August 11 weekly update

hey everyone! this week was good. We got to go to Soldotna for zone meeting, I learned a lot and gave a training on working with active members. the technology pooped out so I was there to save the day with my skillz We've had some good success working with the members in the ward. We had another 7 member findings this week. Our goal for august was 12 haha. We will have to set a higher goal for next month, that is for sure! Another one of my companions went home this transfer meeting. Elder Worwood was with me in the samoan ward. That was when we tracted all day every day for a few weeks. I have my first district meeting that I planned for tomorrow. I'm going to use the video "The Pump" from the family home evening DVD to talk about accountability for our choices. you should watch it, its hilarious. well I didn't take any pics this week, sorry. I'll repent and try better next week. love you all! elder pawson

August 4, 2014 Transfers, Seldovia and Service

Well we got our transfer calls. I'm staying in Homer. WIth Elder Webster. But I'm not JC anymore. They made me a dang District Leader. I'm the Eagle Point District Leader. My district is Kodiak and HOmer. That also means I'm senior companion now. I made it a year and was hoping for more as JC but I guess not. We went to Seldovia last week. Its a little town only accessible by plane or ferry. It was kind of a waste of time though. No one wanted to hear our message. We did get to see the salmon running, and I bought a seldovia shirt, but yea. Atleast it was fun. We moved someones outhouse too. Oh man, that was disgusting! IT was pretty darn full. We put down planks and tilted the outhouse so we could slide PVC pipe under it, and rolled it to the new hole. yuck haha. Had another 8 member findings this week. We are leading the stake in missionary work! Pretty awesome!! Love you all, hope you are well! Love Edler Pawson

July 28, 2014 weekly update~

Hey Everyone, this week was sweet. We got like, 5 referrals this week. Thats a lot for Alaska. We also got 12 member findings. A member finding is when a member wants to share the gospel with someone and asks us to help. We set a goal for 12 this month and reached that goal last week, and this week we got 12 more haha. One member who just moved here said her mom wants to be baptised, and so we set up an appointment for Friday. w00t We helped someone build a part of their house this week, that was cool. Put up some supports and some Logs to hold it up. I didn't take anypictures this week though, so .. sorry. haha Well I hope you are all well, miss ya ! Love Elder Pawson

look what the Young Women from GR Stake sent me! (July 21, 2014)

my camera is h igh enough megapixels that you should be able to read them all. aren't they wonderful?

Here are a couple pictures Elder Pawson sent to me

I sent a picture with some stuff in it. Your belt you sent me, the one dad sent me, the red and blue striped tie is from elder springer, or..rj i guess. And a tie i traded ELder Webster for, ask andrew and jack what it reminds them of, they better say Minecraft cuz that what it reminds me of haha.

July 21, 2014 Baptism Nall, old war ruins and forgot to text in again

This week was pretty sweet! Saturday we had a baptism. Shirley Nall was baptised. She met her husband over the internet while he was in Florida, and they got married in Vegas and he moved in with her in Seldovia. She was so prepared when he shared the gospel, and now they are planning hteir temple trip and mission haha. Pretty sweet! Last monday we went and checked out some old War ruins. I haven't gotten a straight answer on whether they are WWII or Cold War Radar stations, but they are tight. It was kind of private property so we were hididn gfrom construction trucks. It was fun haha. On the picture where I am standing on the one that slid down, I actually slipped climbing up there and slid like 50 feet down a gravel hill. Got all dirty haha. Ha. so funny story. I forgot to text in again, I don't know if I told the story about Big Lake, but yea, we text in at night to let our leaders know we are home, well I left the phone in the trucka nd went ot bed. Well President called our bishop and told him to go check on us, he couldn't get in and we wouldn't wake up, so he tried to break in. The police caught him and told him we were probably out having a good time on friday night, but he tried to explain we are missionaries and don't do that. Eventually they woke up Elder Webster, I was still knocked out. This was around midnight, it was pretty hilarious. Bishop was a little upset but he isn't mad. Well that was my week. Love yall! HOpe you are all well! Love Elder Pawson

July 14, 2014 Hand cart Douglas

hey everyone, this week was sweet. Monday we visited a member who has been struggling with kidney stones that are caused by something unkown. She asked us to give her a blessing and we were happy too, and it was way good. We shared a lesson about how CHrist has overcome the world, so we can get by trials. John 16:33. Tuesday we met President RObinson. Ho boy, he is awesome! He is so fired up and wants to do so much good here. He's a hugger too, so thats a nice change. President Beelsey wasn't much into that haha. Well kind of. We have a baptism on Saturday! That is exciting. Shirley Nall, who just married a member, is getting baptised! She is way excited and already is planning her mission and temple sealing. pretty tight like unto a dish. We helped set up a yard sale for a non member too, and he had this cart for firewood. we used it to bring stuff from the house to the shop, and you pulled it like a handcart, so finally I got to be a pioneer haha.. Love you all, hope you are well. Elder Pawson

July 13, 2014 My 10 Favourite memories of Grandpa

My mission president said it would be a good idea to list my 10 favourite memories of grandpa, and I would like to share them with you! :) Admittedly, it was hard to come up with 10 specific events, because most of the good times I had with him I remember more as feelings and happiness, but I did come up with a sweet list :) These are in no particular order! 1. I loved visiting him in Puerto Rico. It was so fun to see El Morro and to just be on vacation in Puerto Rico with you guys. It was something I always looked forward to, and even more so when you moved to Wisconsin! 2. I loved goign to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. Sleeping in the condo and spending the holiday shopping with you guys and watching thanksgiving football with grandpa was always so fun!! 3. Costa Rica. I didn't even want to go originally! I'm not sure why, i just didn't feel like I wanted to. But while we were there it was so fun! It reminded me of the vacations to Puerto Rico, all of us just hanging out having a blast. 4. Another thing I loved is how he would always try to make fun of me or somethign I was doing, but he could never keep a straight face or would start laughing. It was awesome, and I loved it! 5. One thing I remember a lot was how we would visit in Wisconsin, and we would go play Nintendo, and grandpa would always talk about how he played those games back ni the 80s. 6. I loved watching football on Sundays with him. We always cheered for the same team and it was such a blast! 7. One thing I loved about him was how badly he wanted me to get an education, but as long as I was doing something worthwhile with my life, he was happy and supported me. 8. He took me to a brewers game once! I remember having so much fun there, and thats when I became a brewers fan, but not more than the tigers! 9. I had a lot of fun going tubing and cruising on the boat with Aunt Sue when grandma and grandpa would come to visit! 10. The biggest thing I love and will miss is just how happy he was when I was around him, or when I would call him. He was such a light in the world and will be missed, but I know I will see him again! Hope you enjoy! Love you all! Elder Pawson

July 7, 2014 weekly update

Well this week was good. Interesting at least. We have been working hard to try and get the work moving here, and its slowly but surely getting going. We have an investigator who is getting baptised soon! She met an LDS guy on an online dating site, and he shared the gospel with her, and she loved it! She was really prepared. They got married a few weeks ago and He is coming up to baptise her, and he gets here this week. So I think next week is the service. Pretty awesome! We have been doing a lot of active member lessons, trying to help them to share the gospel. We show a video from hasteningthework.lds.org and talk about how we can be the toolbox to help them share the gospel. It's been going well, people are excited to share the gospel I think. 4th of July was good. We went to a barbeque and then we went and tried to visit people. It was hard though, since everyone was at the parade. In a town like HOmer, literally everyone goes to the parade. So we though, "who doesn't celebrate 4th of July?" and boom, it hit us, russians! so we went to the Russian village, but by the time we found it we had to turn around and go to dinner haha. Well that stunk but what can you do, atleast we found it now! haha. We get to drive up to Soldotna tomorrow and meet our new mission president! I'm excited! He seems really awesome and I'm excited to see what he does with the mission. Well I hope you are all well, love you all! Elder Pawson

July 7, 2014 (more cement pictures)

here's some more pictures from laying cememnt in big lake!

June 30, 2014 pouring and laying cement

we poured some cement for a member in Big lake! here are the pictures!

June 30, 2014 weekly update (learning Russian)

How is everyone! My week was good. Homer is great! Its really pretty here, and its not hot at all, which is a blessing. The ward seems pretty sweet, which is exciting too! I haven't gotten to work with Active Members in like 5 months, since we had none in our area in Big Lake. So doing new vision lessons again is exciting! The bishop is excited to work with us too! The past missionaries haven't really worked hard at all, so I'm coming in all guns blazing. Activate manager mode: now! haha. I've really been a driving force for some shake ups, and we are already seeing some blessings. Sometimes I think Elder Webster feels I'm running over him, but...well..JC or no, I'm here to work and I'm here to bring souls to the Lord! So sorry buddy! One thing the bishop said that I really liked was that the mission effort is like being a farmer. We have to be involved in all phases of the work. HE siad this right after he said he wanted us to door knock at some points. He said he hvae to be involved in all parts of the harvest, and that includes planting seeds, watering newly grown ones, and harvesting ripe ones. I really liked that! There are russian villages down here, so I've started learning russian, and get to order russian name tags! I'm getting a nice collection of language tags. All I need are tongan, tagalog, and hmong and I'll have the full set! Well hope youa re all well, love yall!! Elder Pawson

June 23, 2014 weekly update: transferred to Homer

Transfer Week! I got transferred!! I'll be serving in Homer, AK. I'm pretty excited. It's right on the tip of the Kenai peninsula. Right on the ocean. Lots of Halibad fishing too! Should be a good time. I'll be serving with Elder Webster. He's pretty cool. My last day at the bird center was saturday, how sad! I wasn't able to get Rhett on my hand, he was sassy, but we had to move the Great Horned Owls, and I took the female, Skuya, and moved her. Wow what a big bird! She weighs almost 4 pounds. She gave me no problems though, which surprised the other handlers. They say I am a natural and they are really sad I am leaving. I wish there was one in Homer! Hope you are all well! miss you all a ton!! love elder pawson

June 9, 2014 zone conference picture

here is the pic from zone conference. look how tired i am ahaha

June 9, 2014 40 day fast

Wow. what a week. I told you last week I was going to be in a choir at a funeral, what an experience! Sister Samantha Lierly died on her mission in the Washington Vancouver mission. Her funeral was at the stake center and there was a lot of people there! There were also a lot of missionaries there, too. They came from all over.. Anchorage, Soldotna, Chugiak, and of course, Wasilla. It was such a spiritual experience. So back up a few weeks. Elder Bratt showed me this talk called, "40 Day Fast." It talks about a missionary who fasted and prayed to know what he could do better, then made a list of the things he was doing that was keeping him from feeling the spirit. Then you fast from those things for 40 days. By the end, you are out of the habit of doing them. Well I started almost 40 days ago now, actually, and wow, I have noticed a difference. Well I could definitaly tell in this funeral. Every little thing nearly brought me to tears. it was pretty intense. We helped a member clear some land the other day, thats what the pictures are from. Sister Hewitt is the sister in the pictures, and Elder Hamilton is in them too. Yesterday we had a cool experience with a returning less active. We went for a walk with her and her dog, and after the walk she took us to her neighbors and introduced us. We were totally rejected but it was still cool to see her try! Well I hope all is well! Love you all! Elder Pawson

June 2, 2014 weekly update, what happens when you don't text in and missionary choir at a funeral

well this week was pretty boring. kind of. Every night we are supposed to text our district leader that we are in, and they text the zone leaders when their district is in, who text the aps when the zone is in, and they tell president that everyone is home and safe. Well one night I left the phone in the car,and forgot. I was trained b y Elder Springer, who was a district leader, so I never really got in the habit of texting in, so I forget a lot. But Elder Kratz is my DL and he apparently cares alot, cause he called 5 times, and then the zone leaders called a few times, and at about 1030 decided that they needed to come check on us. So they drove like 40 minutes to get to our cabin to see if we were fine, which of course we ewere. It was pretty funny though. A sister Missionary who was serving in washington, but who lives in the Willow ward, died last week. She had a root canal done in January, and it gave her problems for months. Sometimes her jaw would lock up, so last week she went in to have it extracted. The surgery went well and she was getting ready to be discharged. She was talking on the phone with her companion and said, "I'm not feeling well," then the phone dropped to the ground and she was gone. It sounds like something out of a movie huh. Well today is the funeral, and that is why we are emailing a little early. The funeral is at 1 and Presient Metcalf, the stake president has asked for a missionary choir. So we are getting there at 11 to practice before the funeral. It's pretty sad. Yesterday we did a district tract for the sisters in the Settler's Bay ward. It was raining pretty hard but it was still fun. I got pretty soaked but it was all good. Found a few potential investigators for them. We had an investigator named Jenny Jensen. Her neighbor had cursed us out one time we were over there because of our driving. I would like to point out that by this point I had lost my driving priveleges for over a month, and Elder Stovall was driving then, and he drives like a grandma, so we aren't sujre what he is talking about. But Jennys husband was really mean to us too so we stopped going over there. But last night, Jennys dad called. He is a member int he memory lake ward. He said that jenny missed us coming over. Her husband didn't care for us, but jenny liked us so we are going to go over there and restablish contact again! Its good because we are running out of people to teach! Every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we come to the library and feed lunches to little kids. Well, any kid under 18 really. but its really cool, we have been doing a lot of community service and the people notice. A lot of people recognise us either from the bird center or the library or the food pantry. Now we just need to get them to let us teach them! But one lady, Kamisha, recognised us while we were tracting and asked us to come back! Pretty awesome. Well I typed alot to make up for the lack of pics again. Forgot to take some. But i will try this week.. Hope you are all well, love ya Elder Pawson