Get Ready for the Ride of your Life!!

Sounds like Elder Campbell is trying his best to make the best of his situation. He's a good missionary and we're very proud of him. He sent some pictures and I'm going to guess why!)

Mother and Father,

   (I wondered why a less active man who is now a Druid would allow missionaries to live in his home.) First things first, from what I understand, Brother W allows us to live in his home because he doesn't really care. He doesn't mind having extra people living in the house because he is gone a lot, but housing missionaries is almost always more expensive than the stipend
you are paid.

  (He said the ward was small...I wondered if it was small in numbers or in boundaries. It's boundaries!) The ward by area is tiny, but by numbers is massive. We fill every seat in the chapel and our overflow extends to fill half of
the gym, with most of those seats filled as well.

   (Got a fun picture of our missionary on exchanges with Elder Noh and he was enjoying some GINORMOUS pizza!!) Seeing Sister Riddle was a lot of fun. She took us to Anthony's Pizza. Sis. Riddle's daughter's roommate who I home taught was Grace. (We loved Grace. Unfortunately, Grace has already married!) My exchange with Elder Noh was a lot of fun. We had a pleasant gentleman tell us that he hates us and wants us all to go to Hell. In the morning we destroyed
old recyclables with a medieval flail. (Maybe the man they live with, who is a Druid, has a flail??) Elder Noh was one of the missionaries that I went out with in my first night in the mission home.

   (Peter fed almost 300 people a salad bar and only spent $221. Way to go, Peter!) I am glad to hear that Peter's event went well. Did he ever get a co-coordinator called? (Nope!)

   (Peter went on a drive along with the BYU Police. He decided that being a police officer wasn't for him. I didn't know he even considered that as a career. Our oldest son said every boy wants to be a police officer at some point in their life. I didn't know this, so I asked Elder Campbell if he wanted to be a police officer.) When I was very young I believe that I wanted to be a policeman/firefighter. It was just the coolest job ever. However, my main job goal was to be a veterinarian. (Neither Brian nor I knew that!)

   (We got new sister missionaries in our area and we were able to help them get a car and not just have to ride bikes.) That is good to hear about the sisters. If I am ever transferred to a bike area, I will do some community organizing to get that fixed. (Especially since he's not sure where his bike even is!)

   An additional individual you should pray for is Matt. He is fasting for the first time in his life to know if the church is true. This week we also went tracking with Brother A. We taught a lesson to a woman named Erin who was very nice, then we went to Bro. A's friend's house who was letting us in for a pity lesson, and they turned out to be much more interested than they expected.

   (I wondered how things were going with his companion.) Elder Tiai and I don't see eye to eye on anything really, but I'm trying to enjoy the ride. The zone leaders told me that trying to control him is futile, so just try to steer him in a good direction, and get ready for the ride of your life.   

   Could you send me Michael Hampton's mission call as soon as you hear? I
would love to hear about that. My fingers are crossed for Fort Collins. We need someone stalwart like Michael out here. (I'm trying to find out!)

   Elder Tiai gave me a haircut today. In his own words, "I hate American hair." (Elder Tiai is Samoan.

   I heard about the BYU loss. I am taking it as a good thing because hearing about BYU's success was making me trunky.

   (I asked him if he'd like to go to Disney World next Christmas. We had so much fun last Christmas and wanted him to enjoy the time.) Wow, my mind is
really not thinking about next Christmas, but sure, Disney World sounds fun. (I'm heading to St. George to visit my sister for a few days!) Enjoy St. George and read a ton of books!

Love,

Elder Andrew Campbell

      

From Boulder to Firestone, CO!

(Looks like he's in the Longmont Stake but is living in a place called Firestone. I looked it up and there are only 10,000 people. pretty small!)

Mother and Father,

  I do have answers to your questions! I drove to Longmont with my new Zone Leader, Elder Noh. Much later in the day, missionaries going down to Boulder picked my suitcase up from the stake center and drove it there. My bike did not come with me to Boulder. The last time I saw it was in the zone leader's apartment in Fort Collins. (He better find that bike...it was a very nice one!) I am awful at packing and it was really a game of shoving stuff into a suitcase. (I can just imagine) I don't think I forgot anything. My companion's name can be spelled T I. Just say the letters after each other. I laughed a bit when you said you hoped he was exactly obedient. Elder Tiai is known as a missionary that cannot be controlled. Like every transfer, I am just trying to keep my head above water, let alone trying to lose myself in the work. I think that is the fate I have been subjected to. We are living in the home of a less-active brother named Brother W. We haven't really talked religion, but I hear he left the church and became a prominent Druid. There is a lot of tree-based art in the house. (That's nice he let's missionaries live with him.) We live in the town of Firestone, in the tiniest Ward I have seen outside of Utah. This is known as the tri-cities area east of Longmont, containing Firestone, Frederick, and Dacono. We were at Miner Days over the weekend for a service project, and there was a company that gives snow cones out for free to missionaries. (YUM!) Despite what the map says, we are much closer to Longmont than Boulder, though it is nice to see the Flatirons without actually having to live in Boulder.

   Our address is Stagecoach Ave

Firestone, Colorado 80504-3480

   We have a lot of eternal investigators in this Ward. There are several people who attend church regularly but don't want to be baptized. My main worry is that Elder Tiai's goal is to get them baptized, when we should be bringing them closer to Jesus Christ. We have a guy on date who is very not ready, but Elder Tiai wants him to go forward anyway. We also have a teenage girl whose parents won't let her get baptized. Last night Elder Tiai felt prompted to visit an old investigator, and her daughter had just been diagnosed with several brain tumors. We are going to give here a blessing tonight. Pray for Holly's family! (I most certainly will!)

Love,

Elder Andrew Campbell

Elder Campbell is heading to LONGMONT!!

Yup, Elder Campbell is leaving Boulder and heading to Longmont. He's most excited about the Café Rio there!!. HA!)

Mother and Father,

Well, I have to say that something is happening to Elder Campbell. I am transferring to the Saddleback Ward of the Longmont Stake. I will be with Elder Tiai. He is from Samoa. He has a bit of a reputation, which scares me, but his trainer has told me that he is trying to turn a new leaf. In a way, I guess that means I can have a part in helping him do that. (I hope it is all good!)

   (I read that that the new Fort Collins Temple was vandalized. That made me very sad.) I don't know much about the temple vandalism, except that I know
the stake center was being constantly vandalized when I was in Fort Collins. Colorado has enough angry people that I don't think it was members.

    There wasn't as much of a ruckus about the BYU game as last time, but I did hear that the win was off a Hail Mary with 45 seconds left. I will say that I am impressed with how BYU has been winning. Those are probably both bigger wins than they ever got last year. (They have both been HEART ATTACK games!!)

   (We have horrible fires right now and people in our stake have lost their homes.) I'm sorry to hear about Murphys and San Andreas. A lot of people
are talking about the drought in California.

    (I'm speaking to the Young Women on Wednesday about faith and I wondered if he had any examples.) I remember when Peter got his cancer diagnosis, you gave me a call and told me that faith in the gospel was the way through this trial. You said we had to choose to let this bring our family closer together, not
further apart. That is when you showed great faith to me.

    (Peter is in charge of feeding 350 in a week. He's supposed to do a salad bar. Here's Elder Campbell's suggestions.) Peter should use his budget to get $5 large pizzas from Papa Murphy's. You can feed a lot of people a lot of those.

     Oh yeah, thank you for the Flonase!

    I am excited for my fellow district leaders in Longmont. Elder Carlson and Elder Inouye are excellent missionaries. Elder Pratt says that we are going to lift the zone, but I will settle for those two to lift the zone.

    There is also a Cafe Rio in Longmont, which gets me incredibly excited. In all honesty, the work has been slow here this week, and the Flatirons Ward is  hard one. I'm excited for a transfer, honestly.

    Anywho, I will keep you in my prayers.

Love,

Elder Andrew Campbell

Turned TWENTY on the THIRD!

Mother and Father,

   I hope you enjoy your Labor Day. I have no idea what The Man from U.N.C.L.E is, but I hope you enjoy it. (That's how we are celebrating today!)

   This week Austin prayed with us, and it was very nice. He has made amazing progress in his time meeting with us.

   I really enjoyed my birthday package. (YAY! Sounds like he had a nice birthday.) I like the tie very much. Bishop Dixon got me Cafe Rio including a tres leche cake which was amazing. The Lewis family bought me a container of Cookies and Cream  ice cream from Sweet Cow here in Boulder, which is some of the best ice cream I have ever had. (YUM!)

   (Saturday was a huge football day. BYU won and Peter's Flag Football team won!) Peter did not tell me about his flag football team, but I am very happy for him. There is not much in the way of BYU fans in Boulder, but the Meyer family, who we had dinner with last night, definitely are. Brother Meyer is from South Africa and played rugby for BYU. They sat us down and told us that we absolutely had to see the play, and so, regardless of President Brown's thoughts, I saw the Hail Mary. I was apprehensive, but it wasn't worth making a scene over. I'm sad about Taysom, but I'm glad Tanner Mangum knows how to perform. (Taysom Hill is the quarterback, but he broke his foot and is out for the season. Tanner Mangum just got back from his mission and saved the game in the last second with a Hail Mary throw!)  Elder Nielson is a huge Utah fan, and he was telling me that BYU was probably going to lose, so I am happy my boys came away with a win. (So sorry, Elder Nielson!)

   I have vague memories of Melissa having a friend named Victor. I am very happy for him. This transfer I have given two baptismal interviews, one for the YSA ward and one for the Boulder Ward Spanish group. They both passed with flying colors. I will probably be giving another one for an investigator in the YSA ward this week.

   Last month our mission performed 27 baptisms, which I believe is our highest ever. We are one of the 3 missions in the North American Central area with an increasing baptism rate (there are 25ish missions in the area). To reach our goal of 33 baptisms for the month of September, we are implementing The Plan. Here it is:

THE PLAN-Increase Number of Baptisms

33 for the month of September

Member

--Member Present at every scheduled lesson (preferably in the home of members)

Finding

--Set aside 1 hour of finding each day

Planning

--Review the planning guidelines each planning session

Baptizing

--Invite all investigators to be baptized first lesson, and each lesson until date is accepted, unless the Spirit directs otherwise

Other Goals

--Review the "Remember This" section of PMG (Preach My Gospel) every morning and every night

--Update your area book nightly

   It is going to be hard, but we are trying. Thanks so much for the email. I was glad to see that everyone is doing well.

Love you,

Elder Andrew Campbell