Monday, August 31, 2015

Plan of Salvation and Protein Shakes

(Looks like a good week....YAY!!!!)

Mother and Father,

   This week we had investigator lessons with Austin and Scott. Neither of them understood the necessity of reading the Book of Mormon and praying, but I think they do now. Scott even told us that after told him the Plan of Salvation, it was the best thing he had heard from any religion, and that he really wants to come to feel the way we feel about it. We taught the Plan of Salvation both times, and Elder Nielson is a hero. He was raised an atheist before he joined the church, and the Plan of Salvation is very important to him. The spirit was very strong as he testified of the truth of it. (Go Elder Nielson!)
   Our mission experienced a problem similar to the Modesto mission when we took missionaries from the Rapid City and Billings missions. The Fort Collins Mission is known in the North American Central area as the mission with poor key indicators and severe disobedience. (I would like to know his source for these facts!) I've seen that culture begin to change, but it was quite the culture shock for the other missionaries. In the time Peter and I spent with the
Sacramento missionaries, they did seem pretty good at fooling around. We have not, however, had a Seventy come and chastise us.
   We did have a fifth Sunday meeting about keeping the Sabbath day holy. That has been the focus of the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency since April conference. We actually had a zone conference where they presented training on how missionaries need to encourage investigators and members to make the Sabbath a holier day.
   I've continued the protein shakes, and I've gained a lot of muscle. When I tell people that I am taking protein, they warn me that if I take them without working out, I'm going to get fat. No one seems to believe that I work out. This week begins week seven of our exercise regimen, and we are still going strong. I'm really proud of my upper body. My core still needs work though. Elder Nielson has lost a ton of weight too. (Good for them!)
   Well, Bishop Dixon is buying us Cafe Rio for dinner on Thursday. Needless to say, I am quite excited. (So much for the exercising!!) We are excited for Scott and Austin, but Charles and Alex we are a bit worried about. Their initial interest seems to be gone. It's interesting, because Scott and Austin are both agnostic, and the others have strong religious backgrounds.
    Well, I am excited to get my birthday wishes and cards. (His birthday is Thursday!)
   This week was a really good week. (Happy day!!) I love you all so much.

Love again,

Elder Andrew Campbell

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Beautiful Boulder, Colorado!!

(I can't believe what a beautiful place Elder Campbell has the privilege of serving. I'll attach the fun pictures he sent. I'll also include one I received from Kyla Cleverly. She was a sister missionary here in Lodi, CA. She is from Fort Collins, CO and she helped serve lunch at the mission conference he talks about. YEAH!!)

Mother and Father,

   Sorry for not writing yesterday. We had a mission conference with Elder Zeballos of the Seventy, so our preparation day was moved. We just got back from an adventure in the woods. We lost the trail going down the mountain and ended up getting super lost. I have some pictures for you.
   This week, Elder Pratt challenged me to say only prayers for others, not a single one for myself. It has done wonders for changing my attitude. We've both made leaps and bounds in becoming more unified. I'm still having trouble with optimism. Everyone is really nice here in the ward though!
  This week we taught Austin and Leah. They both accepted the challenge to read and pray over the Book of Mormon. We just need to follow-up with them. We have scheduled lessons with Scott and Austin this week. Charles informed us that he's decided to keep going to the LDS church in Longmont. It's such a good, yet frustrating situation!
   Yesterday we decided to walk the half-mile to dinner instead of drive. A woman drove up to us and asked if we were Mormons. She said she was so happy to see us because she had been looking all over for us. She had a friend read the Book of Mormon to her once, and he told her that she needed to find the Mormons and go to church with them. We gave her our number, the address to the building, and a Book of Mormon. We were so grateful that we made the decision to walk.
 
Love,
Elder Andrew Campbell
 



 

Monday, August 17, 2015

Drama and Flonase!

(Companionship drama...when will it end? Looking up Flonase on walmart.com. Free shipping when you order $35 worth of merchandise.)

Mother and Father,

   This week was a slow one. We had some success but it was marred by companionship drama. When do I get to be a normal missionary? (We're talking Andrew here...I'm not sure normal and Andrew go together!) I went on an exchange with my zone leader Elder Pratt. He is seriously the perfect missionary. It was both inspiring and distressing seeing how excellent he is. I'm predicting that he will be AP (Assistant to the President) in a few transfers. It was funny being in a YSA (Young Single Adult) ward. Their problems are so different. We had a lesson with some recent converts that felt more like relationship counseling, then we went and taught a lesson to a drug dealer. I give him a lot of props because he really wants to turn his life around.
   (We'd heard there was such a big hail storm that the snow plows had to come out to clean the streets.) Boulder hasn't had any hail for a couple months, so I can't say that is a true story.
    (BJ, Michele and Peter went to the Salt Lake County Fair. Michele had never gone to a fair before. I asked Elder Campbell if there were any festivals in Boulder.) Boulder just had a big Ironman Race, and they have a gigantic Farmer's Market. We also have Pearl Street, which is a 24/7 festival. I can't say that I've seen any other festivals though.
   (A good friend of our sons got married. I wondered if he knew about it.) I knew about Marcus's wedding because we had an intern in our ward named Andrew Stockton who was working at Google. He was one of Marcus's companions on his mission. We had dinner with them and he told me about the wedding. (Small world!)
   (I told him about the fair food everyone ate at the County Fair. BJ had a cheeseburger with grilled cheese sandwiches for buns.) BJ's burger sounds like a dream come true. I've been doing a lot of stress eating, as you can tell. Elder Pratt convinced me to go buy protein powder today. He explained to me how my workouts are going to be much more effective with a protein supplement, and he is the fitness king. I also started a new allergy medicine this week. It's
called Flonase, and I love it. It's been years since I had sinuses this clear. The sad thing is it's kind of expensive. If you could help me out by sending me one of the big containers, which you can get at Walmart, that would be so great. (Found it on walmart.com. YEAH!)
   Charles said he plans on coming to church in Boulder this week. Let's pray that he does.
PS: The zone leaders just had a talk with us. I think things will get better if we take what they said to heart. (I certainly hope so...I don't handle drama very well!)

Love,

Elder Andrew Campbell

Monday, August 10, 2015

Maintenance Light is on!!!

(Looks like things improved since last week. YEAH! And he got his new money card. Wahoo!!)

Mother and Father,

  We found 3 new investigators this week. The first was a woman named Leah who we tracked into a long time ago, but finally got a return appointment with. She has good LDS friends, which has drawn her interest in the church. The next is Alex, a fifteen year-old who we saw outside jumping rope. We taught him the restoration and went back with a youth in the ward and taught the Plan of Salvation. He says he really likes the Book of Mormon. Lastly, the zone leaders referred us to a man named Scott who they met while getting their truck serviced. We taught him the message of the restoration, and he was excited to read the Book of Mormon. We tripled our lesson count from last week and got 15 total lessons.
  ( I wondered about their car. Where do they park it? How often do they wash it or service it? Such exciting questions!)  We have neither a street or a garage to park our car. We park on a dirt road! We should probably get a car wash today. It has to be paid for with our MSF, which I got my new card for! We should also get it serviced, since our maintenance required light is on. (Hmmm....maybe a good idea!)
   (I finally sent him pictures of our new roof and paint job on our house. It's only been 22 years! HA!) The house looks beautiful. It honestly does look like a different house. I'm so happy that you got what you wanted!
   (Wondered about the weather.) We were having daily thunderstorms for a while, but it's stopped for the time being. To answer your questions about Longmont, it's about 10 miles away, give or take a few. Charles is an electrician and is in his 50s. We weren't able to talk to him this week. Hopefully we can catch him next week.(That's the man he was talking about last week.)
  Our ward mission leader is a bold man, and he challenged the ward council to come next time ready to draft a new ward mission plan, and one that actually works this time. Well, I'd better go, but have a lovely week everyone.

Love,
Elder Andrew Campbell

Monday, August 3, 2015

Staying in Boulder for another transfer!!

(Looks like he's in Boulder for another 6 weeks. Hope things improve...they need to build up their investigator pool!)

Mother and Father,

   It is indeed transfer week, and the verdict is that I will be staying! Not only that, but Elder Nielson will be staying with me. When the call came, neither of us was very happy, but we've decided that we are going to make it work. It feels like this area just keeps on getting harder. We only taught 5 lessons this week. That is really, really bad. When missionaries report single digit lessons, it becomes quite clear that they sat at home doing nothing, but I can promise you that we were putting in work. We knocked on so many doors this week. Gosh, it's frustrating.
  Something that did happen this week....we got a new investigator! His name is Charles and he is awesome. He has a good friend who is a member of the church in Longmont and he goes to church with him in
Longmont regularly. We were knocking at a door and he was across the street working on his truck. The guy slammed the door and Charles came over and talked to us. He said he didn't want us to feel bad, and he
really respects what we're doing and we can come to his house any time. We went by on Saturday and taught a lesson. He said he was planning on going to church in Longmont again. We just need to get him
to the Flatirons Ward.
   "You Are Your Own Gym" has been beating me up still. I did 36 push-ups the other day though, which is a lot for me. (Way more than I can do!!) This week we move on to a harder week 3 regimen, so pray for me!
     Elder Nielson and I will be praying for you as you begin work. It sounds like you have a good thing going for you. I'm grateful that you've been prepared through your nursery calling. (Have you ever heard about cat wrangling? That's what the first day of Kindergarten pretty much was. HA!!)
      I think you should send me a picture of the newly painted house. I'm excited to see it! (It does look AMAZING!!)      I think I would like a purple tie! Not too thick, not too thin! (And he'll be in Boulder still for his birthday on Sep. 3rd. YEAH!)    This week we did a service project for Sister S. We put in some tile steps down to her drainage pump by the canal. Elder Nielson put on some boots and walked in the canal to place the last step. We talked about it and decided that it wasn't a disobedient thing to do, so don't judge! (I wasn't even thinking about judging. If he'd put on a swim suit and swam some laps...maybe then! HA!)
    I hope you have a lovely week.

Love,

Elder Andrew Campbell
(Attached are a picture of Elder Nielson doing his canal walking in boots, Andrew looking quite heavenly and the steps. WOW!)