Jared's Mission - February 2005

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#CC6633" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03c006e0ddvuzq.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>              </B></FONT><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission"><U><B>Jared's Mission -  New Mexico Albuquerqu</B></U></A><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission"><U><B>e</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>  | </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.theHaslams.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.theHaslams.com"><U>theHaslams.com</U></A></FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >             <IMG SRC="05a44320.gif" border=0 width="68" height="50" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></FONT></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#FFFF33" TEXT="#080000" background="03dbec00ddxazb.gif"> <div> <A HREF="photo_album.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission Photo Album"><U><I><B>Mission Photo Album</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="companions.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission Companions"><U><I><B>Companions</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.mission.net/new-mexico/albuquerque" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mission.net/new-mexico/albuqu"><U><I><B>New Mexico Albuquerque Mission Alumni </B></I></U></A><I><B>  </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>--------------</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="march_2005.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission March 2005"><U><I><B>March 2005</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="february_2005.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission February 2005"><U><I><B>February 2005</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="january_2005.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission January 2005"><U><I><B>January 2005</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="december_2004.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission December 2004"><U><I><B>December 2004</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="november_2004.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission November 2004"><U><I><B>November 2004</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="october_2004.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission October 2004"><U><I><B>October 2004</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="september_2004.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission September 2004"><U><I><B>September 2004</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="august_2004.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission August 2004"><U><I><B>August 2004</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="july_2004.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission July 2004"><U><I><B>July 2004</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="june_2004.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission June 2004"><U><I><B>June 2004</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="may_2004.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission May 2004"><U><I><B>May 2004</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="april_2004.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission April 2004"><U><I><B>April 2004</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="march_2004.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission March 2004"><U><I><B>March 2004</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="february_2004.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission February 2004"><U><I><B>February 2004</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mtc.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission MTC"><U><I><B>D</B></I></U></A><A HREF="mtc.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission MTC"><U><I><B>eparture Day</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="preparation.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission Preparation"><U><I><B>Mission Preparation</B></I></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>   </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>February 2005</B></div> <div> <B>Bayfield, Colorado</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>February 28, 2005 - </B>Jared wrote "Things haven't changed much, but I would say this is the best week I've had in Bayfield so far. That does not mean it was good, it just means it was better". The best part of the week was getting a new 2005 Chevy Colorado 4x4 to replace the old Dodge Dakota that had reached 55,000 miles. It was good to get rid of the old truck given the mud bath its been through. The 2nd best part of the week was working with Elder Landon (who is now an AP). He visited on Friday and worked with Jared all day.</div> <bR> <div> A sister named Elsie is preparing for baptism on March 16th. A brother named Nephi (member of the RLDS church) is also progressing. Jared wrote "you should have heard President Koyle's reaction to this news, he couldn't believe it". Bayfield has not had any convert baptisms in a long while. "Even when things are going in the right direction things here are still an uphill battle".</div> <bR> <div> <B>February 21, 2005 - </B>Jared and his companion Elder Moore had a lousy week:</div> <bR> <div> <B>Stuck in the Mud:</B> On Wednesday night February 16th we had an appointment 50 miles away and zone conference the next day. The plan was to go to the appointment and then to Bloomfield for zone conference. We took off with the truck loaded with everything that we thought we needed. Elder Moore was driving. While we were looking for the home where we had the appointment the truck got stuck in the mud. I looked at Elder Moore and told him I was not going to push. So Elder Moore got out and pushed and luckily we got out of the mud. Elder Moore ended up covered in mud and therefore we had to cancel our appointment. Next Elder Moore had a new idea. He decided to drive over the mountain rather than go around it. So off we went up the mountain in our two wheel drive Dakota truck. At first the road was not that bad; but then the mud got deeper. Soon we were barley clearing the mud while the wheels were in ruts. By this point we knew it would be impossible to turn around, so we continued on hoping that we could make it through. Soon were bumper deep in 2 feet of the most awful mud I've even seen. We were stranded in the middle of nowhere at 8pm in the dark of night. Believing no one would find us we started to walk in ankle deep mud for 10 miles finally reaching a highway, but there were no cars so we kept walking until we found a house at 10:15. The home owner offered to give us a ride into town and drop us at the only place that was open "a casino". So picture us at 10:30 at night in our shirts and ties all covered with mud standing outside a casino. Brother Potter from the ward pulled up at 11:00 and took us home. When we got there we called President Koyle and told him what had happened. He told us not to come to zone conference, but find a way to get the truck out of the mud. That night I froze my butt of since my blanket was in the truck. In the morning we called towing companies but no one wanted to go to where the truck was. Finally we found a guy who was willing to try. Thankfully he rescued the truck for $120.</div> <bR> <div> I've tried to love the people here, I really have tried, but they are making it hard. The ward simply won't trust us.They wouldn't trust the Apostle Paul if here were preaching the gospel here. It is no wonder missionary work here has sucked for a very long time. Tracting is totally worthless, I'm tired of the people answering the door "all pist off".</div> <bR> <div> <B>February 14, 2005 -</B> Jared wrote "Things here are really SLOW, I won't miss writing every week when there's nothing going on. Bayfield is my biggest challenge yet and I'm not feeling like that is a good thing. We do have one investigator, but tracting here has proven totally ineffective. Everyone answers the door in a bad mood! Proving that country folk are not always nice. Sometimes I feel like the only way we can redeem Bayfield is to burn it down and baptize for the dead." He added " it is tough to turn a whole ward around regarding their feelings about missionary work and missionaries". The weather has been rain, snow and sun. I wish the ground hog could make up his mind.</div> <bR> <div> <B>February 7, 2005 - </B>Jared e-mailed to say that "it is going to be an uphill battle because this area is more depressing than Placitas. There hasn't been a lot going on here for a very long time.</div> <bR> <div> Bayfield is really small and does not have a lot in it. We cover more than just Bayfield and the ward here does have 220 active members.</div> <div> In his letter Jared wrote "things are real slow here, we are not teaching anyone. This area is going to be even tougher than Placitas was." He adds "I'm getting tired of building areas from nothing. This whole week was a tract-a-thon and we have nothing to show for it. We didn't get much done on Saturday which is the best day of the week because Elder Moore was not feeling well. We are trying to get the ward involved, but since I guess some poor missionaries have been through here they simply do not trust us, nor do they want to involve us. I know with the Lord nothing is impossible, but we have our work cut out for us here. Right now things are tougher than I ever imagined they could be."</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>