Jared's Mission - March 2004

<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> <div> <B>March 2004</B></div> <div> <B>Farmington New Mexico</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>March 29, 2004 -  </B>Jared wrote "It's been a tough week as everyone was gone on Spring Break. Our contacts weren't home and tracting did not yield much of anything."  Jared feels like Elder Landon does not want his input so he's now reluctant to give it.  Drunken Indians are not uncommon in Farmington.  The first of the month they take their checks to Walmart and drain all the booze and cigarettes from it and then later in the month they look for handouts. Jared called Walmart "some local's Disneyland". There are many churches in Farmington, we live next to a Catholic church where the bells ring every half hour. The bells sometimes wake me up at night.</div> <bR> <div> <B>March 22, 2004</B> - Jared wrote "It's so weird how time moves while I've been on my mission. It seems to go Fast.... yet the days seems like they are so long. I try not to think about the time, but that's hard when somebody asks you every day "How long you been out?""  Jared added that he's starting to have fun but feels like his companion does not think the work can be fun. I now know my way around the area, I just forget the street names sometimes.</div> <bR> <div> Jared says that muggings are not uncommon in Farmington.  They met a person who had moved from New York City and was mugged within two weeks of being in Farmington. He said "that never happened in New York City".</div> <bR> <div> They found a couple of investigators from tracting.  One started by saying "I don't believe in God" but after the first discussion had changed her tone.</div> <bR> <div> <B>March 15, 2004</B> - Jared reported that he is starting to know the way around the area and the local members are getting to know me. Again he said "the members here are really nice". Elder Landon and Elder Haslam now how 8 people committed to baptism with 6 of the 8 having chosen dates.  One of these Sister Gray came to church on Sunday March 14th for the 1st time. The spirit was strong the talks were about baptism and at the end of the sacrament service she said "I want to be baptized 3 weeks from Saturday".</div> <bR> <div> Jared answered a few questions we had.  How did you get from Albuquerque to Farmington? <B>Using the mission van.  </B>How often do you cook dinner? <B>Not very often the members usually feed us.</B> Do you ride your bicycle most of the time? <B>Yes but once in a while we get to drive the truck [truck? What's up with that?]</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>March 8, 2004</B> - Jared reported again that the members in Farmington are truly terrific! Among the fantastic members is Sister Culler who helps the missionaries in many ways including doing their laundry. He wrote "Everything here is going good and only seems to be getting better.  We are teaching quite a bit right now and have 7 people committed to baptism. Perhaps they all won't keep their commitment. We are working hard and praying that they will follow through". He added "everything is finally starting to settle down. For a while things seemed confused, but now I'm understanding and I'm starting to settle into a grove, and it is starting to become fun."</div> <bR> <div> He wrote to Michael "I'm sorry to hear how your basketball season finished. I truly thought this year's team was better than the last couple I've seen. I guess you'll just have to do it next year. Work hard and I know you can contribute and be an asset to your team. Plus, now that I'm serving a mission the Lord will bless you and maybe he'll bless your team with a state championship; though that miracle might be harder than the parting of the Red Sea.</div> <bR> <div> Jared reported that his companion Elder Landon has only been out 6 months. Experience wise they must be the youngest companionship in the mission. He added "he knows his stuff and I am learning a lot from him".</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="055c2de0.jpg" border=0 width="194" height="222" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="058e5e30.jpg" border=0 width="229" height="227" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="20" VSPACE="0">March 6, 2004 - The Church News announces that <B>Brent H. Koyle</B> from South Carolina will replace <B>William Mansell</B> as president of the New Mexico Albuquerque mission on July 1, 2004. Brother Koyle was born in Spanish Fork, Utah but has been living in South Carolina where his wife Pamela was born.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>March 1, 2004</B> - In his first letter from Farmington New Mexico (which made it to us in an amazingly short 2 days!) Jared reported that his apartment is very small (2 small rooms and a bathroom).  [On a map of Farmington we've found the apartment is located near "downtown" as Allen separates East and West addresses in Farmington. Jared is working in the Farmington 2nd Ward which he says "has lots of members which are really nice".  [The 2nd, 4th and 7th Ward Building in Farmington is pictured below]. The <A HREF="https://secure.lds.org/units/stake/0,9780,606-1-5-500631,00.html?" TARGET="_top" TITLE="https://secure.lds.org/units/stake/0,978"><U>Farmington stake</U></A> has 8 wards and a single's branch. <A HREF="companions.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jareds Mission Companions"><U>His companion</U></A> is Elder Matt Landon  from Idaho Falls, Idaho. Jared says "He's a big football fan - we are getting along well".</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="057c9980.jpg" border=0 width="201" height="152" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5">Jared reported that he's never lived in an area where every home was not 1000+ square feet. He reported that there are several trailer parks in the area. He said that they have companionship exchanges twice per week.</div> <bR> <div> Jared reported that he's starting to "loose himself in the work" yet some days seem slow and long. I like meeting and talking to people on the street but I've not taken a liking to tracting (yet). </div> <bR> <div> In his story of the week Jared reported that they met a Navajo man on the street . Jared said "How are you doing?", he did not respond. Elder Landon said "Where are you going?" ... still no response. Elder Landon added "cat got your tongue?" ... still no response; so then he said "can we get you a drink?" ... that got a response "now I'm ready to talk to you guys".  So they got him a drink of water at the church and he left angrily!</div> </td> </tr></table></body>