Jared's Mission - October 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>October 2004</B></div> <div> <B>Grants, New Mexico</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>October 25, 2004 - </B>Jared wrote "we have 3 baptismal dates set for November and another three people who are progressing well."  Lorrie is going to be baptised the same day as her niece.  She was formerly a member of the 7th Day Adventist church.  Brenda who is a Navajo single mother is also ready. She iswaiting for her boyfriend who lives in Arizona to perform the ordinance.</div> <bR> <div> We are trying to gain the trust of the wards in Grants.  They've had some poor missionaries who had turned them off to missionary work. More members need to participate in missionary work. The number of referrals from members has been dropping and we need to reverse that trend.</div> <bR> <div> <B>October 18, 2004 - </B>Jared wrote "I got sick early in the week with a mild cold and sore throat. Just when I felt like I was getting over that I got the FLU real bad! Man was I sick!!!! At 2:30am one morning I asked my companion to give me a blessing. Twenty minutes later I puked for the last time and felt better, but I could not sleep. Finally I did fall asleep at 5:30am, and did not get up at 6:30am.  That day I had to travel to Crown Point to do an interview for baptism. It was one hour there and one hour back, but I survived."</div> <bR> <div> We now have a baptism scheduled for November 26. We also found another person who seems promising.  I also went to Thoreau for splits with the missionaries in that town.  It was fun to work with Elder Hymas of my MTC group. It was humbling to see the people there. Some live in Hogans with no insulation and 10 people living in a room the size of our family room. The Navajo's are interesting people and I know I will learn to love them.</div> <bR> <div> Our mission president has asked that on P-day (Mondays) that we do nothing other than (a) write letters, (b) do laundry, (c) do shopping, and (d) sleep.  No basketball or other recreation are allowed!  This is going to be tough for me, but I'll do my best.</div> <bR> <div> <B>October 11, 2004 - </B>Jared admitted that the time has passed rather quickly noting that it was almost Halloween. On Friday we went to one of the local prisons to meet with a man named Leo.   His from Panama. After High School he wanted to go to college but had no money. So friends suggested they rob a bank.  It was so much fun they continued doing it, until of course they were caught. In prison he has read the Book of Mormon 4 times and the Bible once. He is now reading Jesus the Christ.  I think he has really had that change of heart. He may be deported to Panama when his sentence is over. We have several investigators and some are getting close to baptism. One of them is named Lorrie. She's been listening to the anti-Mormon crowd and has had some different questions for us lately.</div> <bR> <div> Grants is a small town with just 5 traffic lights, but it does have a Walmart super center so it can't be that small. We watched General Conference at the Stake Center here in Grants.</div> <bR> <div> <B>October 4, 2004 - </B>Jared completed the 1st 1/3 of his mission today. He reported that he is very busy in Grants. In his new district are a pair of sister missionaries located in Crown Point, a pair of Elders in Thoreau, He and his companion are the only ones in Grants. There are a couple of adult missionaries serving in nearby areas as well. He complained that US mail from Boise takes 2 days while from Sandy it takes 4 days, adding that he thought that Salt Lake was closer to New Mexico than Boise. Balloons from the Albuquerque hot air balloon fiesta don't often wander over to Grants, but occasionally they do. He hopes that next year he is close enough to Albuquerque to see part of the festival. He requested an audio recording of Evan Woody's  departure talk in Sacrament meeting on October 31st.</div> <bR> <div> In his letter Jared reported that he is getting used to Grants, "its a nice place and the people seem really nice". We have not had time to get out to the reservation yet, since we have been so busy in town.  All the changes that we were presented when President Koyle arrived have now been laid on us.  When the zone leaders explained all that we were to do we all felt overwhelmed. We are learning the new discussions and the study guide "Preach My Gospel". We also have new planning meeting requirements. There are new things we need to teach now that I thought were missing previously like the creation and the fall. We are working with several people but few are progressing very well. We are teaching a Navajo lady named Brenda.  She is getting close to baptism.  Another lady we are teaching is from the Philippines.  She lost her son one night when she let him go swimming with the Presbyterians. He drowned and they didn't even talk to her. They just left his clothes on her fence.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>