mis-sion-ary (noun): someone who leaves their family for a short time so that others may live with their families for Eternity.

Monday, December 20, 2010

IT'S WARM IN THORNTON

HEYY! its kinda crazy to think that i get to talk to you guys this saturday. I am excited. I don't care you can do the speaker phone thing or whatever you want because i don't have much time to talk. I have 45 minutes. I am going to lunch at 12 so it will probably be anywhere from 12 to 2. I did get you and dereks packages, no i didnt open them. I was thinking about it and then my companion told me not too. haha so you can thank him for that. I got a couple of cards, one from beretts and the other one from the preece? I also got one from cindy and one from debbie and their family so would you please tell all of them thanks, i will write a letter to them but if ou could just say thanks that would be cool. WhAAAt! that is crazy that devin is already home, i can remember the day that he left and it really didn't seem like it was that long ago. I bet that vern and susan are pretty happy to have him home. Colorado is still going pretty good. It is so warm here, its alwas like high 50's and it has only snowed 1 inch but it didn't even stck to the ground. I heard that in Utah it is pretty snowy and it was raining yesterday. haha suckers. I am convinced that it doesn't even snow here in denver. The work here is going alright. We have 3 main investigators that we are working with but one isn't really progressing and one might be baptized and the other one looks pretty promising but unfortunately we can't go over for 2 weeks because they are going to be way busy with the holidays and stuff. Me and my companion do get along pretty well, he is from oregon and he has only been out for a transfer and he is a really good teacher and good with showing love even to the crazy people. that is something that i am definately still working on. The people that we are living with are really nice, they are kinda crazy haha but they are fun and they buy us something things every once in a while so they are cool. Well i don;t really have all that much to write to you guys today because i will just talk to you on saturday. So i love you and hope you have a good rest of the week. TALK TO YOU SOON! LOVE ELDER GNEHM!

Monday, December 13, 2010

IT MATTERS WHO WE HAVE IN OUR LIVES

HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY.

Whats going on? how is utah going?
I love the thought "It doesn't matter what you have in your life, it just matters who you have in your life". We have been watching the Joy to the World DVD with a lot of members after dinner and it is a really great movie, just to remember that we have Christ in our lives and that we don't need to worry about material things, but i still want a dirtbike when i get home :) haha.

I have to tell you about the crazy week that we have had. SPIRITUAL THOUGHT TIME:
So this week we tracted and we found a potential who told us to come back and she would love to hear more about the book of mormon. So we went back and the first thing she says is how can you guys believe this is true. Its complete blasphemy. So yeah we kind of bible bashed for a while and she eventually said that Jospeh Smith was a con artist. . And i flipped out, and got so angry, ..You do not call a prophet of God a con artist. but she didn't listen. So we just left. Then we had another guy bash with us and another lady that told us that we are not confined here and anything that makes us feel stress we should stop doing, and she said you guys can go home whenever you want, just remember that. Haha. And I said no, you don't understand that I am out here because I want to be here. So we have had three people bash with us in the last couple of days and it has actually grown my testimony because I know without a doubt that this is the true church. The lady also said, it is so nice that you guys are so young and you are still seeking for answers but you haven't quite found them. I'm like no sorry we are done looking we have found the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth and we are here to share it with the rest of the world. I think that it is good that people have their beliefs and they are trying to convert us. But they don't know the full truths and they don't know that as a missionary I am not going to convert to their religion because of my strong testimony of the book of mormon and Joseph Smith. I am so blessed that I have the church in my life and that I was raised to know the truth.
So yeah that is my spiritual thought for the week.
Anyways, i gotta run, so i love you all and hope that you have a great week. and a merry christmas.
LOVE ELDER GNEHM!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

PICTURES

The McDuffees from Arvada 6th Ward
Carson and Companion on Thanksgiving Day
Church in Thornton-Notice the Budweiser Truck
Carson said they were actually delivering beer there

AWW GOOD TIMES AS A MISSIONARY

Yo yo yo what is going on. The weather here has been crazy warm, they hit a high last week for warmest that it has been in the month of december. The last couple days has been about 50's or 60's. its been sunny, but in the night time it gets chilly willy .
The area is alright i guess. We are teaching way more lessons and having more less actives come to church then we ever did in arvada. Its a pretty selfish thing to say but we don't have the awesome ward members that we did like back in arvada, here most of the ward is really old people and a lot of crazy people. But it is ok, its not like that is what i am focusing on, the work is definately what needs to be done and if we are getting people to churcfh that is good. We have a couple investigators that we are teaching right now, one of them is frustrating and will not go to church even though she knows that the book of mormon is true and that joseph smith was a prophet. We have another investigator who's husband has been less active since he was about 13 but they are pretty golden, hopefully she will get baptized in the near future. So i have an awesome story to tell you, So we went to a house that we got from a headquarters referral and we knocked on the door and they didn't answer so we went and sat on a bench across the street and made some phone calls. Then we see the door at his house open and he walks out and sees us (its pretty dark) and he stops like a deer in the headlights, and runs behind his motor home, then we see him army crawl on this cement to get to his truck that is on the other side of the street and then we see him pop up next to his truck door and get inside and drive off. haha. it was awesome, that guy is golden and is going to be the newest member of our ward fo sho. aww good times as a missionary.
I am still on a bike, but the last couple of weeks we have been walking everywhere, this ward is tiny and my bike gets flats like nobody's business. But we have a member that is a bikologist and he found me some mountain bike tires that i can put on my bike so i am going over there to get those on today.
I did get a chance to watch the christmas devotional yesterday and that is what i will give my spiritual message about.
So as i was watching and thinking about what the first presidency was talking about with the church is to remember those that are less fortunate then you and to give to others that can use it more. On sunday we taught elders quorum on the subject of charity, and as i was thinking about the pure love of christ, i thought a lot about what christ did when he was on the earth and all the miracles that he performed to help the less fortunate. We should be taking our saviors example by generously helping others that are in need as well. When you are in the service of your fellow being, you are only in the service of your God. By helping others out during this holiday season, we will be showing our heavenly father that we care about him and through helping others we will feel great about what we have done and how we have been charitable for others.
So yeah that is my spiritual thought this week, I hope that you guys have an awesome week and that the holiday season is great for you guys. Have a good time in the snow, because right now in colorado it is cookin. LOVE ELDER GNEHM.

Friday, December 3, 2010

NEW AREA - THORNTON

was up was up? My thanksgiving went really well! We had a lunch at 1:00 and then we had anothe dinner at 4:00, haha so i ate like crazy. The last couple days i have been eating like a porker and i have gained 4 pounds, but i've been working out so that should be ok right? haha if not i'll be a balloon. Our dinner was pretty cool because we had it with a family who had a return missionary come home that week, and he came from cleveland ohio and he actually knew my old companion Elder Horner's family. So yeah, he gave his homecoming talk this sunday and he was nervous out of his face and he hardly could talk and he was shaking like no other, so i hope i am not like that at all when i come back. I am excited for grandmas rolls, hopefully she sent them through mail and not through ups so i can get them and not have to have the zone leaders pick it up from the Mission Office. Things with my new companion are going good. Its crazy he has only been out 1 transfer, but he is an extremely good Elder. he is not nervous at all to teach and he is better than i am in a lot of things. So haha i don't know, we both have our strengths and weakness but he is way good right now, he will probably be an ap or something. Haha i don't want to be an AP, don't you put that on me! haha if it happens, it happens, but i hope it doesn't :) . It was actually pretty warm this week, its been about 50's and we haven't seen any snow that has stuck yet. But this next week i hear it is supposed to be bad, and outside right now it is windy as cow and cold. Anyways, yeah this new area, is so far not as great as my last. In arvada i felt more like i was at home and in this ward it just isn't the same. In church when the RM gave his homecoming talk, he ended 20 minutes early. haha. so yeah the bishop got up and said well since we have so much time, we have a new elder in the ward so we are going to invite him to come and bear his testimony and talk a little bit about himself. haha. So yeah i had to get up on the spot in sacrament and take 10 minutes and bear my testimony. Then i also gave the lesson in gospel principles, they are trying to break me in. haha but its all good, i think i did pretty well in both of them. I hope that you guys have an awesome week. I. Love you bye. LOVE ELDER GNEHM!

Monday, November 29, 2010

THANKSGIVING/TRANSFER

Heyyy. Yeah that is pretty cool that the Browns came over and got to talk to you guys. Yeah they are a really cool family. Yeah so i am senior companion to Elder Goesch. He is not the 25 year old. When i got calls from my zone leaders they told me i would be with elder gochez fwho went to africa but went home and came back out to here. And so i on transfer day i went to the mission office where a lot of missionaries were waiting to be transfered and I saw elder gochez and i was talking to him and I found out that it wasn't me who was his new companion. So i asked my zl's and they were like oh its elder Goesch. haha so yeah he is my companion. He is from oregon and has been out 1 transfer. He seems like he really works hard and will be a good missionary. He actually knows some people that i know because he went to byu, he doesn't know trent or matt but he knows some other people. Its gonna be an alright transfer, we're not going to be the best of buddies or anything but he wants to work so thats all that I care about. as long as he isnt lazy. I have just gotten along great with my last two companions but i guess i cant expect to have that every transfer. Its all good though. So i am in Thornton which is probably 30 minutes away from arvada. in the east lake ward. It was a little bit hard to say goodbye to some of the people back in arvada, and i'm going to definately miss the other missionaries that were in our zone. Especially my zone leaders. they were both awesome. I am just going to have to learn this area and find some awesome members and teach the good word and it will be alright.
So that is crazy that it is snowing. apparently tomorrow it is supposed t snow but outside right now it is pretty warm. Are you guys excited for thanksgiving? . I already met the people that are feeding us and they are a little different. haha. they are my companions favorite family though so, yeah i'm just going to have to endure this week until i go to church and find some real cool members. haha.
Mom, that is awesome that whatever the doctors saw the first time it went away, definately heavenly father had a hand in it and you were blessed because of your worthiness and faith in him. So yeah is there anything crazy going on at home, whats happening with the fam? i hope that you guys have a good thanksgiving. I hope i do too. haha. alrighty love you bye. LOVE ELDER GNEHM

Monday, November 15, 2010

RENEE BAPTISM


Renee Alvarez Baptism

hey hey hey. haha no i didn't break her leg. I had to do it twice because her elbow was up a little bit the first time. I saw it while i was doing it too and i wanted to do a pile drive to get that thing down there. haha its all good though, it was my first baptism I performed and it went really well. The confirmation, i was pretty nervous for though, but I did it fine and everyone in the ward told me that i did a good job. Ha so i feel way bad for Renee though. So on her baptisimal program that spelled her name wrong with only one e RENE. and then on sunday they were like and now we will witness the confirmation of renee alvagado. Her last name is alvarez. Where they got that i have no clue. haha so yeah no one can get her name right. But we have had dinner over at her house twice the last week and their family loves us now. They still aren't way interested but at least they don't think she just joined a cult. Her daughter went to the baptism at least. The mission president was not there but this morning we got a call from him and he said i'm outside. So we were like oh crap what did we do wrong so he came down and said Elder Blomdal I need to talk to you. And apparently his uncle just died yeseterday in a hunting accident. Apparently his cousin was shooting at an elk and his dad stood up right when he shot and shot his dad. That would be so incredibly hard. So yeah today hasn't been to great for my comp. But i'll help him get through it. Anyways, the bike ride wasn't too bad. A lot of it was uphill and my comp has been riding bikes for a while and he had to wait for me for like a minute or two to let me know where to go. But we still beat the record of the fastest time. We had a competition with a family in the 4th ward that are legit. they want me to date their daughter who lives in utah and plays tennis and stuff. haha i've had people try to set me up a couple times. One of their daughters is on the weber tennis team. and she is apparently on a lot of buses and stuff. So derek should go look for a alisha pyne at weber.. UM YES why would i not want grandmas rolls. When you sent cinammon rolls they tasted fine, and her rolls are the bomb diggity. You should have her rethink.
Yeah now that we baptized her we don't have too many promising investigators. There is one family named the fletchers that we are teaching, the daughter is interested but the family i think isn't to interested, they just love us. I will let you know next week if i am getting transfered or not. I hope i leave but i also like my companion here. SO i dunno whatever happens will be for the best. its not up to me. i'll send you some pictures. SO have a good week and i love you. LOVE ELDER GNEHM

Dominque's Baptism

Monday, November 8, 2010

18 MILE BIKE RIDE

ELLO ELLO ELLO! whats happening in utah? So yes Renees baptism is still happening on Saturday, and I heard that the mission presdient might be there so if i drop her in the water or something i'm going to feel really dumb. I'll be junior for the rest of my mission :) Yes i am still confirming her too which i have never done so i have to memorize how to do that. It is way cool to see her getting baptized as well because we have seen her change so much since we have been teaching her. Unfortunately though after she gets baptized, we are not going to have very much to do. We have two investigator families but neither are really progressing all that much. So hopefully We can find more people out of referalls or tracting. That would be really cool if you and dad went on a senior couples mission. Haha that is just funny to say senior about you guys. I dont know why.
Anyways I thought that your spiritual message was really cool, I liked where it talked about the youth of this generation is here and set aside for a reason because they are some of the strongest to help the church. Did you use that in your talk? You should have if you didnt' haha. Yeah that would be cool to tell them about that.
Anyways, sorry but this will have to be a shorter letter because we have to get giong because we are doing an 18 mile bike ride today for P day. so i'll probably be dead tired tonight. anyways have a fun birthday party and i love you and hope you have an awesome week! Love Elder Gnehm

Monday, October 25, 2010

HALLOWEEN

HEY YO! Those halloween pictures were awesome! Hunters iron man costume is so legit. Did Jess dye her hair or is that part of the costume. If its just a wig you should tell her that she should dye her hair black haha it looks good. That is cool that you guys had a trunk or treat. We have a halloween party here on the 30th, it was going to be a trunk or treat but there is a crazy lady in our ward that said kids shouldn't be outside on halloween?!? so we are having just a dinner thing inside the church. Well i dont know if i told you but Renee's baptism was supposed to be on the 30th but she changed the date because she has to work that day so the new date is on November 12th. She wants me to baptize and confirm her. So that is going to be a new exciting thing. haha. I keep making hints how Elder Blomdal or the bishop or someone else can do one of them but she keeps saying she wants me to do both so oh well thats cool :-) But we do have another baptism the 30th that is still going to happen. His name is Dominique and he is 16. He has been going to church with his mom and step dad for the last 3 years and has just now decided to get baptized. He reminds me a lot of me because he is rebellious and he listens to "loud" music. haha. He showed me a song from a band that i used to listen to and i was like holy cow i cant believe i used to listen to this garbage. So yeah at least we still have a baptism that day.
But yeah we are just chuggin along on bike. That is pretty awesome that tyler was an assistant to the president. Oh by the way they never wrote me back either so i should be getting on them. But yeah i can only imagine the responsibilities he had. I dont want to be a zone leader haha. I would do it for sure because that is what the lord wants me to do but that is a lot of responsibility. That is pretty weird that you werent feeling good. because yesterday I threw up in the morning and we stayed at home all day. It was the most boring day of my life. I felt like I was useless. I felt terrible that i didn't go to church but i tried to get up and everytime i would get up my stomache would churn like crazy. I slept all day. I didn't get out of bed and stay out until 7:00 p.m. Yeah it was not a good day at all. But i am definately feeling better today. I'm sorry that everyone back at home is sick too. Hopefully you all get feeling better!
I am not sure what i want to tell the youth. I think the biggest thing that you can tell them is to go to church and go to your meetings because you want to. and if they dont want to and are going because they are forced, then to change their hearts fast because i know that going to things just because someone else wants you to can stink. and you wont learn much like that at all. Its like mission prep, at first i would only go because you guys wanted me to but then i got it through my thick skull that i was going to go on a mission and that i needed to go for me. And when i went like that i definately learned and got a lot more out of it!
So yeah. You can tell them that. I hope you guys have a great week and a Wonderful Halloween! i will send you some pictures of me and my new comp. love you!

Monday, October 18, 2010

WHY DO PEOPLE GET OFFENDED?

Whats crackalackin? hope you guys had a good week. Yeah so I had a crazy last couple weeks huh? This week has been really good. Some GREAT NEWS!! We moved out of the Allens house and into a family called the Browns. The browns are awesome, they are 50 and they are big into sports and stuff. The only downside is that they are completely on one side of the ward so we have a long ways to go to see people. But it is all good, more excersize and we are definately not living with that family anymore. There was just so much going on there, they were just not nice people. They absolutely couldn't stand my last companion, and the main reason was because he cooked bacon every morning! yeah they were a little different. Anyways also my new companion and I are getting along way good. I dont know if I told you but he is from san fran. He reminds me a lot of the Elder in the MTC that I was way good friends with. Because they are both from Cali, and all those people are the same. haha. SO yeah hes been out a transfer longer than me so we are both pretty dang new but we are doing well. He is definately my most normal companion so far and we get along really well. We have Renee set for baptism on the 30th of October now. Also we are teaching a family called the fletchers. They are way good, 3 years ago they had missionaries over there and they were way close to baptism and then a dumb missionary told them that they would never be able to see their dead son again. Which obviously they took offense to and so me and elder HOrner finally went back and started teaching them and now they are pretty close again. Ok. and remember when i told you that the Bishop in our ward was saying some dumb things? So we finally went back there after 2 months. And they said they were progressing a ton and they put there foot down and said they were going to church every week. Then the Bishop said some things so now they say they are back at the beginning. So I hate when people get offended! can i say that? because if they know that it truly is true then the people that say dumb things wont make them think differently of the church. Because people in our church judge a lot, and it is just up to you to not get offended and know that it is still true. ya know what I mean? guhh.
You can tell the youth to seriously go to mission prep and to take it seriously and go because that is what you will be doing for the next to years and not just for your parents. You can use that story about Camerons baptism and his kids. Just tell them to get prepared and to keep themselves worthy or make themselves worthy to serve a full time mission. So hope you have a good week and i love you and pray for you. LOVE ELDER GNEHM!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

ANSWERED PRAYER

Familia!! So a lot happened over the past couple days. So our investigator Renee Alvarez came to church and Elder Horner my companion told her that he was getting transfered(yes he left, i'll tell you more later) and she started crying and walked out of church and said she would call back later. So it was like 930 at night and I was saying my prayers and I said please bless that Renee will call us back and the second i did it, the phone rang and I heard my companion say oh its renee. So holy crap, that was cool haha so my comp was talking to her and she says she wants to move the baptism back a little bit, so it wont be this weekend it will be in a few weeks probably because she wants to fly her friend here to see it. So all is well there. And I will give my spiritual thought now, its a story:
K so Elder Horner and I were going to go to the temple with a bunch of polynesian elders because he wanted to see some leave before they left to go home. So we were going to go on a tuesday and an Elder that went was saying ya it is going to be so good, we will go to the temple and we will play tackle rugby all day, its gonna be like two P days. When he said that I had the worst feeling, I am like ya know this isn't right, and luckily my comp felt the same way. So we were going to just go to the temple and come back right after, but it turned out that we couldn't go anyways because we didn't have a temple pass like we thought we had. So we didn't go and we later found out that all the missionaries that went to the temple went and played rugby all day and some Zone Leaders were driving by and they saw them playing and told President Ely. This is the second time that some of these elders have been caught for diong this. Initially President told the Elders pack your bags you are going home. But they talked it out and let them stay but they are going to be Junior companions for the rest of their missions. SOme elders are going home tomorrow and in 6 weeks and to finish off your missions like that is just stupidity. And if I would have gone to be a junior the whole mission and to not have that trust I would have felt so terrible. So I am way glad that me and my companion folowed the spirit and we didnt go because that would affected my entire mission. SO the lesson is learn to recognize the promptings of the spirit and when you get the feelings or impressions act on it.
So ya thats a crazy story eh? yeah anyways, So right now we have a family that we are teaching that is pretty good, they talked to missionaries 3 years ago and were way close to baptism but some dumb missionaries told them that they are going to hell for having tattooos and stuff so eventually they got over it and hopefully they are way close to getting baptized. Elder Horner left like I said and he went up to Loveland, I liked having him around, he was a way good Elder, we had differences but overall we had fun and did the work. He said i'm one of his best companions he has had. i am with Elder Blomdal (Bloom daul) he is from california, pretty close to vallejo so i will talk to tyler and ask him if he knew the people there. He is a way cool kid, I actually knew him before because he was in the 4th ward so we get along way good already and its going to be good. He has been out for only one transfer longer than me so we are both fresh but we will do our best and we will continue to do the work here. Yeah it is getting cold here, That is a way cool thing about the temple, it really does make you think that you are being prepared for all the work during the second coming. That is awesome that you are doing that! Anways yep I am doing good and I hope you are doing good too! love you and have a great week!
The first picture is the baptism that we had with Cameron Burris. He is the one next to my companion the one next to me is the one that baptized him. The other picture is My first district but its pretty much all the same people anyways....
This week is going a lot better. Me and my comp still have occassional conflicts but nothing like they were before. Transfers are on the 11th so who knows, he thinks that he is going to be a district leader and if that is so he will get called on wedensday to be asked but if not i think we will both stay. Which would be ok, but I don't know i had a dream i was going to laramie last night. haha so hopefully that is just a dream. Conference was awesome. Did you enjoy it. The priesthood session was my favorite like it always is. But my favorite talk was by Elder Uchtdorf which talked about focusing on the essentials and not worrying about the big things. When people get to know the basics about the gospel the big questions about plural marriage and blacks having the priesthood and questions of that sort don't really matter. Which is my spiritual message for the week. SO i think with like Alisha and Gordon where they have these crazy questions. If they know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet, then everything else falls into place. I love you. . LOVE ELDER GNEHM
Cameron Burris Baptism

Friday, October 1, 2010

COLORADO HALLOWEEN

appy halloween!! for halloween we had to be inside so we were just hanging out at a members house all night. They only had 4 trick or treaters come over the entire night. And the members that we live with said that they had no one come to their house. It is crazy there is like no one that goes trick or treating here. And everyone decks out their house to look all scary but no one is outside. People here are lame. We have been doing a program called Sweep for sheep where we have all the Elders go to one ward for 2 hours and they split up so 1 missionary will go with 1 member and they will visit a couple of less actives homes and tract the houses to the left and the right of it. And it is funny because the members that I go with are like I dont think i could have done my mission in the United States, everyone we talk to are just jerks. haha. Some people just can't handle it but luckily it doesn't make me mad when people yell at me. My last comp would get mad though!! But yeah I always thought it would be easier to be in the United States but some people say they were glad they went foreign.
Anyways, Dominiques baptism was way good. He has been going to church for like 3 years now so EVERYONE in the ward already knows him. You should have seen it, when they confirmed him in church on Sunday, almost every priesthood holder in the chapel got up and went in the circle haha I couldn't even reach his head because i was so squished, i was just resting it on someones arm. Also he recieved the aaronic priesthood on sunday and so did Cameron Burris. They are both studs.
Those pictures are sweet, I wanted to carve a pumpkin. We went and visited one of our investigators that is a whole family and they were carving pumpkins and they kept telling me to carve it but i didn't even know if we could so i was like nahh i'm good.
Love you and have a great week!


Monday, September 27, 2010

COMPANION PROBLEMS

Hey hows it hangin!?
So me and my comp are not getting along too well right now. He is so prideful and cocky that it is driving me up the wall. We get along a lot of the time but when he does it 24/7 it starts to make me go crazy. Last week we were sitting in front of taco bell and one of the kids that flips the little ceasers pizza signs was looking over at us. And my comp yelled hey get over here. And was yelling at the kid because he was "staring" at us. and the kid was scared out of his mind and was just a way shy kid and didn't know what was giong on. My comps like get out of here and go flip your sign. So the kid just walked away and was way scared. I got in my comps face and chastised him. I yelled at him and don't him that kid did not deserve it and to stop being so prideful, looking to pick a fight all the time. I told him to go apologize to the kid, and he did. We have gotten in 3 yelling at each other fights this week alone. We actually sat down with the zone leaders on saturday night at like 10 at night till 12 talking about it and stuff. the ward right next to us were having the same problems. Theres a lot to expalin. because my comp now was with the guy in 5th ward last transfer. And the one that he was comps with is training someone and he is a little bit slow. So they are having a hard companionship too. Which was why i got in another fight with my comp because I told him to stop making fun of the other new kid because i dont want him to go home. So i feel like i am diong the right things but my comp and the older 5th ward guy hates me because of it. But i don't really care, we have to just get along until transfers and if i feeli like I am diong the right thing and what Christ would want me to do then i shouldm't feel bad about it. Because the fights that we get in are always me trying to help somebody else out. I don't know i think that it is a little ridiculous. I'm definately not like discouraged and thiking about going home because you know me, i am relax and chill and wouldn't go home just because someone was making me mad. But i just don't want the other new kid to go home because his comp is making him mad. Theres a lot going on so sorry if you don't quite understand it all. But hey sorry this week i wont be able to do pictures because everyone is leaving the library and i'm going to have to leave right now. So don't worry about me i will deal with it. And i've been praying a lot lately to have patience so you could also pray for me. Anways i love you guys and have a good week. I will send pics next time i promise.

Monday, September 20, 2010

DOING BETTER

Wazzzzup. So I am doing a whole lot better this week. Me and Elder Horner are doing really well together now. It still is kind of hard with my family but we have good news because we are trying to get moved out this week. They are basically telling us that they dont want us here because they have been housing missionaries for over a year now and usually its only for 3 months. I think it is time for a change. Because they keep judging us. They told the zone leaders when they came to our place to get our bikes that they couldn't take mine because they are a members and i shouldn't use it anyways. Little do they know that I bought that. But yeah I will send you guys some pictures next week. That was a cool picture. That a was ginormous fish i'll tell you what. So yesterday we went to see the dvd of the trek fireside that the youth just got back from and it was making me trunky off my face. Haha because it made me remember my trek and all the people back at home. I'm fine now. Every once in a while i think about people and how they are doing but ultimately it last for like 5 minutes then my mind wonders somewhere else. So that baptism on saturday was awesome! his brother in law was the one that baptized him. Most of the time since we have a lot of members here a member will do it. Haha we stayed for another baptism that was in our ward but actually wasn't because he came from california to get baptismed here because his family lives here. So we stayed for that and the guys that was baptizing him was way old and he couldn't hold him so when he was dunking him he dropped him in the water and it was kind of hard not to laugh. I was like Elder horner have you ever seen that before. he said nope thats a first. The baptism was so spirtiual though and its awesome to think that we have helped their whole family and a lot of their family to come. He has 3 little boys so that is possibly 3 future missionaries. its cool to think about that.
So my spiritual thought is about what i said earlier. And how cool it is to have a baptism from someone that i have been teaching for a while and seeing the change in his and his wife's countanences. Also to think that it will bless his kids lives and possibly have 3 future missionaries. It makes me think about abinidi and how he only baptized one person. alma. but from that alma baptized thousands of people. So It makes me think that every soul is precious in the eyes of the lord. And imagine what it would feel like to bring more souls unto Christ. I love that scripture. Well that is what i got to say for this week. I love you guys and have a good week.


Monday, September 13, 2010

FRUSTRATION

HOLA. The days are going by so much faster with my new companion because we joke around and we are working a lot harder than with my last comp. We are being obedient with my new companion but we can actually joke around but when we get into homes we get serious and down to business. Sometimes he is super cocky though and i have to remind him to calm down and be humble.


Um yeah so my comp is good. we get along good. Right now we are having some troubles with the people we are living with though. They are driving us crazy because they think we are not being obedient and not working. They always just tell us the things that we are doing wrong and they never talk to us besides that. Everyone in the ward tells us that they are just strange and that they dont like anyone but it just makes it hard because they are just judging us based on nothing. But its ok its just how they are. We are just going through a tough week right now. But anyways we have a baptism this saturday that i am way excited for. This guy is the greatest. he is way ready. when he had the interview the zone leader said that was the best interview for a investigators baptism that he has ever had. We are teaching like 15-20 lesson a week. We are teaching way more lessons now than i was with Elder Daniels. The meals that we have are good. Anyways i am doing good. and sorry but i dont have time to write a message because i have to go. but i love you and will talk to you next week!
- Show quoted text -

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

BAPTISMS

Hey whats crackin? I cant believe that the basement flooded. Because thats what i have been doing at a members house for service for like the past month. This members sub pump isn't working and they had a broken pipe so it was unleashing stuff into their basement that smelled like straight up poop. And we have been tearing out their dry wall and carpet and everything their. Haha so yeah i know exactly what you guys are talking about but they left it for a couple months so it smelled absolutely terrible in there! But yeah as far as Camerons Baptism that is awesome huh? It is still on. this guy is totally ready. He asks us like a bagillion questions every day about random stuff and his baptism so he really wants to make it work. He is one of my favorite people. he is awesome. he told me that we would be good friends if he was my age and lived in utah haha, he kind of reminds me of steve. My companions name is Elder Horner and he is from Cleveland Ohio, he has been out for 15 months. So that makes him the greatest.( haha he was looking at my comp so i had to write that) but we do get along well and he is a harder worker than my lost companion. And we crack jokes so it makes the day go by a lot faster which is also good.
K so here is my story. So after church this sunday we were taking a quick lunch nap before we went back out and i woke up to a phone in my face and i answered and it was a member who kind of struggles and he was telling me that he wanted to be removed from the records and was asking me what he needed to do to do it because he knew that my dad was a bishop so he thought i would know. But i was completely out of it and dead tired so i didnt really know what was going on and i dont even know what i said, but when i called him back later he acted like nothing had happened and he didn't say anything about that. I talked to our bishop about it and he told me that something like this has happened before with him. It makes me realize how satan will just through thinks at people and try all kinds of things out to make people fall away from the church. and that you have to be strong when something comes your way because if you are not then maybe the thing that Satan tells you to do will make you fall away. He's not gonna tell you to rob a bank but it will be a little thing like taking a candy from a baby and then eventually the spirit will leave you and then it has you doing drugs and things that will make you fall away. So i know that Satan is real and that we need to continue to pray each day and to read our scriptures daily so that we can be in tune with the spirit and become closer to God and have a strong testimony.
K love you have a good week.

Monday, August 30, 2010

NEW COMPANION

So I got the call on saturday about transfers. But there is a story before it. So there is this missionary that is in our district right now(1st transfer) who is a little annoying because he acts like he is black and talks like he is black but he is super white. End of story..thats my new companion. haha. I get him tomorrow actually. He really is a good missionary when he is teaching but he just needs to tone down the black personality. He was actually in the ward that I am in now 6th ward last transfer so he was just barely here and he is coming back. When i told a lot of the members that he was coming back almost everyone said the same thing. WHY?! haha. He kind of drives the members crazy because of the cocky attitude and stuff but like I said when he needs to be serious, he is a good missionary. I will have to humble him a little. I already humbled him at basketball so i can humble him at life? yeah. His name is Elder Horner and he is from cleveland ohio. He has been out about a year now. I am going to kind of miss Elder Daniel, he was a little bit different at times but he is a GREAT missionary. I hope in 2 years that i can be as good and as obedient as he was. Elder Daniel is from Nampa, Idaho. He is a little bit excited to go home. He was not trunky at all but yesterday was his actual last day of proselyting so he is pretty excited to go. Who can blame him. But he also says he would stay another year if he could. I am way glad that I am staying because we are doing very well with the investigators that we have right now. and we have a baptism coming up! number 2 baby! here is my story.
His name is Cameron Burris and we have been teaching him since i first got here. Missionaries were teaching with him before and they never really got too far with him. His wife has been a less active member of the church for many years now. When i went to see him the first time he was like, you guys should really call before you come and was kind of not very excited that we were there and stuff. But we started teaching him the discussions all over again from the restoration and we could gradually see the change in him. During this time his wife was striving to do better as well, her sister is also in the ward and is an active member so she was helping the both of them. After a period of time the wife Elissa got her patriarchal blessing and you could tell that there was something different about her, she had a glow to her and she was a lot more happy. She would also ask questions like could she be sealed to her family if Cameron was not baptized. We said no. So you could tell that that had made Cameron think a lot more about being baptized. They go to church about every week but it is only for sacrament meeting. last week Cameron came for all 3 blocks of church and you could tell that he was so much more interested because he was involved and he had a reason to change. He has gained a testimony for himself that the Book of Mormon is true and that the church is true. He called us during the week and started asking questions about being baptized and stuff and told us some concerns but eventually he said eh wants to be baptized and he set a date for september 18th. He is flying his family out to come see it. He is very serious about it and you can see that glow in him now as well. When he came to church this week everyone was saying how much different he seems and how he has that glow and how he is more open to talking to people. Cameron is awesome, he is my favorite investigator right now and will probably be my favorite member. So my message from all that is just how the gospel can definately change lives and people can notice that there is a glow about them when they do accept it. Which brings me to another point that we should show to non members how we have our values and they can see that glow in us and see that we our different. And they will start asking questions about why we do certain things, which brings us to our duty to share the gospel to everyone.
Well thats all i have for the week. have a good week ya guys and i love you!
Love Elder Gnehm.

Monday, August 23, 2010

PICTURES FINALLY




Hola familia. My companion now is really good though, he is obedient which has taught me a lot about the kind of missionary that i need to be. I hope i dont get a completely strict companion but i hope i dont get a companion that doesn't want to do anything i need a fine balance. Time is going by pretty fast though. On wednesday we had district meeting that lasted 2 and a half hours because it was a aspecial one. So this week we only got 6 lessons taught. I felt horrible turning in the numbers because i was the senior companion. I told the Zone leaders that it was Elder daniels fault and he is just really trunky and i cant get him out of the bed in the morning. haha. but then i told them the truth. I will give you my spiritual story, its funny but its also spiritual.
So on Sunday we had one of the investigators that we are teaching named Renee Alvarez come to church. She was all alone because her husband thinks that we are a cult and her kids don't want to come. So I sat by her while Elder daniel sat on the stands because he gave a 5 minute talk because he is leaving. So Renee was asking me questions like the whole time and i was expalining what was going on and stuff. One of the speakers that was talking was really old and their story about their pioneer heritage was sooo boring. I was looking around the room and half the chapel was asleep. But Renee was listening really intently because it was her first experience at a mormon church. So i'm kind of zoning off a little myself and all of a sudden Renee asks me. What does he mean by having 5 wifes) I'm like ummm did he say something about that? shes like ya. haha. So I had to explain to her in the middle of church about how the church used to practice plural marriage and how we don't do it anymore. After the sacrament a ton of the members came up to her and introduced themselves and explained ya we dont do the multiple wives thing anymore. haha. Anyways the spiritual part of this story for me is that since I grew up in the church i really have no idea what a new investigator is thinking about the church. So many things could be so weird and new to her that just seems normal to me. I've learned so far that i have been out that Utah is not a normal place and it is foreign to the rest of the world. it is its own country. I am lucky to have been able to grow up in kaysville where there are so many members and good influences around me. My testimony has really grown since I have been here about how blessed I was to be able to grow up there and in a good home.
Ok. that is my story and all for the week. I will try to send you pics on another email. I love you. have a good safe week.



The first pic here is The last day of the MTC. Elder Nielson, the one that i got along with really well is the one i'm cuddling with haha. The second picture is my companion Elder Daniel. he is the one on the left.And the third picture is ME! i thought it was cool because it looks like kingdoms of glory parking. my companion made fun of me for it but i think its awesome.
THERE ya go. you got pictures! :) haha love you.


Monday, August 16, 2010

HOMELESS GUY

Hey der. I am senior companion this week, it isn't going to seem too different because i already have been carrying the phone around and taking lead a lot. So i think it will be all good. Last week i went on splits with an Elder Palmberg Who i came out here from the mtc with. So we were to greenies going about the business. We did well. It seems weird that my comp will be going home in a couple of weeks, and then i will get a new one and i will be the one that has to know how to get around the area and know all the people. yikes.
I need to wrap it up though my companion wants to leave. I will leave you with a spiritual message.
Me and my companion were walking to a less actives last week and while we were walking we passed this guy who had a couple of sacks. he was obviously homeless and he was picking up cans to go and sell. Well the first time we walked, we walked straight past him and didn't think to much about it. We walked probably another good 1/4 of a mile before my companion stopped and said. You know what, this is gonna bother me. Lets go back and talk to that guy. So we went back and started talking to him. He was really open to us and he told us that he had been out of his job for about 3 years now. We talked to him for about ten minutes and he said that he would take some thought to it but nothing much came about it. but after i just felt pretty bad because I think the first time that we didn't talk to him was because he looked a little iffy and didn't think that he would care to here us. It made me realize that we shouldn't be judging a person by how they look. Even if they are there smoking a cigarette, they still could be prepared to here our message. It made the think that we need to talk to everyone because we dont know who the elect are until we actually talk to them.
Anyways thats all i got. k love you. have a great week.

Monday, August 9, 2010

DENVER TEMPLE

Hi, I got to go to the Denver temple on Saturday. The Denver temple is tiny compared to utah temples. We went through a session and the screen was like a twenty inch projection. I couldn't tell who was who on it. But it was really cool to be able to go to the temple and feel the spirit that is there. We can go about every 6 months. But my companion is going again before he leaves so i get to go again this month. We went there with some members who used to be temple workers. They were old and reminded me of you. haha. cuz they are temple workers. Me and my companion are doing good. We are not very much alike but we stil do the work so it is ok. He keeps me obedient which is what i need so thats all i can ask for. So last week we had a thunderstorm that was absolutely crazy. It lasted for about and hour and a half and i thought i was in hurricane kutrina. Luckily we were teaching an investigator during some of it but while we were teaching the windows were open and water came i'n like a humidifier. it felt really good. When we left the streets were practically flooded and we could barely get our car to go. We could have used a canoe to travel to streets. The thunder here is so loud here too. It feels like the lightning is like right outside the house because when it hits it sounds like fireworks are going off immediately after. Its awesome! But the person that we were teaching during the strom was really awesome. Her name is renee Alvarez and the last missionaries tracted into her. Gave her a Book of mormon and she has been reading it and stuff. When we taught her the restoration, it was awesome. She was like yeah i know that everything you have been talking about is true and that joseph smith is a prophet. haha I was like What did you just say? haha it caught me by so much suprise cuz you don't here that very often. We asked her to get baptized but she said she will have to think about it some more. I think she will definately get baptized though, she is an awesome lady. She is just really really busy. That would be awesome if she does though love you. Love elder Gnehm.

Monday, August 2, 2010

ARVADA IS HOT

HEY der. Arvada is so dang hot. haha. it is starting to cool down and the rain clouds are starting to come in the middle of the day to cool us off. but i am loving the area that i am in.
The people in my ward are pretty cool. They just got done with the trek on saturday and sunday they had an awesome testimony meeting that was dominated by youth with there experiences. As far as success goes, we are doing pretty well. It seems like the people that we teach all just want to talk because they love missionaries instead of having a spiritual lesson. I think its cuz all the last missionaries went over just to chat and gave a 2 second lesson. I am not getting discouraged at all. I think its kind of funny when people want nothing to do with us. I wish they would accept it but we cant force it on them. Haha that is funny that you were having bad vibes on saturday. My companions and i were on the far side of the ward that was completely opposite from where our house is and his tire went flat. A nail went through his tube so we had to walk from the entire end to end back to our house with our bikes. Maybe that is why you were feelingbad. So its been so hot and i have been on a bike so much that my first week i lost 5 lbs. So now i am starting to eat like a porker so i dont get too skinny. I never thought i would have to eat more on this mission. Yeah i was thinking about grandpa the other day when we were at this house with both the Woman and the Man were in Scooter chairs. Grandpa needs to get the one like this guy had it would recline completely and would haul butt. haha. But yeah i think that would be a good idea too cause i was watching this guy try to do stuff and it looked really hard and he said that he was just really ready to die pretty much. As far as sister slater its called longmont and that is where elder aamodt is at right now. My area is a pretty big town. I would compare it to layton i guess because its pretty big and it has rich on one side and poor on another side. K i will give you a somewhat spiritual message. We have been teaching a lot of less active people because we dont have very many new investigators. And so we have been trying to go to a lot the (LA)'s less actives. houses and no one was home or they didn't want to talk with us. So we went to this one guys house named Roy Ireson, and while we were teaching about the restoration i felt the spirit in the room that was really strong. Now it wasn't tell after the lesson that we left and we were riding home on our bikes and i still felt the spirit pretty strong. As i was turing on a street i was about to take the corner on the wrong side of the road but something told me that i shouldn't do that. So i swerved my bike to the right side of the road and right when i did a car turned the corner going way too fast. I know that it was because of the spirit that i felt that grew as i was teaching that it was with me to save me from getting hit by a car. . yeah that is my story for now. But yeah you can use that or not, its not really a great story haha. but ya i will email dad, hope you are doing well love you guys.

Monday, July 26, 2010

I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW

HEEELLLLOOOO la la la. I'm dang excited that Bode isn't a red head! That makes my day so much better. But why is he such a shrimp? I thought this kid was going to be a basketball player too. Man, biking is kind of kicking my butt. I'm going to have some massive thigh muscles by the end of this transfer. And it is sooo hot here right now, that i come home and as soon as I sit on the bed, I am out. At least i'm not going to get too fat while i am here cuz i am getting fed very well. They say that on average missionaries here gain anywhere from 15 to 50 lbs. The address that you send me stuff is Colorado Denver North Mission 11172 N. Huron St. Ste 21 Northglenn, CO 80234. So like I said I got a bike but it was free from the mission office so i actually didn't have to trunk out the 300 dollars from my savings. And don't worry. I got authorization from the mission president to do it.. Yes i am being obedient :) My companion is one of the most obedient missionaries here. People make fun of him because he is so obedient to all the rules. A lot of missionaries in this mission are a lil apostate. So its good that i have him to keep me doing what i need to be doing. He says he has never once in his entire life taken a dump in a public restroom. haha. Also for P day he wanted to play monopoly with a member. Ummm..no. haha. So i convinced him to play basketball with the other Elders in our district. But that is good that dad had fun on his trip. 32 miles is pretty far. That is even further than we went on the trek. So yeah missionary life is going pretty well so far. Its still a little weird that i need to talk to like everyone that i see about the gospel but when i get in the house to teach the lesson, i think i do really well. My comp said that I am the best at teaching so far out of all the people that he has trained. And this is his last transfer so I think that is pretty cool. We had our first baptism the other day with a boy named tyler. But as far as getting new people to listen to us, a lot of people just dont want anything to do with us. We taught a less active guy yesterday named Roy who hasn't been to church in 15 years. And we taught him about the Restoration and stuff and he received everything really well and he said he might come to church on Sunday. OOH he will be there... I went to church yesterday and met the people in my ward. There are some people from kaysville there and kept asking me if i knew the matthias' and someone else that starts with a P. I didn't know who they were talking about. I definately like being in the field more than the MTC being its more like real life and i get to teach actual people but i did like the MTC because the people that I were with in my zone were way tight. I am doing good though and i hope you all are doing well. I love you guys. Elder Gnehm.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

I'M IN DENVER

HEEY! so its really real now.. i'm in denver. My pday is going to be mondays but my
companion didn't have the chance to email yesterday so we are just doing it for today.
My new companions name is Elder Daniel. He is a little bit shy but he is on his last transfer and he has already been to the area that i am in. I'm in arvada Colorado. It was pretty crazy yesterday when i woke up from the MTC, and said bye to the people that were going to florida like elder Nielson. Then we got on the plane to Denver and we stayed at the mission
presidents home. President and sister ely are good people. Then I woke up this morning and we went to a church where we met our new companions. I had to say goodbye to the other missionarys in the MTC that were going to denver like Elder AAmodt. It is so weird to be in the real world now and it is hilarious to see people look at us and then turn the other way and start walking. IM A MISSIONARY NOW! haha. I'm staying in a members home and i have my first teaching appointment tonight at 8:30. yikes. I'm a little bit nervous. I cant screw up here like I could at the MTC. I am excited to start the work but right now a little bit nervous. after my first teaching appointment, I think it will be a lot better. We actually have a baptism on saturday for a teenager. So already I am about to have my first baptism. Even though I had nothing to do with it, i'll take credit. I gotta go now cause i get timed in the field also. Love you guys. Love Elder Gnehm.

Friday, July 16, 2010

LAST MTC LETTER

Sup motha? Yeah i am way pumped to get out of here. I am going to be sad to leave my district cause I am way close with a lot of em but i gotta get out and give people heaven in denver
There are a bunch of elders going to denver north mission and a few sisters. There are 18 going on our flight to Denver. Mish life is going well. It still feels like i'm the same old carson until i get into the classroom and i just completely change and get down to business. I have learned a butt load. and teaching people now is like a piece of crum cake. sometimes... My companion still has the little bit of irratating moments but it is definately a lot better. I hope that i get a good first companion when i get to the field. I was able to play basketball except for the last two days they have closed the gym so i have to play volleyball or soccer now. lame.. but when i was on the court i was tearin everybody up. ahh yeah. So i think i might call you from the airport around 630 to like 730 but i am not exactly sure. SO you might have to wake up early if you want to hear me talk nonsense. I cant wait to talk to you guys but i gotta write more emails and my time is almost up so i will talk to you on monday. k love you. love elder gnehm.

Friday, July 9, 2010

MTC LETTER #2

Ello madre. Wow thats a lot of questions you just asked me. I hope i remember to answer them all. The mission life is still coming along really well, Its incredible how much i have learned in just the past week. I cant believe I have already been here for a week and a half. Time is just flying by. It is still going a little iffy with my compannion because he and I are just so different. When he starts talking he talks about everything in his life. He could talk to a wall for an hour straight. But its all good. The first week we had to write our branch president and i told him that it was a little difficult to be his companion and he wrote me back and told me that I am his companion for a reason. So thats good to know that they think i'm strong enough for that. The cookies that you sent me were the bomb.com. I shared it with my district and everyone keeps asking me for more haha. For the third of July we had a devotional and after it we were able to see the fireworks that were at the stadium of fire from outside of our apartments. We heard Carrie Underwood singing a little and it made me remember how much i hate country. Especially when i couldn't even see HER singing haha.. So i got a story to share. One of the elders in our district was feeling sick so we were supposed to give him a priesthood blessing and he asked one of the Elders in our district to do it. So when he was giving the blessing he did not mention anything about being sick but mention about Christ leaving his father when he came to this earth and stuff like that. After the prayer the branch president said that was inspired blessing because apparently the sick elder and the branch president were talking about being homesick and there was much more to it than just being sick. I saw the power of the priesthood in front of my eyes, the spirit told the Elder what to say and I think that it's really neat. Good luck on your surgery next week! I will be praying for you and derek. everything will go fine and you will be out playing tennis in no time flat. I miss you guys so much but i know that I am doing the right thing on the lords errand. I love you all so much. Love elder gnehm

Saturday, July 3, 2010

MTC LETTER #1

Dear familia... Hows it going! yeah its pretty crazy that i'm here huh. Today is my first P day but next week and the week after it will be on fridays. Alright so let me just go down what has been going down here. Alright so right after i said bye to you all i got my nametag and went to the room to drop off my bags. From there we had no time really to stay cause we had to go meet our district. Yes Elder Aamodt is in my district but he is not my companion ha ha. It was a huge relief to have him in there with me so that i knew someone in my district and i could feel more comfortable. Now my companion is named Elder Hunt and he is from idaho. he actually knew my bald roomate from Utah State because he graduated the same time as him. Elder Hunt has Cycstic Fibrosis. I call it CF because i dont know how to say it or spell it. He has so many diseases and sad stories about his life and it really makes me appreciate him for being out here on his mission. My district is awesome. I have already gotten way close with all the kids in my district, especially Elder Nielsen who is from California. He played a little tennis back there and apparently his dad does some thing with the pros so he has met a ton of professional tennis players like nadal and williams sisters. Elder Velez is from detroit and is kind of a bigger kid, he is one of the funniest kids i have ever met in my life. So pretty much what I am getting at is that i love the people here in my district. The first couple of days we have just been in the classroom learning about how to begin teaching, how to ask people to get baptized and all that good jazz. Anyways, yesterday for the first time we went to teach lesson 1 to some missionaries and to say the least we need to practice a LOT more. I know that through time and practice we will get a lot better at teaching the lessons because everyone that has been here for a couple weeks seem leaps and bounds ahead of all of us noobs. I've seen Matt smith, and Trent and Marcus cooper here along with a bunch of other people from school and its cool to see them and they are all doing good. I have to admit that i got one of those companions that Dad and Mom always told me that i was going to get. One that i wouldn't get along with. I feel really bad for this kid and I respect the heck out of him for being here with all that he has gone through but its just hard to be with him 24/7 because he is so different. Everyone in my district tells me that I am doing good putting up with him and I know that I need to just keep loving him and be his friend. Its hard because he has a speech disorder and is so different because when i start to talk and teach the lesson, he cuts me off when I try to speak because he really doesnt know any better. I will push through it though, its only 3 weeks that i am here. I leave the MTC on July 19th and I can't wait to go to Denver. I am so glad that I decided to come on a mission because when I am around this stuff it gets so much easier to gain a better testimony and to know how to study and teach better. I only have 30 minutes to write while i'm emailing so i better make an end. I just want to say that I love you guys so much and I am glad to be out here. Love Elder Gnehm.