October 3, 2011 Final Email!

Dearest Familia and Friends,

This last week has been amazing! We had some great lessons in Wyoming throughout the week and of course ended by going to General Conference! What a spiritual feast! I am down in Salt Lake for good now. I'm in the mission home till I leave on Wednesday. I'm with Elder Green and Elder Byrd till then. It's crazy different in the shoes of an Assistant. It's fun for the last few days; I don't have to worry about trying to stay busy for sure. They have a ton on their plate all the time.

Yesterday after conference I got dropped off at the mission office to be with the AP's and I told the other four Elders how to get back to the mission home and off to Wyoming a couple of times and thought they were set. I told them to drive into Evanston and call the Zone Leaders and meet up with them. Somehow they ended up deciding to go to Kemmerer and then didn't call in or anything. It was funny on my end b/c we ended up calling a Bishop in Kemmerer at about a quarter to 11:00 at night to go check on them to see if they were there. So he went and said that the truck was there and asked if we wanted him to wake them up. We all said yes and the bishop was a great sport about it. He said "Elder! Elders! Your Mission President wants to talk to you." haha of course they were asleep and they get on the phone and said "oh, we forgot to call in." It was a good one. But you see what happens, I leave for four hours and everything goes to chaos! jk lol. But seriously.

Also last night, I got the opportunity to be with Elder Green for a couple of hours working on getting a couple of lessons with a member while Elder Byrd went with a member to get it done too so they could get the Standard of Excellence. Divide and conquer. It worked out awesome. After visiting a referral and having no one there I mentioned that we should say a quick prayer asking Heavenly Father where we should go right then. As I finished the prayer we walked down the street as a couple turned the corner. As we got closer Elder Green told me he knew them, that they were less active and were working on coming back to church. We had a good chat with them and they said it was weird that we can never get ahold of the referral across the street b/c they are almost always home. As we were leaving Elder Green told me that every time they've gone to check that referral, they've prayed to know where they should be, and every time they run into the couple we talked to. So they need to talk with that couple for some reason.

At 8:00 we had a baptism for a Spanish brother they were teaching. It went great and I was able to speak a good bit of Spanish last night. It was amazing. Nuff said.

Now I've been running around with them all day doing more fun AP duties and it's only going to get better tonight working on transfer info.

The Lord prepares us throughout our lives to accomplish what is needed. We simply need to be prepared in our minds and hearts to accept whatever He calls us to do. Like a clock, each gear of different size has been designed for a specific purpose. We too are used in the hands of the Lord to perform different tasks to accomplish His same great work! We can't all be big gears and we can't all be little gears, but it takes gears of all sizes to get it done.

Similarly with a football team. Not all of us will be prepared and called to be the "Receivers" and "Quarterbacks" on the Lord's team; some of us will be linemen or kickers who aren't in the lime light. But without these roles filled, the game couldn't be won.

Like President Monson shared with us in Conference, if we think our part is small in the Gospel plan, we must remember that these purposes are important to God.

God Lives and loves us. We can gain an appreciation for that personal love through prayer, thus gaining a relationship with a loving Heavenly Father. He will guide our lives as we have the faith to act by trusting in His judgement and follow the promptings we receive. It will make a great difference in the way we view ourselves, God, and the world.

Love,
Elder Partridge

ps-see you soon!!!

September 26, 2011 Email

Hi!

Get ready for the list of answers. We were reading one day in the Missionary Handbook of rules, regulations, and instructions and it talked about having an interview with your Mission President before your temple recommend expires. Then I remembered my recommend expired on the last day of August and it was then the third of September. So I called (or as they say in Canada I phoned) President Winn and asked what the procedure should be. He said he is just going to issue me a new recommend when we have my departing interview which will be some time before Trunky Temple Tuesday.

We have tickets for conference waiting for us with one of the members of the stake presidency. We don't know which sessions, but they hooked us up, so we should be pretty set. I haven't gotten the tickets from the church yet, but I should be getting them. I hope.

One of the families here (the J Family) said that they'd love to meet you and go out to lunch between sessions on Saturday and visit. So if you're ok with that, that'd be fun. But if you could bring something for Sunday, that would be much appreciated. Thanks a ton.

I was thinking it would be fun to go to the BYU game in my Missionary clothes and you could bring my BYU tie. Maybe they'd even let me say the opening prayer. haha. IDK whatever you want to bring for me would be grand!

The camera charger definitely did work! I'm getting pics for you.

Good job, Lauren, on everything. I did remember that yesterday was my 3 year anniversary of surgery. Which was interesting because there was a kid who we talked to who had a couple of strokes and is going through similar things I had to and he has a very similar attitude when people tell him how amazing it is when they see tiny things that are different; not depressed, just frustrated. But I shared with their family how it went for me and by trusting Heavenly Father I got through it. It helped him to have more hope and hopefully helped him realize where he needs to turn to recover.

Love everyone tons! Got to go b 4 I get kicked off! Talk to ya next week for the last time!

Love Elder Partridge

**Look for Elder Partridge at General Conference by the reflection pool to the east of the Temple. :)

September 19, 2011 Email

Hi,

It is way beautiful up here right now! The leaves are starting to turn colors and the weather is pretty perfect; just a little on the chilly side. That's the only thing I'm anxious about...will I be done before the frost hits. Here's hoping!

I am going by the M Family's tonight to get the camera charger and I'll charge it tonight. I hope it works. I realized how disappointed you'd be in me, mom, for not taking pictures. I will take tons just for you, and try not to look like a tourist at the same time. Wish me luck.

We had a lesson with the V Family on Tuesday and I wasn't there for it because of the leadership meeting in Salt Lake. Elder R is still working on how to explain things so I think what happened was that they want the girls' mom and that side of the family involved with the baptism. So we're gonna set the program and everything up tomorrow. Still no specific date for them to be baptized, but hopefully we can pinpoint a day when we meet with them tomorrow. It was kinda cool though because Elder R was with Elder G all day that day and they were companions in the MTC. So there were 2 greenies taking care of things. It made me think back to my MTC days, what if I served with Elder G...we'd either have too much fun or get everything done. Probably the second, but we'd have a blast doing it all anyway.

We have a lesson with the K Family tomorrow because I neglected to set up a time last week when we talked to them. But they said they wanted us to help them get baptized fast, so we'll get it done.

We met with Sis. L on Friday (the person Bro. C referred us to) and it went really well. We spent a lot of time talking about how she has felt comfort in her life from the teachings of Jesus Christ at different times in her life. And Bro. C shared some from his life, too. It was a pretty great lesson and she is very open.

Ya, when was my surgery? the 23rd or...? I can't even remember. *(It's been 3 years on the 25th! Hard to believe!)

I don't even know what would be best for housing and all that. Helaman would be nice I guess IDK? I'd like to room with one of the boys or something, but that would be hard to drive from Puerto Rico or Peru every day to school. But if I could drive...haha jk.

Ya, Sister Hunt gave me a nice big handshake from you! We have a great office staff.

I'm not planning on burning a suit, but IDK. By the way, my black suit is pretty tattered and worn. We'll figure that kinda stuff out later.

Dang it! I would have gone with Dad to the BYU game, even though they did get slapped around. 3 weeks.

So we'll get back about a day or two after the Riggs' do. That'll be fun.

Ahhh...Homecoming! So cute! I do remember L's date. I'm pretty sure he came over to E's one time when we were chillin.

I'll be praying for L. Sounds like she's got a lot on her plate. I remember when I was going to be the show and tell that one time, but than I went on a mission. Cool!

We are seeing many miracles from the Lord right now, we just need to continue to show our faith and love for those who are seeking for truth and we will be blessed! I love you all and will see you soon. Too soon!

Love
Elder Partridge.

**Elder Partridge's release date is October 6. He will be home late on the 9th and his homecoming talk will be October 16. :)

September 12, 2011 Email

Como Estas caballeros?

I have been having a great morning; a little golf practice, a trip through the mountains on private ranch land, and now e-mail-what more could a guy ask for?

So Megan, Taylor, and Dennis are doing great! Megan-8, and Taylor-12, were at church these last 2 weeks and all 3 are praying to know if these things are true. We have a lesson with them tomorrow and we will see where they are at. But it stinks because I won't even be there, I'll be in Salt Lake for meetings. Dang it!

We had a couple of amazing miracles yesterday. Elder R and I spoke in the second ward and when we were done we talked with the Bishop who was excited how dedicated we seemed and what hard workers we were. Then he took us into the congregation and introduced us to the K family. They have a son and daughter that are baptismal age and are wanting to be baptized. They were meeting with missionaries before, but the missionaries dogged them on an appointment, so they didn't want to do it any more. But now they are willing and anxious to meet and get them baptized.

Later last night we were winding down getting ready for bed when we got a phone call from Bro. C (The brother of Bro. C who took us around his ranch today). He told us about someone he knows who would like to talk with us and we have an appointment with them on Friday at 7:00.

The Lord is truly blessing us. He will continue to do so as we continue along the path of discipleship, working towards becoming like Him. It's a long road with lots of stumbling blocks, but there are so many blessings waiting for us along the way.

Thank you for all your love and prayers.

Love,
Elder Partridge

September 6, 2011 Email

Hey hey hey,

Happy post-Labor Day! I'm glad the Cabin misses me because I miss the cabin! That's the birth place of amazing pepper jack grilled cheese with Pastrami! And tons of other great memories!

I remember I was pretty quiet as a greenie, but I always tried everything I was supposed to; even if I did fail epically at first or was nervous as heck to do it! I did it!

I think some restaurants might buy your salsa! I'm so happy it got here and I'm enjoying it! Elder R doesn't like salsa or sauces at all, of any kind so I'm ok with that; more for me! I think that if you sold it, you'd have some pretty famous salsa! I think I'm a bigger fan of the green just because of how different it is from any other Salsa Verde. And I like the red when it's totally ground up, but not everyone else does!

I did know it was Sis. M's birthday on Sunday! You'd be so proud of me, I was thinking of what we could do for her because of everything she does for us and I couldn't figure out what to do especially since by the time I realized it was her birthday, it was Sunday. So I wondered what we could do that she would appreciate. I remembered a yard project she has going on in her back yard with river rock and yesterday we went to the side of the road somewhere and loaded a whole truck load of river rock and brought it to her to get a little more done! She appreciated it!

I will 100% be at General Conference. I will be getting tickets from the church and hopefully I'll have the opportunity to sit next to you during a session or two. That's the plan at least. I should get the tickets right up front, but we'll see. And hopefully I get them to every session, but we'll see.

I don't know if you know about the Tuesday Temple session that we're going to, but I want you to be there. That will be cool! I have to let the mission office know. Thanks!

I hope L has a great time with Homecoming! I know I had a great senior year Homecoming...kinda! ha (This was when he had just had his brain surgery and his date, Ashlyn, and friends Stanton and Clint, came to rehab and they brought a fancy dinner before the dance. Unfortunately, due to complications, he wasn't able to go to the actual dance, but he was sure grateful for good friends who made sure he didn't miss out completely on the excitement!) (Did I really not blog about this?! Note to self...do it!)

Congrats to Jackson and Talia again! Wow! Crazy how much can happen in two short years! Loco!

So we went to the Rendezvous this week along with thousands of other people! There were some interesting people there. It was pretty legit! I only heard of one person in a loin cloth though, and thank goodness I didn't see it! I was excited to go for the home made root beer and funnel cake! It was delicious! We were able to help with the Rendezvous sacrament fast and testimony meeting. Around 1,200 people spread out on blankets and lawn chairs with tee pees all around. We helped pass the sacrament. There were about 12 people passing and about 12 that broke bread and than joined in passing! It was freezing that morning though! I was being a big baby! But it was a cold one! I saw Arian there, too! I was so excited. It's been forever it seems like since she moved from here to Stansbury!

We taught Megan, Taylor, and Dennis last week and invited them to be baptized and they are all praying and looking for the feelings of the Holy Ghost! After the lesson we went outside and they roped the fire hydrant. They're awesome!

We had NMT (New Missionary Training) last Tuesday and it was pretty weird to look back at when I was the greenie and now I'm about to finish. Very weird!

Elder R is getting better at talking more, but still has work to do. Then again, so do I. I feel like a jerk some times letting him learn things on his own, but it's the only way he'll learn how to do things himself!

Anywho, that's a little bit about what happened this week. If you have any questions give me an e-mail!

I have to go do work! But I will talk to you next week! Hey it's not even going to be a full week, just 6 more days!

Love you a lot lot lot!

Love,
Elder Partridge

It Made This Mama's Heart Smile

Doesn't it just make your heart smile when you hear good news about your children? That happened last night as I received a little note on Facebook from Sister Winn.

"Just spent the day yesterday with your son at New Missionary Training. He is devoted to his new missionary, doing a fabulous job, a spiritual giant, and absolutely adorable. Of course, being his mission mom, I am very biased. But I think you will agree! I sure do love that boy!"

Thank you, Mama Winn!

August 29, 2011 Email

Hey guys!

I just had a surprise baby! My new comp is Elder Rasmussen-right out of the MTC and into the best area in the world! He doesn't talk much at all, but we're breaking him of that. He's starting to warm up to me especially; which is pretty key since we are going to be together all day every day! He's "most recently from Texas" but has lived in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Utah before that. And he loves the cold so he'll love Wyoming in a few months! I won't!

I think I'm even more immature now as a 21 year old! IDK We'll see how it goes! I made about 5 different balloon animals the other night! I'll have to get pics to you. I can't find my camera charger and it's officially dead so they'll be from Elder Rasmussen's camera. Mama Madsen already got pics printed out and I'm sending them in today along with my essay stuff, since I didn't get that off last week.

It was a fun party! Pretty much the best birthday ever! We played flour baseball and I never hit the ball! Stupid double vision and depth perception! But I did just chuck them at people. (They're nylon stockings with flour in them.) So theoretically you hit them and they poof with flour. Awesome. And we soaked the girls with water when they got there from volleyball practice, and Elder Hancock and I did the cinnamon challenge (aka the "dragon breath" challenge). I'll tell you about that later though. Thanks for telling me about the "happy birthday's" on Facebook. I'm so grateful people love me!

The work is going well! Everyone in the area is just super busy though, plus school is just starting. So besides never getting ahold of everyone we are good! OK, so we have gotten ahold of some people, I'm just exaggerating a bit; but it's been a tough couple days. Lots of walking because it's the end of the month. aka no more miles. We officially ran out yesterday.

Elder Rasmussen gave a talk in church yesterday. I popped that one on him Saturday night. Bishop Brady asked last week if one of us would speak. So since he's new I let him do it. I get to speak in that ward in 2 weeks though so I'm excited I get an opportunity, too.

Cool! I'm in BYU! Can we try to work on any scholarships still or what's the process for that? Btw, I decided that I'm going to go to BYU in Provo. Hawaii would be a dream, but I think I'll have more opportunity and possibilities in Provo. We'll just have to make a trip to Hawaii instead some time!

Fun stuff with my friends going back to school and everything! It'll be exciting being thrown back into the real world! Trying not to think about it, but everyone keeps reminding me, so I'll just have to deal with it I guess! haha

I'm counting down the days for the salsa! 2 left!

That's awesome about David Gephart! I want to go to Mexico! Elder Hancock is going to take me when he gets done with the mish, but till then, maybe Bishop "cowboy" Riggs will take me down! That'd be fun!

There are so many people who are ready to receive the gospel, we just need to catch them at home! haha Sabre is one of those who is totally ready. Her mom is getting active again. She is moving in with her mom and we are trying to get ahold of them so we can set a day for baptism. Another one in the same situation is Hadley. We are just figuring out a time to go teach her, her mom, and her grandma so that they can be more active at living the gospel and so Hadley can be baptized.

There was a talk yesterday about how committed we are to the gospel. It's such a true principle; the more committed we are and the better we follow through the easier and less painful it is.

I love you guys a ton! Have a good one! Billions of hugs and kisses!

Love Elder Partridge

Elder Partridge's 21st Birthday Celebration

1~"Blowing" out birthday candles. With Wyoming wind, it's not easily done.. :) (Note: we didn't actually light the candles)
2~Airplaning down the waterslide into home base while playing flour baseball
3~Throwing a flour ball, we all got into a flour fight :)
4~Cinnamon challenge: Eat a spoonful of cinnamon as fast as you can. NOT RECOMMENDED!!!
5~Attempting to get the cinnamon out of their mouths, noses, throat, lungs, etc....
6~Opening birthday presents

Thank you, Madsen Family, for making it such a great birthday for him!!!

Saying Good Bye

This is a picture of Elder Hancock, Ryan, and Elder Partridge when they went to tell Ryan good bye. Transfers can be so hard!

*Thanks for the pic, Ryan!

August 22, 2011 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELDER PARTRIDGE!!!!!

Hey! Happy birthday to me! Thanks for the packages! I've opened one of them and am wearing the birthday pin! I'm opening the other one in a little while with the Madsen Fam! I will enjoy everything in the packages! I know everything is sent with love cuz I have the best family in the world! I thought the duck tape wrapping job by K was a fantastic ingenious idea! I haven't opened that one yet! We went to Taco Time for breakfast and we were playing with the ball catch stuff and the flarp. teehee and thanks for sending my cowboy boots out. I wasn't expecting those for sure. SALSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so stoked! So pretty much, we're spending the day with the Madsen family because they're pretty much the best ever! I know we are going to play baseball, and I don't know what else. Elder Hancock asked me if I felt any older this morning, too. I just looked at him as I was filling up a water balloon and chuckled. I don't feel any more mature for sure, and I still don't act like I'm 21; unless I'm in public, but getting old is no fun. So ya.

*I don't know about transfers yet. I guarantee I'm staying and Elder Hancock will be too if you've been praying for it! haha One of the kids here fasted for him to stay! Everyone is praying for us to stay here! but we'll see tomorrow morning.

I'm so excited for Dayne! He's a stellar missionary!

This past week was awesome! Benny, Dezy, and Kendall all got baptized on Tuesday and confirmed yesterday. When we were setting up the program we asked them who they wanted to baptize and confirm them and Kendall and Dezy both said they wanted Elder Hancock to baptize them and Benny said he wanted me to baptize him and they wanted to just switch it for the confirmation. So we said, "What if one of us baptizes all of you and than the other one confirms all of you? Would you guys like that?" "No!" So we did it just the way they wanted. We taught them throughout the week and every time they took us out and hog tied us, and we did bunny hops on their bikes. or in my case I just tried to ride the bike without falling over. haha and Benny was holding onto the back seat while I peddled like a parent does to there kid when they're first learning to ride.

We played the best prank on the Madsen family! This has been in the works for a month. We told them transfers were this last Wednesday, and we timed exchanges with the Kemmerer Elders so that Elder Wimber, who they've never met, went with me that night and we told them Elder Hancock got transferred. We played it up for half an hour and it was going great. then as we were about to go out the door, Elder Hancock knocked on the door and everyone slugged him and I just laughed! It was perfect!

Love you tons and will "talk to you next week!


*Found out that Elder Hancock is getting transferred. Sad days in Wyoming!

August 15, 2011 Email

Elders Stone and Partridge~Companions for a day, cousins forever!

Gooday,

It was a blessed Saturday having the opportunity to have Elder Stone out with us so I could watch and learn. We did some great service in the morning time and were able to teach Benny, Dezy, and Kendall about tithing. They are so ready to be baptized on Tuesday! We were going over the word of wisdom again and we asked, "so what are those things that we stay away from?" and Kendall yells, "Satan!" That's right! Then Dezy and Benny roped me and hog tied me with my rope after the lesson! It was some good fun! But I got em back; watch out Fiesta days rodeo- I'm getting pretty good at this ropin stuff! The other night Elder Hancock and I contacted a guy who does rodeoing with his fam and we team roped with them on their dummy, and Bro. Straton and I beat Kale and Elder Hancock. "City boy beats cowboy!!!"

Haha L showed up fashionably late for Sacrament Meeting to speak after Holden's homecoming! That's good! We did that in Tooele one time because we had a confirmation at the same time as one of the wards we were speaking at. Good job L...(if you made it to speak...)

Speaking of Tooele, one of the girls that was baptized not too long ago-Arian-is moving to Stansbury by Tooele to live with her dad so today we went with their family to Hoop Lake and went fishing...We did! And guess who caught a fish...Not me! I still haven't caught a fish in my whole lifetime! I can't believe I got my fishing merit badge! Pretty sure it's because all my leaders felt sorry for me cuz I can't even catch a fish! But Elder Hancock caught a nice little rainbow trout!

Love you tons and will talk to you later!

Love Elder Partridge!

**Photo compliments of the Stone Family

August 8, 2011 Email

Hola Mihijos!

Mom, I am very impressed you have done so well at not stalking me on my mission! You still have 2 months of no stalking, don't ruin your streak!

Here in Wyoming we have our own apartment and it's pretty nice. No dryer, but that's the only downfall I think. It's 2 stories tall, full kitchen, it's good!

We did exchanges with the Elders in Kemmerer this last Tuesday and we left on Monday night at 9:00 pm to go there. So Elder Hancock and I are driving and this car comes over the ridge, turns it's brights on and as it gets closer starts flashing it's lights at us. It was annoying since we didn't have our brights on, so when they got really close we flashed them on so they could clearly see that we didn't have our brights on. As we came up over the hill I told Elder Hancock to turn the brights on so we could spot antelope, because there are tons of antelope on the way to Kemmerer. As soon as he flipped the brights on we saw a dead antelope in the middle of the road and we both screamed. I guess you just had to be there. We took pictures!

The other night we were planning and it was getting towards being bed time and I was tired and there was a stupid horse fly buzzing around in our room. So I finally snapped and got a towel to kill it. It flew up in the light and I figured it was pretty trapped so I got a lint roller and put it up inside the light fixture and pinned it to the light, and than the screw broke and the light fell and shattered all over the desks and flew across the room. What a great day!

The best was on Wednesday though. We were way over on miles compared to where we should be because of the drive to Kemmerer and back twice, so we decided to walk. We clearly underestimated walking time. We planned it great so we would walk the shortest route and we'd stop by people we needed to on the way. But because it took so long to walk around we didn't even get the chance to visit anyone. I wish I could draw you a map, but if you could imagine a big circle about 6 miles in diameter, we walked around that whole thing! Live and learn! The funnest part was as soon as we got into the town of Lyman, it started raining on us. And as we kept going through town, it rained harder. Pretty soon it was like back home and Elder Hancock and I were loving it. It was the second time on my mission where it was so bad that it would have been the same effect if we'd jumped in the lake and got out soaked. Then the rain moved on and it was really cold. We didn't say much to each other after that, just a lot of Ahhhhhhhhh it's cold!!! That's another fun thing, we could yell like that because there was nothing around us but hay fields. But the crowning events came when dinner called us and cancelled as we got to the edge of their house, and then as we walked back there was a slight wind change and the big fat storm that hit us horseshoed around and hit us a second time! haha

We have done some great service this week, too. Some good manual labor and a lot of service by bringing people some comfort when they were struggling. We also helped a lady move this morning.

It was hard for us because everyone was in Evanston for stupid fair! But there was an amazing testimony builder for me that happened one night when we added a guy named Monny. He's a rancher over in Robertson and as we got to know him a bit and share our conversion stories with him he had similar experiences with both of us. Of course with Elder Hancock being a rancher, but he also had some problems with paralysis since he was young and he's doing great now and knows a little of what I went through with brain surgery. So that was the beginning realization for me that Our Heavenly Father has us in certain places for specific reasons at times. And then it got more specific. As we were talking, Elder Hancock shared an experience he had. When he was out here in the mission field for about 3 weeks last transfer, he got the feeling that they should go to Robertson. His last comp thought it was a stupid idea, that there's nothing in Robertson, it's been tracted out a bazillion times, and told him they weren't going. But Elder Hancock was driving, so they went. They walked around and only talked to one cowboy while they were there. They talked to him briefly and bore their testimonies and went along their way. The other Elder told him that was a bad decision and that he should think things through better next time. We just found out through talking to Monny that the cowboy they talked to was his dad, and that extended family had been trying to bring them the gospel for forever, and that Monny's dad was really pleased with how strong *they were in the gospel. *I assume the 2 Elders.

The Lord can use us to be an instrument in His hands even though we make so many mistakes. We just need to trust Him and look past our mistakes, because He does.

Love y'all!
Stay Classy

Elder Partridge

Thank you, Sister Winn!

August 1, 2011 Email

Hello!

Arian's baptism went fantastic!!! The lights over the baptismal font went out, but that was about it! She was so excited for it. When I first got here she'd already changed a lot and as we've taught her she shines more and more every time. Their family is amazing! It's fun; it's all jumbled up with different relationships of cousin, dad, uncle, step-mom, etc. and they all just call each other bro and sis and mom and dad. They are such a tight family! There was one lesson in particular that was a big factor in her decision to be baptized. We'd asked her to pray about it and seek Heavenly Father's will, and she prayed about it and didn't really recognize an answer. But she told us one day and she got way freaked out, so she said a prayer and felt so much better afterward. We just sat there and let her feel the spirit. She was worried what her dad would think of her getting baptized. So we gave her a blessing and it was one of the most powerful blessings I've felt. It was straight from God, and after it was given we sat there in more silence (there was a lot of silence) and eventually we just asked her what she felt God wanted her to do. She knew to baptzed, not because we said to, but because she felt she needed to. And she has been happier and happier ever since.

I was able to talk to Dayne (with permission from Pres. Winn). He's coming out with us to serve on August 13. Sweet!!!!!

We just went golfing in a brother's shed and played volleyball in the rain! We are going to be going to golf for morning exercise every day and get some free golf lessons from an older guy who's been golfing since high school. Just today he helped us a ton! I've got the body rotation down now in about 30 min of practicing. Watch out!!!

And ya Ryan did tell me about buying the boots for my birthday! (He does everything for us, he's way too nice). I don't know if I'll do it because I'm not really gonna use them when I get back home, so probably not. Thanks for the advice though.

I love you! Take care!

Love,
Elder Partridge!

*Dayne is his cousin in UT who will be leaving to serve his mission in Honduras the end of August, so Pres. Winn has given permission for them to serve together for a day so they can spend that time together and it won't be 4 years without seeing each other!

**I found out from his companions blog that they have received 32 referrals and are teaching 11 new people since they did the hide race for the 24th of July celebration! Wow!

Hide Race Photos

Yes, this is Elder Partridge, on a hide, being pulled behind a horse!

I hope his mouth is closed!

Hang on!

Elder Partridge rolls off and Elder Hancock jumps on!

They got under 10 seconds and took 2nd place!

Can you believe how happy...and dirty they look?!

July 25, 2011 Email

Hola bonitas!

Haha, we decided we'd try a new finding activity; hide racing! We knew we couldn't be on horses, but it said nothing about being drug behind them. It reminded me of going tubing at the lake, only you're on dirt/poop instead of water, you're being drug by a horse not a boat, and you don't eat it quite as bad surprisingly! Shout out to my boy Ryan Niederer for getting us in, and Coach Kennedy for pulling us. She didn't go easy on us, but she could have pushed us harder. It was a fantastic boost for the work! We are hearing about non-members talking to their friends about it and they are willing to listen to us, and we now have full trust of all the members here! Fantastic!

This is Elder Hancock's second transfer, but he's already doing better now than where I am after 2 years of missionary work! I am definitely giving the posterity flag to him. And the cactus! He is an amazing Elder. Must be something to do with the AZ heat or something! We're serving in the Lyman Stake aka "the Bridger Valley". We cover Lyman, Mountain View, Urie, Fort Bridger, Lone Tree, Roberts, etc.

I just had a time line realization and wrote some essays this morning. (For his college applications) I've been kinda prolonging doing it for a while so I could only keep studying Preach My Gospel and the scriptures, but I need to git er dun!

I'm good for memory on my camera! No worries there. We don't usually make it to Wally World because we like to stay in Lyman on p-day. Oh snap! and for my b day I would die for some homemade salsa and salsa verde that you make...the smooth stuff! I don't know if you could do that, but it would be sweet. And I don't know if this is too much to ask, but if at all possible, could you send me my boots out so I can wear them on p-day? If not, no worries, but that would be great!

Jeez Lewise! That's good timing with the pic of the girls in the rain! I miss it!

We get our mail forwarded out to us every week.

We have a baptism tomorrow for Arian. I haven't talked much about her, if at all, but she's an amazing girl, I'll tell you all about it next week. Pinky promise.

Love you tons! Will "talk" to you next week.

Love Elder Partridge

Baptism Pictures

This was at Sammy Hood's baptism on Monday.

July 18, 2011 Email

Howdy Bukeroo,

"My name's not Bukeroo." "Sure it is partner." I'll give you a hint. I'm on the "Home home on the range. Where the deer and the antelope play..." It starts with a W and ends with a yoming. Ya, you guessed it. And I'm with the hardest working companion in the mission. His name is Elder Hancock and he is from a ranch in AZ on the border of Mexico. Between Nogales and Douglas. Steller. We just had a baptism today of a girl named Sammy Hood! She is completely solid. She's one of the most fun, outgoing, firm converts I've seen. It seemed like she was already a member when I first met her. We are getting so much accomplished. Actually, she just showed up with her fellowshipper, Jordan Madsen, so I'll let them introduce themselves.

hello mama partridge :)
my name is jordan madsen and i just met your son yesterday and he is really cool haha i've only got to see him for 2 days but i already like him. i probably seem really creepy but thats ok haha me and my best friend who just got baptised today just saw the missionary truck at the library and wanted to stop and say hi and they wanted us to write letters to their moms (you) so here it is. I am 17 years old and love volleyball basketball and track. I have recently become a cowgirl and love to do cowgirl stuff. riding horses and things of that nature haha i would tell you a story but i havent known elder partridge that long so we dont have stories... yet haha so i will say ta ta for now :)
astalavista :)
Jordan Madsen :):):)

Hey Momma Partridge:):):)
This is Sammy, one of the girls your son has just recently started teaching. I just got baptized today and I'm so greatful that he got to be there:) Your son got to meet me in a interesting way. Well Elder Hancock, the missionary that has been teaching me from day one, decides to surprise me with meeting your son. One fabulous morning I was walking back from the barn after feeding my steers(male cows without their pride and joy) and i was in my boxers and a tee-shirt and was pretty embarrased about the whole ordeal but it was ok...... thought that i should drop in with a little hello and tell u, u have a an amazing son:):) so glad i have been able to meet him
Have a beautiful day
Love Sammy :):):)


PS! I love you family. Thought since you are always wondering who I'm teaching it would be better if they just introduce themselves! Love you!
Love Elder Partridge

July 11, 2011 Email

Buenos tardes,

We worked our tails off this week. Literally, there they go. Oh well; you know how it goes. It seems that it will be worth it. We went to the movies on the fourth of July. Como? Ya! We saw "17 Miracles" by TC Christensen (the same guy who did Forever Strong-Kia haha- and the Joseph Smith Movie, etc). What an amazing film! Full of miracles. And another cool thing is that "Albert" is in one of the wards I'm covering. It was so cool to see him and look at Elder Green and we both were like, "I know him!" He's such a great part in the movie, too. It was such a big deal too because TC Christensen came and talked to us after the film. Big deal! It reminded me of when Mark Mabry did the fireside and talked about different miracles behind the pictures; likewise, he shared some of the symbolism and miracles they saw shooting the film.

On the drive home we got off the freeway on Bangerter at a spot where you can see the whole valley, and there were fireworks everywhere shooting up! It was insane! Then while driving through the neighborhoods, there were fireworks lining both sides of the street exploding over our heads! It felt more like a war zone than anything else! Crazy cool!

It's official! I'm getting transferred to another area! I'm going to be a DL again! I'm so stoked to be hands on with the missionaries I'll be looking over! President just barely gave me the call and told me that it's a great area I'm getting called to! I am stoked!

Anywho, the Spanish Elders in our stake just baptized a lady named Rosio that we found a couple weeks ago. Well, more like she found herself and we were able to point her in the right direction. She came to church by herself for the first time 4 weeks ago, and no one knew about it. We were at another ward and we didn't hear anything from members. Then she came again the next week and one of our ward mission leaders got ahold of her and got her information and gave it to us. So we went by that evening and talked to her and put her on date! She said, "I want to make this covenant with God!" I don't know how much more solid and prepared someone can be! She smoked, but as soon as we mentioned that she will have to quit in order to be baptized she quit. It is incredible to see how determined this hermana (sister) is to following our Lord and Savior in everything she does.

We had an amazing miracle this morning! Kinda silly, but we were definitely blessed. We were out of gas last night. Straight up out of gas, and we didn't know it till this morning when we went around the corner to fill up. We put 16.447 gallons into our tank; and I'm pretty sure it's oly a 15 gallon tank. So we weren't just empty, we were running dry.

Well this is where I leave you because duty calls; we are going to get a couple married! Felicidades!

Con amor,
Elder Partridge!

July 4, 2011 Email

From the crossroads of the west,

"This is the 91st weekly general letter to the people who want to hear about what's going on in Salt Lake with me."

Gooooood morning Zion; this is your host, Zion Elder Partridge coming to you live from the Granger East Stake in West Valley City, UT. Looks like things were a little wet this past weekend with baptisms. We had the baptism of Teresa Avila. She just barely turned 9 and their family just moved into the stake a couple weeks ago and became active. She was baptized at the stake baptism by her uncle. We showed them the tea bag related to the gospel and they were ecstatic!

We got a referral this last week for Mone'sha and so we called her and left a message. She called back at 3:45 am; yes in the morning, and left a message that she was in Wendover and wanted a ride. Then later she sent us a text and told us she was going to be baptized LDS. So we gave her a call and talked to her, and this is the cool part. Guess how we got the referral...On her way over here from California she stopped by the one and only Cove Fort! I was like, "oh, I know that place! They give you pioneer toys and obsidian to play with on 12 hour car rides from UT to AZ!" haha So hopefully we'll get hold of her soon to teach her.

They've made air-born fireworks legal here and people are lighting them off all night. Literally! It's ridiculous! I am doing great! We are going to the movies tonight as a mission. It's "17 Miracles", and then T.C. Christensen, the director, is going to speak to us. Pretty big deal! It'll be fun. I'll take pics.

I'll be praying for L! And everyone else, too! Thanks for the update.

Love you tons. I need to let another missionary e-mail now.

Love,
Elder Partridge

June 27, 2011 Email

haha "oh my dear,"

You guys are just too funny. I love it!

We went to the Temple today and one of our Ward Mission Leaders took us to eat at a restaurant. After we email, we are going to the p-day activity. It should be fun. Our area just seemed to get a huge shot of pump-up juice. We got a bunch of referrals and some of them already want to be baptized. But ya, it's not too hot here, but it doesn't get too cold either. We watched fireworks that were in Taylorsville 2 nights ago from our apartment parking lot. It got me thinking about Disneyland and me and Elder Green talked about when we can go. He gets done in March-April next year so we could go then between semesters or on Spring Break or whatever.

Guess who I saw a couple hours ago at the Deseret Book downtown...Sandy Williams, who is no longer Williams because she's re-married. So you'll probably hear something from her.

Sounds like L has quite the story as always. I was impressed to hear about her speaking at Phoenix Children's. I wonder if that's what Virginia wanted me to do for my surgery; or something like unto it.? Oh well, props to her. I'm glad you're being cautious with her melanoma stuff. I'll keep praying for you!

Shout out to the whole Halm family! I love you! Congrats on ALL the great things that are happening in your family! BTW, how is Hudson doing? Tearing it up in Ghana, I assume...? Jackson and Talia really do need to make a trip up here and do a session in the Salt Lake Temple while I'm here so I can go with them! That would be so great!

I didn't know Landon got married, too. Congrats to him. It was weird, in all the sacrament meetings we went to yesterday, the common theme for everyone, it seemed, was marriage. Even the people who had different topics spent the majority of their talks speaking about marriage. Really!? ok!

I hope you told Christian I love him! But I hope you didn't give him a "good game" for me, that would be weird. I'm sure he did fantastic, he's such a stud!

That will be fun for L to take dance from Alex! I could only imagine how much fun they're going to have. Actually, no I can't.

Wow you saw a lot of people at the farewell!!! I'm glad they all remember me! It's been a little while. It doesn't seem that way, but it's true. But at the same time it doesn't seem like I've ever done anything in my life besides missionary work. I'll be way excited when I get home, too ( different mind you than excited to go home). I won't know what I'll do, but I know I'll be excited about whatever it is that I don't know what I'm doing!??

Haha Elder Green says he doesn't know what you're talking about with Alex L. Haha I love him! He helps everyone so much. Especially me.

Sounds like fun stuff for Kaitlyn. I am still not sure what I'm planning on doing for college as of where to go, but we'll see!

I'm assuming you're coming up for the 24th? We pretty much always do. It's funny, Elder Green and I both think that the 24th is a bigger holiday here than the 4th. We also are curious thinking back on last year how we were in the parade (which I started) and if Pres. Winn got any flack for it. If so, I'm pretty sure he'll tell us NO this year. Fun things!

Fun news for the Stone family, too! I will talk to Pres. Winn to see if I can call or email Dayne and get things set up for us to spend a day. We have Zone Conference on Friday so I'll be able to see him in person there, also Zone Leader Council this Wednesday so I could talk to him there. We'll see what happens!

Congrats to Austin on the mission call! Have fun speaking Espanol; I know I do!

Love you tons! Keep up the good work there...and I'll do the same. It's the best! We are seeing so many miracles all of a sudden. I'll have to tell you about them some time!

Love Elder Partridge!

June 13, 2011 Email

This might not be that big of a letter due to a 90 min. training we need to prepare for that we are giving tomorrow to the mission leadership in a huge meeting. haha

So Sara did get baptized. We finished helping her husband in the repentance process sufficiently enough to baptize her. It was a very smooth baptism, hardly a ripple. Haydn we found right after we dropped another investigator who wasn't progressing and Elder Ostrom remembered talking to her and didn't know why they didn't go back, so we went back and helped her find the Gospel. She got baptized at 6 on Saturday. It was planned for 3:30, but no one from the ward showed up, so we postponed it and worked our tails off so we could have it go through. We called the assistants and split up and blitzed people. It worked out. The other baptism this weekend was Trenton Nelson. We got a call last Sunday that he is ready to be baptized. We were talking to him about prayer and coming to know these things are true and Elder Green asked would you like to know if this is true? and Trent sat back, folded his arms, and said firmly "IT IS TRUE!" If there was any doubt it is clear now. That was such a strong testimony. It went great!

Love you,
Elder Partridge

June 8, 2011 Email

Being ZL is great! Both of these past 2 weeks have been ridiculous with everything, last week and this week, but I'm trying not to get stressed with everything. It would be really easy to do, but I'm with the best comp in the mission: Elder Green. He was born and raised in Mesa but came out from Thatcher. He just got done serving at the U of U, which is fantastic because we just picked up 2 Young Single Adult Wards. It's so great.

We got a call and someone wants to be baptized, so he's getting baptized this weekend. His name is Trent and he's 9. His cousin just got back from Mexico on his mission and is way solid. So cool! Anyway, Haydn should be getting baptized this weekend, too. Hopefully she is feeling well. Please pray for her.

That's cool that you got to meet Elder Wiehl, Mom! haha. "Goodeal baby, goodeal," is a phrase known around the mission from Elder Wiehl.

Sorry it's been awhile since I wrote. I'm not dead, just busy. Love you all tons I promise; even if I don't have a ton of time to email right now. The Lord lives and I am feeling His grace right now every day.

Love Elder P.

May 23, 2011 Email

Wassup?!

We had a couple of baptisms this past weekend, but one less than we planned. Jonathon and Destiny Bingham. Paradise decided to wait till after they move to a Mexico/AZ border town in a couple of weeks. Jonathon said he looked like a white ninja so we started ninja fighting. He's a fun kid. And Destiny was laughing the whole time. She started laughing at us and we said, "What Destiny do we look funny or something?" and she just kept chuckling. She was even laughing as she walked into the font.

So ya, we get about 10 investigators to church per week in the whole STAKE. So there are probably less coming to just our ward. And ya, Debbie was solid, then she got evicted the next day and moved up to Bountiful. Dang it!

A reminder about Abel, he was baptized May 14 and yesterday he passed the sacrament. That's so cool to see more steps like that after baptism so they stay strong and continue to progress. And Elder Ostrom and I blessed the sacrament yesterday in one of the wards. It's the first time in the field that I've blessed. I passed a bunch in Rose Park Stake.

That's sweet you are able to be a part of teaching Dawn. Definitely do the tea bag lesson with her. Get the Bigalow brand; it doesn't burn people. haha

Sweet that Gary Shaker's mom was baptized, too. I bet the missionaries in Arkansas were excited. I know I would be.

I want to go to Taylor's cabin!

We are at the Redwood Rec Center doing email, and every week there is a seminar going on while we email, so we get to learn how to do different basic things on the computer. So today it's all about people who hack into your e-mail or scam you in other various ways so they can get some moola from you. So are you really my mother typing me every week, or some person in Africa trying to smooth talk me so you can swindle me out of the big money I get every month as a missionary through fairshare? ha

We've got a baptism coming up this weekend for Sara Allen. She has been ready to get baptized for months now and we were just helping her husband get ready to be able to be the one who baptizes her. So we read "The Miracle of Forgiveness" with him and the bishop has given him the ok to be able to baptize her. So things are set for this next weekend.

I love ya'll and will be praying for you all the time.

Holla back.

Love,
Elder Partridge

May 16, 2011 Email

Malo e lelei,

Mom, I never got the lds.org video of Kayla and Lauren, can you send them to me again? Thanks. And ya it's funny cuz I feel the same way; this week has gone by way fast and it still feels like it's been forever since I talked with you guys. Only this time you won't have till December to talk to me again. haha Crazy.

Welcome to missionary work, mom. Lots of rescheduling.

Speaking of missionary work, we had some awesome miracles. Yesterday was crunch time-make or break for the week and pretty much make or break for May. This happened zone wide and everyone in the zone stepped up to the plate. There were exponential improvements from last week and tons of miracles. Us for example: to get the standard of excellence we needed to put some one on date for baptism and that was pretty much it. So we planned for everyone we could go by and put on date and that was our focus. Then the trial hit. Normally we have about 10 investigators who come to church on a regular weekly basis. But for whatever reason, everyone decided that they couldn't come b/c of a lot of sickness and some surgery and getting back home from various places in the middle of the morning, like Mexico or work. So long story short (too late) we only had 2 of those regulars come. So we were frantically rushing around rounding people into church. We had a Ward Mission Leader walk with a potential investigator named John to church and we added him. We added a potential investigator named Lisa at church before sacrament meeting, but she left before sacrament meeting, but came back to a later wards sacrament meeting which was a huge miracle, and to top it all off, a woman showed up at church named Debbie. Now Debbie's mother just passed away and she showed up to church and met with bishop and she talked to us and wants to be baptized. I'm so excited for the change that the gospel is going to make in the perspective she has on her mother's death. Anyway, for whatever dumb reason, we didn't add her as an investigator right there. Instead we set up a time to come by that night. Then she called and cancelled for any time today even with my companion practically pleading for any time to come by. But she had no time. So when all was said and done, when all the wards had met and we only had 4 investigators to sacrament meeting we were provided with another miracle. We were inspired to call Debbie and teach her over the phone. So we gave her a call and talked with her about prayer and how it will provide her with comfort until we meet on Tuesday. Then we had a prayer with her over the phone, and Debbie was so grateful. She's solid.

Abel was baptized, too. There was pretty much no one at his baptism besides the bishop, ward missionaries, us, his neighbor who played the piano, and his friend. But even though there weren't many people there, it was a glorious occasion for him. And yesterday he was confirmed and given the Aaronic Priesthood. It's sweet.

Next week, well I guess this week coming up, Paradise, Jonathon, and Destiny Bingham are being baptized. Please pray for them. Their life is very busy right now.

We also added a girl that's been coming to seminary for a month and loves it. She only took seminary b/c she didn't know what it was and was curious. And she's been telling her family all about it.

Heavenly Father is blessing us so much, but we are having to earn it all. There has been a long trial in the whole mission for the past 2 months and as we were talking about what we need to do or change to pass through the trial, yesterday happened and we saw the miracles flow. It's like Heavenly Father was answering our confusion and questioning by saying "Don't worry, Be happy." This is God's work and we are just the tools to make things happen, and whether we are in a trial or not, we can still make things happen.

Ofa Atu,
Elder Partridge

To see some cute pics of Elder Partridge, go here and here!
And to see the video of his sisters, go here and click on the small pics under Christ and the children!

May 9, 2011 Email

Hola,

No mom, don't fret, I'm not homesick from Skyping you. With as much as I miss you, I'm still focused on the work. Pretty trippy that it was my last call home though.

It's hard writing in my journal every day because of business and what not, so in order to remember for later on, days I don't have time to write, I jot down the main points of miracles etc. so when I write them down later it will spark my memory. So maybe you can do that to start off with too, mom.

Good to hear about Elder Stanton Shields. He's great. How's the work going for him in Espania?

Ya, we have interviews coming up on the 19th, so I'll talk to Pres. about it and see if we can't figure something out with Dayne. It'll be sweet.

So probably the coolest thing, miracle of the week, was when we taught and added Eric Phibbs. We talked to him to see where to begin teaching and he shared how he just wanted so much to have peace, joy, and guidance in his life like he sees in the lives of his coworkers. So we brought the Spirit in as much as we could and he felt it strong. He said the closing prayer and hasn't prayed in years before that, and he said it felt "magical." Then he wasn't going to be able to make it to church with it being Mothers Day and what a surprise, he was at church and he is way excited about talking with us on Tuesday.

Anyway, love you tons. We are seeing tons of miracles and are expecting even more in this great month of May. April showers bring May flowers.

Love you all,
Elder Partridge

May 2, 2011 Email

Hey guys,

So with the car break-in mom, IDK why they picked our car? Probably because it was unlocked but that's not my fault because the car lock on my side doesn't work. But it was pretty cool how they looked in the glove compartment and took our gas card, but skipped right over my camera. I was lucky. I will need a new backpack so I will just buy that with my debit card. It was also cool because for the 3 days that we didn't have a tiwi card to log in, it just stayed logged in. Pretty cool. After we discovered the incident we called Pres. Winn and he said to call the police, so we did. Then we waited 2 hours for the police not to show up. Great.

We had 2 baptisms this weekend. One of a 9-yr-old kid named Bridger and the other an 84 year-old named Jess. For Jess's baptism, he just got over double pneumonia and could not walk, so his son-in-law, Elder Ostrom, and I carried this man down into the font and pretty much got baptized with him. In the confirmation his grandson blessed him that he had now fulfilled what he had to in this life and was to prepare for the coming weeks to continue to serve. Cool. We also had 3 baptisms back in Tooele. I wasn't able to go back to Tooele, but they got baptized, which is all that matters. Plus we'll be able to see them when we go to visit them as a family after the mission.

We were out last night at 8:50 trying to add 2 new investigators before the end of the week and we didn't find anyone new, but we did hear about Osama being killed.

We ended up getting 4 inches of snow here in Granger and it was all gone by the afternoon. I despise Utah weather. That was pretty much the assurance that it will flood this year. That will be interesting. Cool.

I'll be skyping some time in the evening between 6-9 pm UT time. It's gonna be cool.

So being a ZL..."we're definitely not in Kansas anymore." It's a lot more to do. Some of the things are very administrative and most people see it as boring. The paper work/behind the scenes work to make sure everything runs smooth and ya. So We are working just as hard, but the #'s are lower than in Tooele because we aren't working as much in our area. It's been frustrating this last week because we knew our weak area was going to be adding new investigators this week, so that was our focus all week, every free moment. But we only ended up adding one person. We tried every method possible. IDK what's going on.

I still think it's cool how you are a missionary the same time as me, mom. Cool.

Ya I know Elder Ahlstrom. He introduced himself to me at a mission lunch thing last transfer. He told me he was friends with all them and they said to look for me, so he looked for me and found me. He seems like a great Elder. It'll be fun to be around him for 5 more months.

I love Gary! I'll be praying for you daily. And yes I will definitely be hanging around and visiting when I get home.

I didn't know Ashlyn was already actually going to Jerusalem. That's sweet. Great for her.

I thought that there was no way L could have beat me after brain surgery, but looks like she's still proving me wrong. Isn't health insurance great?

Holy smokes!!! L is ridiculously intelligent. Let me just say...props from your big bro for juggling all that at once and doing so incredible on your ACT. "You da bomb."

By-the-way, I took an IQ test and I have an IQ of 132 which is in the top 2.2 of the entire world. I feel smart, too. And that's after 19 months not going to school. Heck ya.

Love you all,
Elder Partridge

A Subtle Message From Sister Winn

A few weeks ago I left a comment on Sister Winn's blog. After looking at hundreds of pictures to get a glimpse of Elder Partridge at a Zone Conference, there were none, so I simply asked if he was still serving in that mission. Not long after, this post appeared on her blog. I have to admit, I was a bit shocked and embarrassed, but looked forward to what future posts would appear. Well, she definitely did not disappoint! Go here to check it out. Thank you, Mama Winn!!! You really are the best!

April 25, 2011 Email

Hey,

I'm now a big dog zone leader! So I did get transferred out of Tooele just like I was NOT expecting. But I'm in the South Zone in West Valley City in the Granger East Stake, which is interesting because Dyson served here, too. Funny. I'm with another companion that was in the MTC the same time as me-Elder Ostrom from Florida.

We just went to the Temple this morning. The first time in almost 5 months now. It was pretty refreshing to go through a session, and especially to receive revelation about a Zone goal for May. April was pretty bad and embarrassing here in the South Zone, so we decided with the potential that we have, we are going to blow May out of the water! We have Zone Leader council coming up tomorrow (my first one) where we'll discuss our goal and actual for April and our goal and plans for May and whatever else they want to know.

This is totally different than Tooele! But there are a lot of changes and growth that I incorporated while in Tooele that we are going to apply here, too.

I'll have to check with Pres. Winn to see if I'll be able to go back to Tooele for any baptisms, but probably not. But we'll see.

Oh sweet! Vicki Snow back in Rose Park got baptized! That's awesome! I definitely worked with them. That was with Elder Jackson 10 months ago. Crazy how fast time flies by. Tell Sis Carlisle thanks a ton for letting you/me know.

More fun news for L. Not really, but the way she deals with everything it might as well be good news. That's a compliment btw.

So ya, Casa del Rey is pretty delicious. I will miss it. I only went to Grantsville 4-6 times in the whole 4 1/2 months there though. But you'll definitely go there when you all come to pick me up. I'm going to take you to the people I was able to help bring the gospel to for sure.

Wow. I was off on my guess for Dayne's mission call. I won't see him for a hecka long time! 47 months.

I can't believe you stay up so late. I go to bed at 10:30. Elder Ostrom and I both found it funny that for our last lesson we went to a guys house at 8:00-8:45 pm and as we were leaving to go home, everyone else was getting ready to go out. I don't know how I'll be able to re-adjust. It seems crazy to me.

Tell Nanci Wudel hi from me, and thanks for all the fun Easter Pageant memories.

Let me just say..."I've had better Easters." It started pretty fantastic. We opened our Easter packages and slapped each other for about 10-15 minutes with the huge sticky slap hands. It has been the most fun we've had. For lunch we got into another 20 min slap-fest. Finally we stopped because our arms were getting sore. But then it was off to church. Sacrament Meeting is the last of all the blocks here, like back in Rose Park North. So we parked in the parking lot of the Stake Center and went to all the classes first and then sat through Sacrament Meeting and went to go back home for a quick lunch before the next Sacrament Meeting. We got in the car and Elder Ostrom realized his tiwi card (which allows missionaries to log into the stupid monitor box) wasn't there. Then he asked, " wasn't your ipod cable plugged in." "ya it was." oh great. We popped the trunk and they'd stolen the rest of the Easter packages for the Elders and Sisters and our backpacks. Luckily, we both took our scriptures and journals into church with us. But still. It probably wasn't the best idea to steal from missionaries either. I don't think God looks too highly on that. Just sayin.

I feel blessed, even though being Zone Leader could end up being very stressful. I love you all a bunch. Happy Easter.

Love,
Elder Partridge

And Happy Anniversary to you! My 19 month anniversary is coming up on the 30th. Love you tons. gtg

April 18, 2011 Email

Hey, What's up?

So yes Mom, I did know that Mother's Day is coming up and I could tell you're a little excited, ya. Just a little though. I think it would be sweet if we did Skype. Just sayin.

haha "What's poppin' with me?" haha oh Mom...Well, quite a bit as a matter of fact. First of all, Jodi Lund was baptized and confirmed this weekend! Holla! They are such a funny family. Don't worry, I'll send pictures.

Also, we found a new person to teach named Joey, or rather he found us. We were up hiking to the T on the mountain for lunch (that's another story) when we got a phone call from a lady at the employment center telling us Joey's info and that he wanted missionaries to come by. He just recently got out of jail, but while in jail learned about and gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon from his roommate who is LDS. He wants to be baptized and totally change his life around. Very humble (aka teachable) and wants to follow Christ the best that he can.

So I'm sure you're wondering about the hike to the T on the mountain. Maybe you weren't, but you are now. So this last Wednesday we did service for the Wall's (Cameron was just baptized a couple weeks ago), and so we were already in the right clothes. (Btw it felt great to be out doing yard work. No more snow). So we ended right before lunch time and we thought, let's hike the T. Ok. I immediately regret my decision. Not because the hike was hard, because it was actually quite easy, at least for me. Elder Aguilar being from Florida, still hasn't acclimated to the elevation-apparently. But ya it turned out to be quite anti-climactic; at the very end (the last 20-30 yards) it gets pretty steep, treacherous if you will,and we got up to the T and it was lame. I was expecting it would be like the Y in Provo-made of cement and what not, but you know what it is: it's a darn chain link fence laying down in the shape of a T with a white tarp over it! LAME!!!

Oh, and it's Elder Morris (Zone Leader out here) birthday TODAY. So last week on Friday he had some Brisket, pork loin and BBQ sauce overnighted from Texas to here. It was some good stuff. It reminded me of Shiflet's brisket, only I think Shiflet's is better.

No transfer news till tomorrow. Sorrow.

When did L go out to Tooele? And why? There's not much out here. Don't get me wrong, I love Tooele-missionary work is the bomb.com out here. It's one of my favorite 4 areas of my mission. But ya.

So I'm not all that strong, but I surprised myself this morning. We were at the Zone Leaders and they have a weight bench, and I benched 135 lbs. That's a lot for me! I shocked myself. I'm so strong. JK that's not really that much, but I felt cool.

That was random.

It's raining again. In one way or another, the snow and rain have ruined every P-day activity this transfer. It gets fine for the rest of the week, but it's always been bad weather on Mondays. We were gonna go golfing, but not anymore. It's gonna be just like in Bonneville; we were gonna go golfing there, but never got to it and then the week after I get transferred they went. Lame, but it's ok. I think I'll live.

Love,
Elder Partridge

P.S. I guess Dayne is going to...Africa. maybe

April 11, 2011 Email

What's poppin!

I'm doing great. Transfers are next Wednesday and I have no idea what's going to happen. Last transfer I called everything for everyone in the whole zone. Even for the missionaries I'd never met out in Wendover. But this transfer is up in the air as to what's going to happen. I would love to stay here! This is such a great area. I'd also love to stay with Elder Aguilar! I love him! We are crankin things out here! If I do get transferred it will be good too though. "Whatever happens...The Lord is in it." Joseph Smith Movie.

So sorry if I'm not giving enough information in my emails about everyone we're teaching. So Sarah and Sara. Sarah Jackson is 9 years old and we just baptized her last weekend. Her family was less active and she hadn't been baptized. We first met them out in their huge back yard, where the deer and the antelope play. Sarah was so shy, she wouldn't even look at us and was hiding behind her mom the whole time. We helped them round up their horses for riding club last week. Very fun family. You'll have to meet them some time.

Sara Cassel was also baptized last weekend. She was being taught since before I came into the area. She has overcome some pretty huge things in her life to finally make it to this point. I am so happy everything went through and worked out. She's the one who quit smoking after 19 years straight of smoking. She just dropped it like it was nothing.

Pupusas are from El Salvador which translates to the Savior; so they are literally the food of the Gods. I really can't describe them. But for your sakes I'll try. Imagine a jelly filled doughnut. ok, got it? Now make it flatter/thinner and change the dough to tortilla. About the size of a saucer (Not a flying saucer, the small plate). Are you still with me? Ok, now instead of jelly, you put pork or beef or chicken or beans, or whatever inside. It's amazing. You should try some. Do Arzagas ever make them. Maybe not since it's an El Salvadorean thing, but they are delish!

When we were down there in Salt Lake for conference, we stayed with Elders Hoffman from Florida and Frietas from Brazil. You probably don't know them b/c I've never served around or talked about any of them. But they live not even a block away from Fat Cats bowling alley.

I get to go on exchanges with the Spanish Elders for Kayla's birthday. If she's turning 23, that means I'll be turning 21 in 4 1/2 months! Craziness!

We have a baptism this weekend of Jodi Lund. About 3 weeks ago we had that big leadership meeting and got the promise from Pres. Winn that we will put some one on date that night. And Jodi is the one that we put on date. She is so solid! She pretty much goes through every principle of Preach My Gospel one step ahead of us and teaches herself. We taught her last week using the tea bag and I wish I would have video taped her face as the flame almost got to her hand. It was hilarious.

So mom, do you ever go to the correlation meetings with the missionaries with Bro. Brian? If not, you should check into it. It's pretty great for us to tell ward missionaries directly what they can help us with.

We met with Cheyenne Curly and her mom and her 2 best friends last night, and she's going to be baptized on April 30. We are going to put Emily Johnson on date for the same day when we teach her tomorrow.

Ooo! and on Saturday morning we went to the Aquatic Center and went swimming. jk. We went to the Aquatic Center and ate pancakes that Bishop Dalton was making. His wife and kids are way into water polo and they were having a 24 hour tournament that they invited us to. So we got there in the morning and a little girl ran a note to us saying that Bishop was cooking out back. Then we got a private escort from a coach through the pool grounds to go eat. Then Sister Dalton talked us through what was going on as we watched. I've never wanted to go swimming so bad in the last 18 months! Elder Aguilar agreed, of course, being form Florida. He said he wanted some one to just push him in. Sister Dalton said she could set that up. haha The funniest part is she was pretty much serious.

We are going to lunch in Grantsville. There is a Mexican restaurant that has food similar to places in Mesa. Still not the same, but it's close enough for me.

Anywho, those were some awesome adventures this week. Others include a trip to Rush Valley, Dumpster Diving, etc. you know, the usual.

Love you,
Elder Partridge

April 4, 2011 Email

Hello guys,

So Conference...AMAZING! Yes mom, we did get tickets to every session. We only ended up missing the Saturday afternoon session in the Conference Center, but we still got to see it in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was a pretty good trade though, getting to see Sarah Jackson baptized and confirmed between sessions and the joy and adrenaline and spiritual high from rushing back and forth to and from Tooele! It's great! The baptism went super! It would have started on time, but we were late. We decided it was better to be there late than not at all and we still rushed over there in 25 min.

Sara Cassel also was baptized this weekend on Sunday after Conference. It was great! She has overcome A LOT to be baptized. She has quit smoking after 19 years of it, and hasn't looked back.

We ended up staying with other missionaries in Salt Lake sleeping in their apartment on the floor, but it was worth it if for nothing else we got free pupusas; an El Salvadorian food. Very good. And it was intended that we would do that to save miles. It kinda worked, but not really since we drove all the way back for the baptism. And talk about the epitome of Utah crazy weather, 70 degrees Saturday down to 30's on Sunday. Ridiculous! But it was all great.

So in the first session I sat in front of people from the Grandview 2nd Ward. I didn't know them though. And I saw Sister Seamons and she says hi. Other than that, no one I know. Oh, and I saw Elder Oaks. I know him, too. I really enjoyed his talk, too. I don't know if anyone else caught this, but there seemed to be a big emphasis on marriage. 4 talks on the subject. And a couple on tithing and the Atonement/repentance/chastisement. I also liked Pres. Eyring's talk in Priesthood meeting. He lived in a rough neighborhood. haha After those talks, we decided yesterday to go by a Deacons Quorum Pres. and ask him what we could do to help him with his quorum. I was surprised at how well he knew his quorum members he had stewardship over, and the things he was already doing to encourage, lift, and empower them. I realized I need to work twice as hard now to make up for the things I didn't do as a quorum pres. when i was younger.

We also saw the Sharifi's that Elder Aguilar taught that just got sealed! Such a cool fam. And we visited a former Ward Mission Leader that was downtown that Elder Aguilar had worked with when he'd served down there that I'd met twice going there on exchanges. That was a great way to spend between sessions.

We do have some new investigators. We just added 2 young women who want to be baptized; Emily Johnson and Cheyenne Curly. Also, we added Jonathon Nicols who we taught once when I was here my first transfer and he wasn't ready yet, but is very devoted now to get baptized. He's 9. And we're teaching another 9 year old who has been coming to church with his mom and brothers who wants to be baptized. It's great!

Congrats to Spanish Fork and Gentry.

Definitely keep me updated on Dayne! That is so nuts!

Love you tons! Hope this all gets through. There have been some complications with the website. But ya.

Love you!

An Email Surprise

We received this picture of Elder Partridge and Elder Aguilar at the Unrein's baptism from a member in Tooele. Love it! Thanks Sister Christopherson!!!

March 28, 2011 Email

Hey guys~!

I'm pretty jealous about you going to see the baseball games. It is at this moment snowing up here. It just dropped 20 degrees in 10 min. Crazy! Very chilly!

So first item on the agenda from this week was the Unrien's baptism. It went great. Zak had to be baptized twice because he managed to shove his hand up out of the water, but it was good the second time! They got special permission to confirm him the same day! And I'm just saying, the prophet and apostles were right when they said if they want to keep a secret, all they need to do is put it in the handbook. teehee. Their baptism didn't just start on time, it started early! Another first for the mission.

Immediately after Zak and Nick Unrien were baptized, Cameron Wall got baptized. He is the funniest kid. He got dressed in the jumpsuit and said, "I look like a prophet." Then he got up to the portable podium and asked me to come up and Elder Aguilar to come up and asked us what we would do if it was our birthday. IDK maybe you just had to be there, but this kid is hilarious and cracks me up every time we talk to him. Later Elder Aguilar told me when they were changing and Cameron's dad was helping him change Cameron told his dad, "You should get baptized, it feels so good. Take my word for it. You should do it." And Bro. Wall said, "We'll see." Go Cameron!

The sealing was amazing, too. Even though I wasn't the one who had taught and baptized him, it was still incredible to be there. It was even cooler though because they totally remembered me from the one time I stopped by last year with Elder Aguilar for no longer than 10 min. I guess I just have one of those faces. They are so awesome! And of course we went to the after-party up the street for lunch. It was so cool to see all the support they had. And one lady there totally remembered me from serving in her ward (Monument Park North Stake) just from seeing me a year ago walking down the street over by her house. Again, I guess I just have one of those faces.

It's pretty cool, too, because the youth from one of the youth groups from a ward we cover here in Tooele went down to do baptisms for the dead. So we went down to the baptistery area and saw Bishop, and some of the members we've been working closely with, and all of the youth. It was so funny/great to see the look of excitement on all their faces when they saw us. Bishop started telling all the temple workers how great we were. But it was funny because twice the temple workers in the baptistery tried to get us to participate until we told them we were missionaries and they backed away and said "No don't participate with us. Keep the rules, good job." haha

It felt so good also to go up to the Celestial Room for a bit after not being there for such a long time. Elder Aguilar and I also got to go to the little office behind the sealing rooms and see the stained glass window of the first vision. Oh, and of course...I saw Matt Hoskis in there!

Pretty awesome about Super Saturday. It's pretty much the best practice ever! I think there's a different feeling because I'm not there this year. That must be it. Just kidding. Speaking of. Do you mean EVERYONE in the cast has a different feeling about this year, or just in the fam?

So we just got trained as leadership in the mission for 2 straight long, amazing, spirit filled days about how we can be better missionaries. One thing that was mentioned stood out to me as something you could do great as a Ward Missionary, Mom. Bear a fervent, sincere testimony of Jesus Christ. It's so powerful. I went back to the area that night and applied it and we put someone on date. That was a promise given to everyone in leadership, and the next day we tallied it up and 38 people were put on date that one night just as leadership. Amazing.

Isn't Dad such a stud! He's so great! Nuff said.

No problem about the business cards. These will work great till later!

Pretty much the biggest detail about Tori's baptism is that it was pretty much standing room only. I was thinking for a sec that we'd have to move into the chapel.

Cool news from How and Cindy's fam.

Good luck with everything this next week. Sounds like you're busy.

I'll keep you posted!

Love you.
Elder Partridge

March 21, 2011 Email

Hello people!

Things are great out here in Tooele! Just trying our best to preach the gospel and being led to those who are prepared to receive it! It's amazing! And now that you mention it I did receive some pretty awesome "St. Patrick's Day" package material! We-Elder Aguilar and I-are going to have a fatty Tim Tam slam. Haha a Happy Hanukkah gift card!? haha I got such a crack out of that one! The cashier at Walmart today did too, I think. She looked confused, amused and something else, but it was funny! As far as my business cards go, they're pretty much awesome, not gonna lie. But I realized that I look like a noob in all those pics. If you could get a pic of me smiling without sunglasses on that would be cool. And really it doesn't matter if they are vertical or horizontal, I like them both. Also I thought of something else to put on my card: Facebook info! Facebook's a great way to keep in touch with or find pretty much anyone.

So ya, we've got Cameron Wall coming up this Saturday at 10:00 am at the Stake Center and the Unrein's at 9:00 am at the Stake Center. Then a sealing to go to for one of Elder Aguilar's investigators that was baptized a year ago. It's cool cuz I was able to meet this family once when I was serving with Elder Atchley in Temple Zone. I went on exchanges with Elder Wiel and we stopped by and met them. Cool beans.

The Mackay's daughter Nieca is going to take longer just because she is only over there for every other weekend. But while we are at the Temple on Saturday, the youth plus Bro. and Sis. Mackay are going to be in the baptistery doing baptisms for the dead. So we are going to try to stop down there and see them do baptisms for the dead. It'll be their first time in the Temple.

Tory Sweet was baptized on Sat. at 2:00 pm. It was standing room only in the room. Tons of family came! It was pretty awesome. Her grandfather who she wanted to baptize her drove straight from Tennessee 28 hrs. on the way they got a flat tire and wouldn't have made it, but they had a small miracle and barely made it on time. They just drove straight to the chapel from Tennessee. It was awesome though.

Congrats on the calling to be a ward missionary, Mom. You'll do a great job with helping out with lessons! A great thing you might be able to do is instead of asking if there's anyone you can help with or saying is there anything you can do to help, go up to the Elders and ask them who you can fellowship. Every time we have a lesson with a member I think about what a great help you would be in a lesson, because you wouldn't take over the lesson but you'd be able to have a great testimony to add and invite the spirit.

Sounds like a fun busy week ahead. Have fun with the fam coming up! or I guess down.

Thanks for the other updates! Much appreciated! Especially about conference tickets!

Tons of love back atcha
Elder Partridge

**Guess what? I finally got a cactus garden today! Finally! and Elder Reta had to get one, too! It's funny. I'll send you a pic.