my address at least twice. but it was good to hear from him. sounds like he's also speaking a language that they also didn't teach him in the MTC. I don't know if he actually speaks Twi, but he at least knows a few phrases. it's always good to hear from those guys. i got an email from rittmanic today too! he sounds like he's doing well. the only one that i haven't heard from in a long time is andrew. but he's practically dead, so he can just email me when he gets home! man, i'm too young to have my friends coming home from missions.
this week was good, as always. we got news that they're having to close one of the areas in our zone because of a lack of missionaries (and the fact that they weren't doing very much). we have a goal to get 30 baptisms in July, so that's going to make it a little bit more difficult, but from the way things are shaping up right now, we should have about half of that just with our area. things are really going well here. we also got the news that elder tuckfield flies out sunday morning for singapore. i still haven't heard who my new companion will be, but there is a lot of speculation going on. i think it will probably be elder Ogden (beau's cousin who i roomed with in the MTC), but i'm fine with anybody really. but next week i'll have a new companion. i also heard rumors that i might be leaving around the middle of august, but that's a long way away we'll have a new mission president by then, so it's really impossible to say how much longer i'll be here. i'd like to finish my mission in either KL or KK though. i told elder tuckfield to use all of the influence he has to try and make it happen. we'll see.
that's sad to hear about Mike Wear. i've been really fortunate with my health since i've been out. i'm hoping that my luck will last and that i'll never have to see a malaysian doctor. however, there have been a few missionaries lately that have gotten pretty sick (not with the same things though) who will probably have to go home early. i would die.
if you do get a chance to go to Miss Provo, make sure you send me some pictures.
there will be a lot of changes in this zone pretty soon. elder tuckfield leaves sunday, then two weeks later the elder that has been the thorn in my side my entire mission goes home, then a big group of missionaries (including elder palfreyman, but he's not in my zone) goes home july 15. in between all that, president skelton goes home, and president clark will come. by the time that all happens, i'll be dangerously close to the home stretch.
well everybody, i don't think i have much more to say. i love you all. be smart and all that jazz. good luck with the recital whitney!
love,
Elder Troxel
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