November 20,2017 The Interview

This we again as all the others was totally awesome. I have learned and grown so much in my testimony and love for the people in Jax Beach!

Some awesome things happened this week. First off Torry our investigator is getting his baptism interview today and December 3rd is so close. He is an awesome investigator and will be an amazing member of the church. 

This week we were able to teach around 5 lessons. It was a productive week. Lots of our investigators are really excited about learning more and are accepting what we teach. Something that Ive relized is that people who actually want to hear the word are ushally pretty solid iinvestigators. It is awesome but can be challenging to find those investigators. 

This week we offered service to people down around the beaches that were setting up for a art show. Lots were actually more willing to talk and listen as we offered help. 

This week ive had a huge increase in my testimony of trials. We all have trails in our life some harder than others, but as we turn to the lord and get on our knees and pray for strength and guidence every day, we are able to overcome those trials and become more like christ. I am so greatful for every day ane the opertunity that I have to learn and become more like christ. Something that I really like is how we have the chance every day to put up a fence and stay within that boundry of who we want to be and if we don't like the fence, then we can shrink or enlarge it and if needs be, we can replace the whole fence and start over. This is all made possible through the atonement of christ and his love for us all. I am so greatful for everyone and how amazing people have been in my life. I appreciate all the love and kindness that ive been shown and what and who thats made me become. I am a son of god and I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father loves each one of his children! I love you guys and hope you have an awesome week!

Neptune Beach

Elder's Elgaaen & Kyle

Food Glorious Food

 

November 13,2017 The Weekly

This week flew by! The mission is still just as awesome as last week. We had a zone conference this last week and got introduced to the churches Christmas program #lighttheworld. This year it is the same as last year with new ideas of how to light the world each day with a video that follows. Hope that everyone takes the challenge to do something every day to help others. It blesses so many lives and brings so many miricals. From light the world most missionaries get tons of new referals. Last year 30,000 referals came through the light the world program. It is an awesome way to do missionary work every day.

This week I got bed bugs! I started noticing bites on my legs and decited to get it checked out. We sprayed for bed bugs and so they shouldn't be a problem any more.... I hope. We taught a few lessons this week to some investigators. One of the guys we teach named Harry was excited to see us but he is a little crazy. He talked about how there is a bunch of surf gangs out to get him and his family. He said that the whole area that he is living in is evil and everyone that lives there is trying to bring him away from Christ. It brings to my mind the question of why he is still living there if what he is saying is true. He is a little crazy though so it might all be part of his imagination. Haha. Torry is progressing and is growing closer to Christ every day. We have stake conference on Dec 3rd which is his baptism date so hopefully we are still able to do it on that day and we don't have to push it back even further. 

Something that I did this week which really has helped me to come closer and become more like christ is by making a list of Christ like atributes. Then I pick ushally one a week that I personally want to work on to improve my week. Every morning and night when I pray I ask for help with the Christ like attribute. It has brought many blessings and has helped me to feel the spirit so much stronger in my daily life. 

A passage from a book that is quoting some other book that I really liked was "Accept whatever is brought upon you, and in changes that humble you be patient. For gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation" Ecclesiasticus 2:4-5. I think this quote is applicable to all of us in so many ways. We will all face trials and tribulations that we will need to be humble and patient as we submit ourselves to the lord to help and guide us. Gold is something precious which can represent all of us. We are all precious in the sight of God and as we are put in the furnace (face trials and tribulations), as we humble ourself and let that fire burn through us and purify us we can become something amazing. There is a mormon message called the refiners fire which talks about this in a similar way. Through our trials that we all face, we need to humble ourselves like the people that Alma teaches in Alma 32 that get kicked out of their places of worship by the rich and prideful. As they humble themselves and repent and submit themselves to the will of the lord they are blessed. I know that we can all become more like Christ as we humble ourselves and submit ourselves to the will of the lord. Let the lord be the blacksmith in our lives and through him be made pure!

I love all of you and will try to take more pictures next week. For all of you who want my address, it is 1100 Seagate ave. Apt. 220 Neptune Beach, Fl 32266. Have an amazing week full of love and full of Jesus Christ!

Elder Elgaaen & Karl



Elder Elgaaen

Trying to spell elder with fire. 
Didn't really work.

Mission Zone Conference

Jacksonville East Zone
Back row: Zone Leader Blanchard, Elders-Elgaaen, Karl, Smart Yentes Saxton, District Leader Burg, Elder Redford
Front row: Sister Training Leaders Thomas & Williams, Sisters Karper, Bedwell, Pres & Sister Lee, Sister Roberts, Yingling, Meyers, and Conger

 

 

November 6, 2017 A Fast Week!

This week flew by. Especially P-day. It was here one minute and gone the next. I will have to keep the letter short because I'm not suppose to be emailing after 6. Jax Beach is awesome! Lots of military, retired, orvtorist people here. It is hard to find new investigators. The beach is beautiful and I will have to get back to you on pictures for it. I have other pictures too. My companion is awesome. It's Elder Karl. Our district is awesome as well. I have seen miricals already even though they may seem small like finding $20. It's awesome how simple things bring great miricals. I've been reading 1 chapter at least out of every book in the scriptures and it has been an awesome experience. Love you all! Have an amazing week full of Jesus Christ and his teachings and always choose the right in all you do!

October 30, 2017 Transfer's Already?

Hey! I thought I sent a letter last week but maybe I didn't? Sorry...

Well this week was very good. We were preparing all week for transfer calls to see who was getting transferred and where. Out of 6 in our district, 4 got transferred including me. Every one I've talked to said that they stay in a area for usually 3-6 months before getting transferred. I guess not me! I'm going to Jax Beach in Florida and it is right on the beach. We have a mission rule that where the sand begins the mission ends. So I can't go on the beach at all which is sad but I can look at it. I've really grown to love Waycross Ga and all the people in it as well as my district. They are awesome and have helped me grow so much. 

This week we found 5 new investigators and had a lesson with 2 of our progressing investigators. It was a really good week and was super productive compared to most. One big thing that I've noticed that probably made the work better is having a positive attitude. A positive attitude is very necessary to have a enjoyable time in the mission field as well as life. Sometimes things don't go your way, you make mistakes, and life just sucks. Satan would love us to be angry and bitter in these times. Doing this only effects our family, friends, and our brothers and sisters all around us in work, school, and at home. A positive attitude can make the worst days bearable if not enjoyable. I have seen how much the Lord blesses me when I keep a positive attitude and act like Christ would in every situation. Like one of my favorite songs from Alex Boye ( lemonade) it says when life gives you lemons, MAKE LEMONADE! I challenge everyone to make a list of things that are lemons in your daily life and then a list of things you can do to make those lemons into sweet lemonade. A few suggestions is to read scriptures, sing a hymn, view everyone as a child of God, know that God knows and loves you individually and has a plan for you. I can testify and know that as we make lemonade with our life problems, and have a positive attitude we can better ourselves as well as all those around us!

I love all of you and pray for you. You are what has made me who I am today. I love the letters and emails and appreciate the love you show for me. I love you! Have a blessed week

Love,

Elder Elgaaen 

Pictures

1.Cotton Field

2. Crazy Halloween Decorations

3. Me on a Train

4. Pig

5. 6:30 run (a bit chilly)

6. Me by another Cotton Field

 

 

October 16, 2017 "The Dog?"

This week went by so fast! There were a few crazy experiences that happened this week. So we will start!

Tuesday I had a cool experience with Elder Wilson. We haven't found anyone yet and so we went to the Church to do some online finding. We called up a potential investigator and we were able to do a Facebook video chat with her. It was cool to see how she was interested and wanted to learn even though we weren't talking in person. Facebook has been such a powerful tool and has helped us find people and keep in contact with people. 

On Wednesday we were able to give a  blessing to someone who was sick. It was good and a cool experience. After we got fed even though we didn't have a meal and we also got to know one of the priests named Hinckley better. 

On Thursday, we helped set up for a wedding reception that was going to happen on Saturday. It was a sister who served here who married a guy from here. We were also told about mission moms on Facebook and they have posted pictures on there of us. 

On Friday we helped a little with the setup of the wedding because we had a trade off. Me and Elder Whittle were together and it was quite fun. While we were together we stopped at the church and we helped a little more with the wedding reception setup. We carried some things in and when we were walking down the hall to go plan, one of the sisters there said that Sister Bennett had fallen and she needed help up. She had tripped over the curb cement things and fell on her shoulder. We helped her up but she was in a lot of pain. We gave her a blessing and she went to the hospital to get it x-rayed. She broke her shoulder in 2 places. When we gave her the blessing she felt comforted which was really cool. That day me and Elder Whittle found a few people and it was cool. It seemed that people were flocking to us as we walked around. Haha 

 

On Saturday we had the wedding reception and it was fun. We ate lots of good food. 

This p-day, we had it with our zone. I bought a afro and was a basketball player. I'll include a picture. It was fun and we hung out with a lot of people.

A cool experience we had yesterday, was we went to teach an investigator named Luke. He has always made excuses that he is busy every time we go by. This time his family was just leaving and he had a moment to talk. When we talked to him, he understood and was able to explain why on almost everything we asked him. He is almost ready and we set a baptism date for the 25th of November. He was defiantly prepared by the Lord to hear the word and he needs to make time for it. I love that and hope everyone has a great week. Have a blessed day. Love you! 

1. Our only weights

2. ? 

3. Morning face yawn

4. Clouds

5. Fog

I forgot the dog storie... So when we were teaching a investigator a random dog came up and he was on his side and he would scoot towards us and bite our pants to get our attention. It was weird. I kept moving and he kept following me!

More pictures... 

1. Afro pic

2. Sunset

3. More afro

4. Lucky acorn

My new afro

 

Lucky Acorn

 

 

 

 

 

October 9, 2017 This Week Was Awesome!

This week was awesome! It did rain a little bit too. I was fairly busy every day during the week. On Tuesday we did service all day and didn't have any time to meet with anyone. Thursday was a zone conference down in Jacksonville and we left at 9 and got back that night around 9. Wednesday  we did a trade-off and that was fun. And the rest of the week was normal.

So a cool story that happened to me was on the trade-off on Thursday. It was me and Elder Smart teaching together. We didn't have much success finding anyone but we had a lesson with a investigator named Saundra. I had never met her before but the other elders had taught her a few times. She had lots of questions and I was trying really hard to listen and answer by the guidance of the spirit. After a while her daughter came by and joined us for the lesson. After teaching a while, there was a really strong spirit that I felt. Around that time, Saundra's daughter asked me when the first time I felt the Holy Ghost was. I said when I was a young kid, I had lost a book and couldn't find it. I looked everywhere for it but found nothing. Then I asked my mom if she had seem it. She asked if I had prayed. I had not prayed. So I knelt and asked if Heavenly Father could help me find the Book. Immediately after I stood up and felt I should walk over to a area and it was sitting on a shelf where I had already looked. That is when I had first felt the spirit. Then she insisted that I ask her why she asked me that. I asked and she told me that my face glows when I speak and teach. It really helped me to feel like what I was doing was the right thing and that I was doing what I was that evening for a reason. 

On a more crazy note, on Saturday night me and my companion were looking for a new investigator. We went up to a house where we saw someone. We asked if he would have time to here our message and he said no. We started walking back to the car and a guy was yelling at us from his porch. He was asking why we were out so late. We said we were sharing a message about Jesus Christ. He said he really needed that message and that he has been trying to change but keeps messing up. He said that his friend had just brought over a 6 pack of beer and some cigarettes and he had drank and smoked all of them. It was funny because he kept pounding on his chest and saying God is so good. We tried sharing a short video but he couldn't concentrate so we shared a scripture and plan to meet with him again tonight. Hopefully he isn't drunk! Haha

In a book I've been reading recently called The Power of Everyday Missionaries has given me a new perspective on missionary work. Everyone could and should do missionary work in every day and every aspect of their lives. As we do missionary work we are fulfilling our purpose. A good way to think about it is this... How many blessings do we receive as being members of the Church? The answer is so many! You can find so many scriptures of promised blessings. Also think of how heart broken you would be if someone in your family or one of your friends left the Church as many of us probably have experienced. You would feel so sorry for them. As members of the Church it is our responsibility to share if not just offer to share the gospel with anyone. It is their choice to accept it but we need to offer it. I know sometimes it might not seem relevant or like it's the right time but it is! Apply the gospel in schooling, work, activities, and in your home. As we do this we can share how we have been blessed and draw the interest of others. I promise if you do this, you will be blessed and bless others lives. By just planting a seed in someone's life, a whole tree can grow.  I love all of you and pray for you. We are a peculiar people and are all a huge part of missionary work. Have a blessed week and remember that we are all children of God!

Flooding fountain in a church.

Missionary Party

Wycross Georgia