Elder
Braxton Barneck is HOME!!!
Braxton returned
home just in time for Christmas and he was also just in time for another
baptism. Bentley Hope Barneck was
baptized by her big brother on her 8th
Birthday! What a great day that
was. Welcome Home Braxton!
He is currently
looking for a part time job and will attend BYU-Idaho in April!
Sister Kyla Radke
Washington Spokane
Spanish Speaking Mission
Spokane is so cold and snowy but
hopefully, spring will be here soon! I feel blessed every day to serve my
mission here with great companions, members, and wonderful people to
teach.
Here's my companion and I
enjoying a Mexican sweet roll called "Concha bread."
Orlando
Florida
Chinese
Speaking
It's been an eventful past month! I've learned a lot and had
a ton of spiritual experiences. I've reached 18 months on my mission, and it's
weird to think I'm 3/4 of the way done with my time serving. We have had to stop
teaching many promising people, but we have had the opportunity to help a 16
year old who wants to go on BYU and a mission get baptized! We are also
incredibly fortunate to be able to still work with his parents to help them
progress towards baptism as well.
Denmark Copenhagen
Mission
Finally
out of quarantine, Elder Barker and I got to work on the pile of media projects
that had been collecting dust for two weeks. We had location scouts, planning,
and a ton of shoots.
We
had a shoot that was supposed to be a "vision.” It's complicated to
explain, but pretty much a character prays, and then has a vision of his
deceased father introducing him to the missionaries. So we drove to a nice hill
outside of the city to film this scene. Because of Storm Malik, the temperature
was effectively -10 Celsius. Now, our actors were dressed in their all white
baptismal clothes to represent that they were in a vision. Let's just say
baptismal clothes are geared more toward lukewarm water, and less towards
sub-zero bone-chilling wind.
Aside
from those adventures, the rest of our work has been good. We're still running
a Free Copy of the Book of Mormon advertisement. We ourselves got a
couple of referrals this week, so we travelled to deliver copies to them. Maybe
we'll meet with them eventually to teach them!
Venlig hilsen,
Ældste Andrew Harker
Texas Dallas West
Spanish Speaking
Mission
Ironically,
I was recently asked to create a number of professional-grade videos for
advertisements that the mission will run throughout the year.
My
first assignment is a video for the Easter season involving the popular
hymn of the Church, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives," which will be
arranged by my friend Lucas Zuehl, a former Dallas West missionary. I decided
that filming a quartet of missionaries singing, with short narrative overlays
would create an effective focus on our Savior. I made a pitch-deck, wrote
a script, and created a preliminary master schedule, all while balancing the
Bear Creek area with my supportive and new companion, Elder Stevens. He has
been a great sport; because I now work on film projects, he has taken on
extra English students to stay busy, and never complains when I drag him along
to scout possible locations for the video shoot. The mission
requested that the video be completed and submitted by mid-February. I was
somewhat worried about completing such a big project in such a small window of
time, but I decided to give it my best attempt.
As
for the proselyting work in the new part of our area, we met a handful of new
friends investigating the church, and said goodbye to some who were no longer
interested in learning more about the restored Church of Jesus Christ. However,
we observed great potential in the new investigators and hoped and prayed for
success in the future.
Treinta y Tres Uruguay
Elder Shepley is serving in
Ciudad de la Costa, Canelones, another province of Uruguay. He moved to
Canelones at the end of December. Ciudad de la Costa consists of several
beaches in the south of Uruguay, east of Montevideo, the capital. He is now
also serving as a District Leader. They opened a new area and they are getting
to know the members. The Stake President offered a party at his home on
December 31st and that was a great opportunity for the elders to meet some
members. Unfortunately, some people got sick with Covid after the party so
Elder Shepley and his companion had to quarantine for a week but they were
protected and didn't get sick. They are doing some virtual visits and visiting
some members in person. It is very hot and humid in Uruguay right now and it
rained a lot for some weeks. Their house got some water due to the rain
but it didn't flood completely so they were grateful for that. While he was
talking to us last Monday he got a call from the Mission President so we said
goodbye and later he let us know the President had called to let them know they
were going to the temple the next day. He has been serving his mission for 6
months already and he is enjoying the experience.
Washington,
Yakima Mission
Spanish
Speaking
Elder
Nichols was set apart as a Missionary on Sunday, January 9th! He arrived at the
MTC on Wednesday, January 26th! Both he and Elder Faucette (from the 10th Ward)
were able to meet up at the BYU Creamery beforehand, then to the Provo Temple
for photos. Their parents dropped them both off at the underground MTC parking
lot, which felt like a well-oiled Chick Fil A drive thru, or maybe an In and
Out Burger.
He
has been loving his first week at the MTC, and was most excited about meeting
his companion and the rest of his district in person. Elder Westover is over 6
feet tall, and that didn't translate well over zoom meetings, so Elder Nichols
was quite surprised to meet this giant friend in person! Since then, he
has been fully immersed in the Spanish language, and learning everything
he can about being the best Missionary and serving the Lord. As anticipated, he
has had ZERO homesickness! He has three more weeks left at the MTC, and has
definitely grown attached to his crew. They attended the Provo Temple yesterday
which was his first experience since receiving his own Endowment in
the Laie, Hawaii, Temple in December, and
he truly enjoyed his time there.
We
got to speak to him yesterday, but the phone got passed around to several
Elders because Elder Nichols really wanted us to have an opportunity to speak
to, and get to know his District. He
really loves each one of them and is so proud of them as they all learn and
serve together. We love that he's such a great friend and wants everyone to
succeed and have joy!
Most
people don't know that Elder Nichols does Mongolian throat singing. (How does
one bring up that rare talent in polite conversation?) He's really quite good,
but it's loud and low and can be a little overwhelming for the listener at
times! ;o) (Un)Fortunately (depending on one's perspective), Elder Nichols has
become known as the Mongolian throat singer at the MTC. He was asked by the
District Leaders one night if he would wake the floor the next morning at 6:25
by making rooster sounds (he does great impressions, too). The Elders all
chimed in and asked the leaders if he could do the throat singing
instead. And so, one chilly January morning at the Provo MTC, the Elders
awoke bright and early to Mongolian chanting, echoing down the halls for all to
hear. A parent's proudest moment.
Brazil,
Belo Horizonte Mission
Portuguese
Speaking
I’m
so excited to start my mission in 2 short months! To prepare, I recently went
to the Temple to receive my endowment, have submitted my visa application, and
am working on learning as much Portuguese as I can on Duolingo before I leave!
I also started studying Preach My Gospel and have been on a couple of phone
calls with our sister missionaries and those they are teaching and have loved
it! The Primary has LOVED having Matt help by playing the piano during singing time. Thanks Matt!
Cape Verde Praia Mission
Madison
Hein received her mission call. She is going to serve in the Cape Verde Praia
Mission (a group of islands off the west coast of Africa). She will be speaking
Portuguese (and Portuguese creole). She is starting the home MTC May 2nd.
After two weeks home, she will go to the Provo MTC for another 4 weeks. She
will then leave for the mission field June 15th. She is very excited and can’t
wait to start her mission! :)
Sister Young from Boise, Idaho and Sister Hedrick from Woodburn, Oregon have been blessing Plano 4th Ward with their hard work and enthusiasm. Brother Fabio was baptized in December Fabio is from Brazil and is wonderful. In January, we also had the baptism of Brooklyn Marshall, a darling 10 year old in our ward who is amazing! We love these two new members! They also have a friend Paul being Baptized on February 12th!!!
