An Amazing Accomplishment!

Sunday, 13 March 2011 Partridge

Elders and Sisters,

As you now know we had 283 baptisms in February and another 64 the first week of March. Our total for the first two months of the year was 519 baptisms. Most importantly each of you are being obedient, diligent and exercising faith to make things happen. Every week now about a third of our companionships are hitting the standard of excellence. The Lord is blessing our mission greatly.

I am very proud of each of you and the progress and improvement you are making. Remember what we have learned so far this year. We need to yield our hearts to God and give him our heart and a willing mind. As we focus on our missionary service and forget all other worldly things, we will have the companionship of the Holy Ghost and we will be directed in all things.

President Winn

March 14, 2011 Email

Talofa!

Just in case anyone is wondering, I'm doing pretty great. I'd go far enough to say fantastic! Malinda just got confirmed yesterday! So great!

It is pretty much bike weather now, but I don't trust Utah weather. It will be snowing in a few days I'm sure. I learned not to expect consistent nice weather until May. In the mean time I'll just enjoy the good weather when it's here and love my car in bad weather! I'm totally down with riding the tandem and making a fool of myself, but my companion isn't quite as ready to embarrass himself as I am.

So the Unrein's (the fam that made pavlova for us) are doing solid. The boys are getting baptized on March 26 at 9:00 in the morning.

Still no news about Salena and Angel, but wait a hot minute and I'll keep you updated.

We are able to teach Kim Atkinson twice a week in the mornings which we are taking every advantage of, because she is just crazy busy with mainly school. But I'm sure juggling 3 kids keeps her busy, too. She is progressing well, just slowly because of how busy she is and how much else she has to do.

Ya, I just heard from Sis. Munoz at the sealing on Friday that she reads the e-mails every week! The sealing was so amazing! It was so cool to see them all in white and how happy they were. Sis. Munoz was walking on air! She probably still is. There were a ton of people there and a good amount of missionaries, too. It was great to see the support they had. It was pretty fun to see all the people who I knew from Rose Park. It was funny how all of the missionaries were sitting in one area and members from the ward came over and said hi to me and talked to me and no one else, even though all the missionaries in the group had served in the area. Cool! Apparently I made a good impression.

Oh ya, I'll have to ask Bro. Mackay if he's related to my 2nd grade teacher. I doubt it, but never say never.

So we didn't have a huge mission breakfast feast, but we had a great spiritual feast! We had a couple of General Authorities come and speak to us as well as the Mission Presidency.

I can't believe that it's March Madness again. We were just at Walmart printing pics and they had a highlight reel playing from the tournaments past. But no matter how much I think I like the NCAA finals, I enjoy teaching people and seeing them find the truth so much more. There's nothin better, even though we trick ourselves some times. I especially am enjoying it all right now. Heavenly Father is helping me a great deal!

I can't wait to get the business cards! Those will come in really handy.

Please, if you could, send some more Tim Tams! They don't exist in any stores here! Also reemphasizing the Walmart gift card.

I love you!
Elder Partridge

March 7, 2011 Email

Hellllllooooooooooo Arrizzooonaa!

Ya it's pretty cool how much amazing stuff Heavenly Father has blessed us with. I'm constantly excited and grateful for Him answering my prayers and providing so many miracles.

So on Tuesday (tomorrow) we are meeting with Salena and are going to get everything figured out so we can teach Angel. Cool.

And Malinda's baptism went grand! She got baptized last night at 7:00. My first baptism that's happened on a Sunday. We went over Friday and checked to make sure things were still good for her baptism on Saturday and she said that she was going to be in Salt Lake and as quick as Mach 2 (aka the speed of sound ) Elder Aguilar told her we will plan on doing it Sunday. What great inspiration on the spot! So ya it finally got done. I'm glad the bishop finally took our advice and decided to have this happen.

We are teaching Kim Atkinson any time we can. So we gave her a Book of Mormon and in the last lesson her daughter who is about to turn 10 had read through 1 Nephi already. Wow.

So Charles and Moe are going to be sealed some time in April, but the last time I talked to them they didn't have a specific date set. So ya. But they'll keep me posted.

We had "brinner" (breakfast for dinner) at the Unrine's last night, and guess what they had for dessert that I requested...Pavlova!!! They actually made it for me! So good. We taught them a lesson last night about baptism and the Holy Ghost using a tea bag.

Things are still set for Cameron to get baptized on the 26th!

So Sis. Munoz gave me my first haircut on my mission. She is the declared missionary mom in the Rose Park Stake. Her husband got baptized when i was serving in Rose Park North. And of course I got to know them well serving in Rose Park Stake for 6 months. I got to help with his new member lessons a lot.

I saw Elder Montgomery the day he got in, but not since then. But I will on Wednesday because the whole mission is getting together for breakfast. We broke the mission record 2 weekends in a row for most baptisms in a week.

Congrats to Mat Shaker and to Craig Shiflet. Oh man I'm so stoked for Christiaan going to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And he's going to be speaking African French.

More Mambas would be fantastic for St. Patrick's Day, but please don't send too much more candy. I'm still way set from Valentine's Day. But the WalMart gift cards are such a help. That would be great.

We haven't been going to the temple because it says to go every so often or something like that, so every zone has one week in the transfer where they get to go to the Temple, except Wyoming and Tooele. But Tooele is getting on the schedule.

Tons of love right back at ya.

Love Elder Partridge

March 3, 2011 Email

Hello People,

It's pretty crazy how long I've been a missionary. But I have only been out 17 months so far! Don't cut me short! haha

So Salena's baptism went pretty fantastic. It has been the first baptism in both my mission and in Elder Aguilar's mission that has started exactly on time with everything ready to go. And we've been privileged to be a part of quite a few baptisms so far. But we didn't have to do a thing for it. The Young Women's President took care of everything, and the Young Women did everything. (Except for the actual baptizing of course). She had her best friend there with her, who is pretty much like her cousin, for the baptism and the confirmation. Her name is Angel. She had missionaries come over 2 years ago and they were weird and said stuff that was offensive to her so she didn't want them to come anymore. And this is the cool part, Salena's mom, who is very less active, told her "you just got to get yourself a good set of missionaries like these guys." So we are going to be teaching Angel as we go through the lessons again with Salena.

The lesson with Kim Atkinson went pretty awesome. She is really interested. Her husband wasn't there because he works out in Dougway. She is so prepared. We invited her to be baptized and she said it's a really big decision and she'll have to keep having us come over to see if that's what she should do. That's what Charles Tuigamala said too and their family is getting sealed in April. cheeow pow! And her 10 year old daughter has been reading the Book of Mormon now.

We added a family named the Unrine's, too. They are less active that have been getting active again this year in preparation for their son who's turning 8 March 24 and to be able to baptize their 10 yr old son. So they are going to be baptized March 26.

Tory Sweet is going to be baptized on March 19 because she has family in Tennessee that is coming and her g-pa is going to baptize her, so that's set.

Cameron Wall is going to be baptized March 26.

Elder Aguilar has some converts getting sealed on March 26 that we will go to.

The Munoz family in Rose Park is getting sealed on March 11 and we are going to that.

And this weekend Heavenly Father provided someone for us. Malinda is going to be re-baptized this Saturday because the Bishop decided it is better to be safe than sorry and make sure it gets done since they can't find her records and aren't able to recreate her records another way.

And I don't know if I've told you much about the Mackay's (pronounced Makee's), but she was baptized a couple weeks before I came into this area and his youngest daughter isn't baptized and they want to do everything necessary to be sealed. So next Friday we are teaching her, Saturday baptizing her, and Sunday confirming her. It's going to be pretty amazing.

Also, while I was with Elder Reta on exchanges yesterday, we went by one of their investigators and taught her and her daughter, who has been coming to mutual and church in our English ward. She asked her mom if they were going to be Mormon, and her mom said "If we decide it's what we want and need to do. Why, do you want to be Mormon?" "Yes!" So ya. pretty solid!

I rather miss going to the Temple. I haven't been since the first week I was here in Tooele.

I gtg now
love ya
Elder Partridge.

February 24, 2011 Email

Hey guys,

Happy Post-Presidents Day. Crazy schedule differences this week! It's Thursday and we are emailing. I have very limited time today though due to interviews and a training I am giving. Love you tons though. I did finally get the Valentine's Day package! That was pretty awesome. I especially like the candy "poster." I can't tell you how happy I was when I saw the Mambas. They don't sell them anywhere in Salt Lake. It's such a shame. So thanks so much.

So Tory Sweet is getting baptized on March 5. It's so solid! We taught her twice this last week and watched the 20 min. Restoration DVD with her to help her get a visual of the things we taught. And about Salena, she is getting baptized in 2 days. It was the coolest thing. She wasn't learning much of anything because she gets distracted so easily. So Elder Aguilar and I prayed to know how we could help her learn and retain in remembrance the things we teach. And we got the inspiration to teach the most interactive way possible. So we've been doing everything with hands on analogies and it's stuck like glue. She remembers and understands the symbolism behind everything we've taught.

So in the Standard of Excellence it's
1-baptized and confirmed,
3-investigators with a baptismal date,
5-investigators to church,
12-lessons taught to investigators with a member present, and
3-new investigators.

Wow, a lot of people are thinking about me. I hope you tell them I'm doing good.

We finally got in to teach a kid who we have been trying to teach since before I came into the area ages ago. His name is Cameron Wall. He is the most sincere kid. He has such an awesome desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. He has Aspergers and just says everything the way it is. We are his new "best friends." He is going to be baptized March 26, on his birthday. I need to get a tape recorder to record all the hilarious things he says because I can't remember them all.

We got a miracle phone call last night from Sister Weeber who has been doing great missionary work with one of her friends. She invited her friend to church and she was excited to go, then she invited her to a Relief Society social and she was excited to go, now she invited her to meet with us and she can't wait for the appointment on Sunday. Her name is Kim Atkinson. She is from Holland. She is married to James Atkinson and they have 3 kids; a 9-yr.-old, a 4-yr.-old, 1-yr.-old. Sweet.

The Lord continues to provide for us. We have such great work right now. We are just trying to get more and more. It's fantastic.

Love you all, TTYL,
Love Elder Partridge.

February 7, 2011 Email

**I had heard that other missionaries had trouble with emails sent on the 7th, so I asked him about it and received this today, 2/24/11. Fun letter! Glad we finally got it!.

Hello everyone!

So yes, as you heard, we went on a trip to Rose Park this weekend to see a family Elder Aguilar taught last transfer get baptized. Then it was off to find a dinner. And where would I always go for food whenever dinner cancelled...Carlisle's. That was cool. And I also took the time to get Charles Tuigamala's phone number seeing as he will be going through the Temple next month most likely. Has it really been that long? Apparently.

I am doing well. Health is great. Elder Aguilar catches me when I fall. Literally. Nothing too new in Tooele. We had Stake Conference and it was awesome. The goal for the stake last year was to read through the Book of Mormon that year. And this year they're taking that to the next level...Giving one out! So we are stoked! President Atkinson of the Mission Presidency came and spoke in the adult session and had Elder Aguilar and myself stand and he introduced us as the cork and the bottle. (I wonder which one's the cork and which one's the bottle)?

I refuse to believe it! It's impossible! The ficus trees can't freeze! (At least not entirely). Bummer to hear it's so cold! I hope it warms up for you, and for me. Right now it is pretty nice, not gonna lie. 45 degrees on a sunny CLEAR day. I'm so glad when inversion leaves!

Christian is most definitely getting baptized next week! He is so solid. We last taught him about the Holy Ghost, and he had to build his own sundae using different ingredients-BLINDFOLDED!!! Elder Aguilar was the Holy Ghost and I was the "voices in the world that compete for our attention." He barely made it through. I thought I had him for a second though when he grabbed the pepper instead of the sprinkles.

I knew it! I thought once yesterday, "I bet they're having the super bowl party right now...well, off to teach more people." Tell aunt/cousin Allie not to beat herself up about it the year before I left. I can't wait for the next one though.

We contacted the Stewart's and they're a pretty nice family, and welcoming, but we'll have to see how it goes; the kids have autism and the eldest has epilepsy as well.

Ya, Elder Aguilar is the one who plays football. And yes, I got a car. I know, it sounded too good to be true to me too.

Wow! Sounds like you had quite the event for the YW thingy. I'm actually impressed! Not hard to do I know, but still.

I would strongly recommend for next year that L take English 101 and/or 102 if she hasn't gotten credit for college with AP stuff yet, but I did enjoy Critical Thinking and Writing. I loved AP Music Theory! I think that may have been because I did it with Caleb Allred and Christiaan Schmid and Camille Snyder, but it's a great class. Very enlightening. But yes, if you're not planning on going into music then it won't help much with your career.

Lucky! L gets voice lessons from Jenee Prince.

Good for Kayla and her job! Cool. Fun date, haha. I love being last minute date call.

I love you all so much! Te Amo! That means I love you.
Elder Partridge.

February 14, 2011 Email

Elder Partridge unto the most excellent family and friends sendeth greeting (see Acts 23:26),

We saw an absolute miracle and answer to prayers this last week. We of course went for the standard of excellence 1 3 5 8 3, especially since Christian got baptized. At a leadership meeting that happens quarterly with all the ZLs DLs and Trainers we received the assignment for our areas as the leaders of the mission to have 12 lessons with a member present instead of the standard of 8. So we had 1 3 5 12 3 as a goal now for this week on. So yesterday we were all there except we needed 2 more lessons and we needed to add someone for baptism. After our first sacrament meeting we got a call from a Ward Mission Leader that someone in their ward wants to be baptized. :) x10! We went to her ward and didn't know who she was. She got up to bear her testimony and after she was done Elder Aguilar and I looked at each other and said "That's gotta be her." It was. She's so solid. Her name is Tory Sweet. It's pretty SWEET!!! We went and added her as an investigator and put her on date to be baptized right after church. Her best friend lives next door and is a solid fellowshipper. Her mom is coming back to church and her dad is working every day. ie Yesterday was his first day off in 3 months. It's awesome though.

Christian totally got baptized on Saturday! It was crazy. We got there at 12:30 and to our utter horror no one was there. So we tried the door; it was locked. We called the bishop and told him and he just said, "Ohhhhhhh no. I'll be there in 5 min." So we waited outside for bishop to get there and Christian and his family got there; along with his extended family. So we all just stood outside and chatted till bishop got there. Then we darted to the font and lo and behold, it was empty. Luckily this font only takes an hour to fill to the brim. So we cranked it on and went to set things up. (FYI we called the baptismal coordinator twice and told him and the ward called once. He's just elderly and totally forgot.) So we changed (I got to baptize him because his cousin wasn't able to. Which is really cool that they decided to go forward with it anyway) and stalled a little bit. Took some pictures, a little of this a little of that, and finally the water was high enough. The thing is, at first the water was coming out nice and warm and after a while it got colder and colder, so it ended up being quite nippy. Poor Christian. But it was pretty amazing.

Then yesterday Christian got confirmed in sacrament meeting. But at least this time the chair didn't fall and slam on the ground after the confirmation like it did with Mason.

Anywho, stay classy and expect miracles to be wrought in your lives. Heavenly Father will answer your prayers. Pray as if everything depended upon Heavenly Father (because it ultimately does) and then do as if everything depended upon you.
Love you all!
Elder Partridge

P.S. Thanks for the update on L's mole situation, Mom. The pics made me laugh. Only you would take pics in the middle of a surgery. haha