Michael's Mission - January 2007

<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="#FFFF66" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03c006e0dkfegl.gif"> <div>                          <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > Michael's Mission Page</FONT>      <IMG SRC="04e55390.gif" border=0 width="85" height="57" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>                     California Santa Rosa Mission  June 2006 - June 2008    |   <A HREF="http://www.theHaslams.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.theHaslams.com"><U>theHaslams.com</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#009933" TEXT="#080000" background="03dbec00ddwnzy.gif"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission Front Page"><U><B>Front Page</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="latest_news.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission Latest News"><U><B>Latest News</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="photo_album.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission Photo Album"><U><B>Photo Album</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="companions.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission Companions"><U><B>Companions</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>=====================</B></div> <div> <A HREF="may_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission May 2008"><U><B>May 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="april_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission April 2008"><U><B>April 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="march_w008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission March 2008"><U><B>March 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="february_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission February 2008"><U><B>February 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="january_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission January 2008"><U><B>January 2008</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="december_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission December 2007"><U><B>December 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="november_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission November 2007"><U><B>November 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="october_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission October 2007"><U><B>October 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="september_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission September 2007"><U><B>September 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="august_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission August 2007"><U><B>August 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="july_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission July 2007"><U><B>July 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="june_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mike_Mission June 2007"><U><B>June 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="may_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission May 2007"><U><B>May 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="april_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission April 2007"><U><B>April 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="march_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission March 2007"><U><B>March 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="february_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes mission February 2007"><U><B>February 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="january_2007.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission January 2007"><U><B>January 2007</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="december_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission December 2006"><U><B>December 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="november_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission November 2006"><U><B>November 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="october_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission October 2006"><U><B>October 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="september_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission September 2006"><U><B>September 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="august_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michaels Mission August 2006"><U><B>August 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="july_2006.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission July 2006"><U><B>July 2006</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="arrival.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Arrival in Santa Rosa"><U><B>Arrival in Santa Rosa</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mtc.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mikes Mission MTC"><U><B>Departure & the Missionary Training Center</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>=====================</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.mission.net/california/santa/rosa/index.php" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mission.net/california/santa/"><U><B>California Santa Rosa Mission Alumni Site</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>January 2007</B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>January 29, 2007 - </B></FONT>Michael titled this week's E-mail: <B>February will be Great.</B> He listed the following as the reasons why:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">It's my birthday (and that of my twin)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">We have a baptism scheduled on the 11th (Genera)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Zone conference with a general authority</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Living Legends BYU program in Lakeport on the 2nd</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">It's my 1/3 mark</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">It's a short month</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.gif" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">We have another baptism scheduled for my birthday (February 18th) (Samantha)</div> <bR> <div> We are busy teaching 20+ lessons per week and have more investigators right now than I've ever had before. Genera is progrssing well, but still needs to quit smoking. She had attended church several times, but is now running into some opposition so we are praying for her. Samantha is a bright 9-year old.</div> <bR> <div> To add to all this we have 2 families we might start teaching. The first one has two young children ages 2.5 years and 2.5 months. In the other family Mom and the kids are interested, but the father is not.</div> <bR> <div> On Friday January 26 I attended ZL/DL council meeting and met up with Elder Bennett who is still serving in Eureka.</div> <bR> <div> For his birthday presents he suggested: "Approved CDs", Temples Magazine, pocket-sized scriptures (Book of Mormon and New Testament), Hymns on CD and a Rubick's Cube. He added that neck ties are always welcome, but he has no need at this time for other clothes.</div> <bR> <div> <B>January 22, 2007 - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Michael titled his E-mail, "I'll turn 20 in Clearlake" which meant he wasn't transferred and the next transfer is after his birthday on February 18th.  Regarding the situation he added, "Elder Phillips and I are getting along pretty well. We don't have as much in common as Elder Rosario and I but he makes a lot of jokes that keep us going. No problems, we're doing a good work together". The roads here in Clearlake are horrible. They might be the worst in the Nation! No Joke! They have pot holes everywhere in almost every road. Don't bring 20" rims to Clearlake, you'll bend them for sure! There are also some roads that are more like off road trails that city roads. It's pretty sad. But it won't kill me it will only make me stronger.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Regarding the changes in his district he said, "There will be 3 Elders dying in my district this at the end of the next 6 weeks: Elders Lum, Granja(ZL), and Mitton will be returning home at that time. I don't know what I'm going to do to help them finish strong. At least I don't need to worry about Granja. </div> <bR> <div> "As for the work it is going really well. We might have upwards of 3 baptisms in February. We have a date in Feb. for a lady named Genera. She is amazing and is changing her entire lifestyle around. She is cleaning up her trailer and getting rid of bad friends and influences. We have had a couple of good experiences with her. We taught her outside this week, or tried to, she just wanted to talk but amazingly her ear popped right when we sat down. She had been having trouble hearing for 2 weeks and then the POP. The last time we taught her we gave her a date and she practically jumped out of her seat to accept it. She loved church and associating with the members. She has a 1 year old daughter that everyone had to play with I think. It was great to see her at church. The other good investigator we just picked up, a 9 year old that is way smart. It was a lot different to teach her since she is a lot younger than anybody else I have taught but it was really good to be able to teach it really basic".</div> <bR> <div> <B>January 15 - 2007 - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Michael E-mailed to say that things have settled down since the "Emergency Transfer" on January 5th.  He and Elder Phillips (his second companion from Kearns, Utah are doing OK, but he misses the fun he enjoyed with Elder Rosario.  </FONT></div> <bR> <div> He said he's taught many lessons during the past week; that in part due to the fact that there are so many poor and unemployed people in Clearlake. He added, "Clearlake is known as the 'armpit' of our mission". When his father served in Thailand that mission also had an "armpit". The city was known as Pittsanuloke. Dad doubts that Pittsanuloke would be known as the "pit" of the Thailand Bangkok mission today, owing to the numerous attractive young women members who have posted their pictures at the mission's alimni web site in the last couple of years.</div> <bR> <div> Elder Haslam explained, "..., everybody here is pretty much just skating by. There are a lot of trailor parks and rundown houses. We just walk down the street and we can pretty much find people to teach. We taught 14 other lessons and 2 with a member".</div> <bR> <div> Elder Haslam reported he is still the district leader, however he is co-senior with Elder Phillips since they arrived in the mission field at the same time.  </div> <bR> <div> Michael reported, "The All mission Conference was awesome. We had a lot of fun. I did a great job playing Joseph Smith if I do say so myself. I have some pictures, and hopefully we'll be able to get the DVD. I was dressed in all white since I came from the Spirit World. I wanted to tie the same knot that J.S. wore but I couldn't figure it out. It was really cool."</div> <bR> <div> The contact who has a baptismal date of January 21st, did not make any of his commitments this week, so it now looks like the baptismal date must be postponned.</div> <bR> <div> His experience of the week included, "I was on exchanges with the AP's after our interviews on Tuesday. We went to a trailor park and talked to a great lady named Margarita. When we mentioned the Book of Mormon she said "I have that book and whenever I feel sad, depressed, or just struggling, I read that book and I feel better, I feel comforted." She already feels the power of that book! We'll see how that goes".</div> <bR> <div> <B>January 9, 2007 - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Julie Wilson from the Middletown Ward E-mailed the following: "</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >We'll really miss Elder Haslam, but since we share the building with Clearlake we'll at least see him on Sundays. And if they go on splits we may see him. </FONT></div> <bR> <div> I wanted to tell you that he gave a very moving lesson in combined Relief Society and Priesthood on missionary work and sharing the gospel with others because we love the Savior and we love our friends and families. You could tell the message was heartfelt and you could see how much he must love the Savior. It was a poignant moment."</div> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="emergency_transfer"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>January 8, 2007 - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><I>What Michael's dad had expected at some point happened on Friday January 5, 2007.  Michael "the peacemaker" was "emergency transferred" to solve a problem where 2 other Elders in his district refused to work together.</I>  To solve this problem Michael was transferred north to Clearlake and one of the missionaries who "walked out on his companion" was transferred to Hidden Valley Lake to take Michael's place. Michael wrote, "I did not want to go. I loved the Middletown Ward and I loved to serve with Elder Rosario. He was a lot of fun even though it was hard to find work. So now I'm with another MTC buddy (Elder Phillips) and we're going to tear it up here in Clearlake. This place is not a very happy place. There are a lot of people that are poor and live in bad conditions and the streets are torn apart and all sorts of things going wrong, but there are a lot of humble people here. Now don't think like I'm depressed or sad just disappointed. I realize and know that I did not come on my mission to do what I want to do. I came to do what God and His son Jesus Christ want me to do. If that's to be the peacemaker and work in Clearlake on a bike again that's fine. I can do that. </FONT></div> <bR> <div> Michael wrote the following regarding the work in Clearlake, "So this week has been crazy!! We do have a really awesome investigator that we just picked up and committed this week. His name is Wayne. He came to church twice before we taught him. While I was on exchanges on Thursday we taught him for the first time. We taught him the first lesson and I was in the process of teaching about baptism when he committed himself to baptism!! So I set a date of the 21st with him!! On the first lesson!!"</div> <bR> <div> He added, "The mission is doing awesome! We met our transfer goal last month - it was 38 and I think we got 40. This transfer we set a goal of 45 and have 48 committed right now!!"</div> <bR> <div> <B>January 1, 2007 - </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Michael E-mailed from the Fisher's residence.  He said he is looking forward to 2007 which he called, "The one and only year that I will be on my mission for the entire year!</FONT></div> <bR> <div> He said, "I enjoyed talking to you all last week and I was also wanted it to be longer.". </div> <bR> <div> He received a card and package from the Schwendiman family, however, he has to wait until Wednesday when they travel to Middletown to pick the package up at the post office. He also said his grandmother Westberg sent a package full of candy which he appreciated.</div> <bR> <div> The baptism of sister Watson on Saturday went well. He husband baptized her and then Elder Granja confirmed her. She and her husband are excited to go to the temple and be sealed in a year.</div> <bR> <div> Michael commented, "Other than that the work is slow. We now have only 1 weak investigator. We need to find more. We had the opportunity to teach the combined R.S/Priesthood meeting yesterday. We taught well and I feel were able to help them understand the importance of member work in this area but I don't know if it will change them."</div> <bR> <div> On Christmas evening while they were having dinner at the home of the Heizer family, sister Heizer took ill and was taken away in an ambulance after receiving a blessing.</div> <bR> <div> Michael concluded this letter with, "Happy Birthday DAD! You're getting old."</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>