Sunday, May 20, 2018

May 14, 2018 Mothers day and Baptisms

Hey everyone!  This week has been crazy busy but totally worth it!  Hope y'all enjoy!

Monday: Last Pday was great, hit up a shopping mall, that took up most of our day, so yeah

Tuesday: Today we did some service!  we got a call and ended up doing some yard work, mostly pulling weeds and stuff like that but it was sweet!   So our progressing Gator (investigator) had his interview today to be baptized!  We were super excited but so nervous at the same time!  So about 1 hour 45 mins later the interview finally ended...  He passed!!!!  We're so excited for this weekend!  Holy cow the church is true!

Wednesday:  So prepping for a baptism is super hard.  My area hasn't had a baptism for awhile and so everyone was freaking out about it, therefore life was crazy.  But we got a call and had to save another elder who was having a crazy allergy to a bush he touched, his elbow was super swollen and looked super nasty, they didn't have a car so we drove them.  Later that day we were called and asked to do some service, helping load up a pick up and unload it.  So we hooked back up with the other elders we saved and were just about to head out and the lady told us she couldn't do it until later that night.  bummer but we ended up helping clean out some gutters for a couple in the other ward.  Turns out the guy we helped use to rent from my work Timp Rental!  Small world people!  He ended up giving me a sweet that says Warriors weekend!  We Then drove to Plattsmoth for dinner with our progressing investigator and then drove up to south Omaha to load up this pick up  truck, we toasted so many miles today, about 82 and our average is 30 a day...  but we were serving the Lord!

Thursday:  District meeting!  So since we're running low on miles we walked to district meeting and showed up all hot and sweaty.  District meeting was super good and about praying with Faith and how to be effective in our prayer and instead of praying we are saying prayers.  It was super good!  Afterwards we hit up  Taco Bell and then off to Shenandoah...  Exchanges!  We had exchanges with our DL and it was super fun!  I went with the DL Elder Towne and it was so sweet!  we drove a lot trying potential and talking to people, we talked to a few people, but not much luck.  We had dinner with the other Elders with a family, it was cool.  Our last appointment was a referral and it was like 3 miles off the road, so we took our Toyota Corolla (Carrol) on it, and it was sweet!  We finally showed up to this farm and pulled off the side of the dirt road and started saying our prayer with faith.  After we finished 3 people were standing outside our car, turns out it was the guy who was the referral!  He is a farmer and a Catholic, so usally they yell at us and we leave but he actually wanted to learn more!  We talked to him and his wife and gave them a copy of President Nelsons study guide to the Book of Mormon and set a return apt!  So cool!  

Friday:  So we didn't have any service while on exchanges, so on our way home we found out that our progressing investigators mom in law pasted away:(  and it has been a super rough week for him and his family.  The sister missionaries tried to contact them but didn't have any luck:/  We drove home and and headed off to another service, mowing a lawn, we showed up and the lady told us the lawn was too wet, but we ended up mowing half of her yard.  It was fun but I was stuck with a crappy electric weed eater.  We got the job done.  We finished the night at a Spanish party that one of our member was hosting, she was celebrating her 2 year anniversary of her company, so she wanted us to be there to answer any questions about the Gospel to her friends but all of them spoke Spanish so it was interesting.  She ended up calling us up as a sponsor, and talking a little about the church and what our role is as missionary's.  We got free t-shirts our of it and were in the company pic!  we also got sweet mexican food as well!  It was a sweet night, even though I didn't understand half the things that were said it was good.

Saturday: Baptism day!  So fun fact, the font takes about 3 hours to fill and you have to watch it to make sure nothing goes wrong.  It was totally worth it!  The spirit was so strong.  Im so grateful for this Gospel.  Saturday was awesome.  Word can't describe how I feel right now.  Next stop is the Temple!  Our Ward mission leader took us out to eat and I had sushi for the first time and it was super good!  

Sunday:  Happy Mothers day!  Im so grateful for all the amazing moms out there!  Today was cool, me and Elder Sandberg taught Primary singing time, that was scary, they trusted us with a bunch of kids...  it was fun, we sang follow the prophet and taught the kids about each prophet!  As most of you know We get to call home today and it was so cool!  Just for an update everything is good in the Phelon home in case if anyone was wondering.  It was a special moment for me and my family.  Im grateful for that chance I had to talk with them and catch back up!  Well hope everyone had a great week!

Pics
Baptism
Elder Towne






















May 7, 2018 May the 4th be with you...

Hey everyone!  This week has been sweet!  Lots of progress and tornados!!!
Monday: Last Pday was sweet we played zone volleyball, it was fun, killed it at the base line and embarrassed some elders in front of the sisters, it was great. 
Tuesday: So the weather this week has been really good and when I mean really good, like 60-70 degree weather and also cloudy!  We walked for about 2 hours in the morning trying to street contact everyone who was outside and it was super fun and sweet!  We were about 2-3 miles away from our apartment and then... The Torndao sirens started going off...  Crap what do we do Elder Sandberg?  "Im not sure, which way we should run? Or if we should hide?"  The wind started picking up super fast, it seemed as if we were screwed so I called the local elders to come save us!...  Turns out they are in Iowa eating lunch...  So we're toast at this point, Elder Phelon is gonna die.  We booked it back to our house and boom.  Nothing happened.  That was exciting, got my exercise for the day haha.  We taught our progressing investigator and he is so ready for baptism!  All we gotta do now is set up an interview! 
Wednesday:  Today, we did the same thing as yesterday, walk around and talk to everyone, it was fun, we discovered a dog park right down the road from our house, but it was full of old people which was really weird... Nothing against old people but none of them had dogs and were just walking around the park.  We also got a text from another investigator wanting to learn more about the second coming!  It crazy how the Lord prepares people, and it just happened to be about the second coming!  We taught them and they wanted to learn more!  It was a sweet day
Thursday: Interviews!  Today was district meeting and also interview with President Gardner.  It was super fun, got to see the zone, it was good talking with President and getting insight of what we need to do to improve or change to become better missionary's!  The rest of our day was pretty slow, it was raining but we were still able to get out and try some people.  We got a referral from a member in our ward about a Young women who wants to be taught so we gave her a try.  We knocked asked one question, her jaw dropped to the floor and boom, we had a return appointment.  Once again the Lord has prepared someone to be taught! 
Friday: So turns out even though your a missionary you can still go third wheeling but since you have a companion, its third and forth wheeling.  We got invited to a breakfast appointment with a member and his "friend" the whole ride was full of PDA and it was just nasty, Me and Elder Sandberg were dying and couldn't stop laughing but at the same time I wanted to throw up as well, super fun story but I'll leave out the details.  We did a ton of service today!  we did about 2 hours at heartland hope and We were also able to give a priesthood blessing as well to a kid who was going though a super rough time, that was a good experience and opened my eyes a little about other peoples life's, and it made me super grateful for my awesome parents!  Thanks Mom and Dad! 
Saturday was another day of service we did about 2 hours helping a member move a wood pile and stack the wood as well.  I love doing service!  Yes I was drenched in sweat but it was so much fun!  (except not being able to use power tools...)  We were able to get a few meals out of the service we did, and it was totally sweet!  it was good to get out of the shirt and tie and do some old fashion labor.  We also got dinner out of this project as well! 
Sunday: Today was your normal Sunday until after church!  Our investigator brought his son who wants to learn more about the Gospel as well!  The sisters jumped on this one but ended up handing him off, (thanks sisters!) we taught him and he totally agreed with what we were teaching him and it was sweet!  This guy has already read out of the Book or Mormon and has studied out of 3 different Bibles!  super cool and he already knows his stuff!  Im super excited to teach this guy and also grateful as well! 
Well hope everyone has a great day!    

Pics
Zone Volleyball
Yeah I knows it's not mayo
Wild turkeys right before the "Tornado"



April 30, 2018 Jags and Service

Hey y'all!  so heres the rundown for this week!
Monday:  Last Pday was sweet!  We couldn't buy any food since all of us are broke but we had a good pday!  We balled it out in Council Bluffs and are starting to bring back CB ball, I actually did pretty good if I say so myself... Well until I twisted my ankle and crashed the party but Im better now! 
Tuesday:  Today was your usual Tuesday, not a lot of stuff happening. 
Wednesday:  Today was special, our ward mission leader was having a hard week due to some bad news with his wife and her health but us and our sisters teamed up and gave them a visit to let them know we are here to help them, and the sisters ended up just walking into his house and started cleaning...  So we couldn't look bad as Elders so we started cleaning too, within an hour the house was clean and the family was happy as well but it was a good time.  We visited our investigator who is set up for baptism this up coming week and things are looking great!  This is the farthest he's made it with missionaries!  We're so pumped! 
Thursday: District meeting was today and that was good, little long but good, its always nice to chill for a few hours, learn something new and see other missionaries, but we have been getting referrals from the Spanish Elders in our area and have been trying those people, not much luck yet, most people are never home or decided they aren't interested which kills us.  Also kills our car as well by toasting miles. 
Friday: Today was sweet!  We did service in the morning and then weekly planned which took up most of our day.  we had a sweet dinner with a couple in our ward who just got married.  They gave us some sweet referrals and a good meal as well.  We did some finding around that area, I almost got attacked by a guys dog, it came at me full sprint and barley missed my legs by inches, the guy wasn't too happy to see us but his neighbor is!  We talked to his neighbor and got a return appointment with him!
Saturday:  We were called and asked to do some yard work, heck yeah!  we cleaned out a garden and got to cut down a couple small trees, which was fun... Since im a missionary now I can't use power tools...  But I can use a machete!  That was a good work out but pics show how much fun it was!  Later that day, we were walking around and a member showed us how to feel squirrels, that was cool, but animals and missionays don't see eye to eye... 
Sunday:  Today was sweet, Elder Sandberg totally passed out during Sacrament meeting and I got some good pictures of him haha, the rest of church was good, we had a ward fireside about ministering and it was super good!  it will be werid how everything will work out now since im use to the old schedule but it sounds like it should really prepare the youth and bring family's closer together! 
Well hope everyone had a great week!
Elder Phelon 
Pics
Everyone thinks me and my comp are brothers
sweet vett #grantsumsion
Service
Sacrament meeting
sweet Jaguar 





April 23, 2018 Transfer Week

Hey Everyone!  So this week was Transfers!  Found out that my trainer will be leaving me and I will get a new companion. 

Tuesday:  Today was slow, Elder Boyer started packing this morning, which took about 4 hours of our day then we headed out to see family's to say goodbye too.  It was a sad day but we still were able to get out and visit.  

Wednesday:  Transfer day, I had to drive Boyer up to the mission office and pick up new companion and also drop off my car and get my bike...  A member wanted to see us one last time so we were out of the house by 6 AM and saw a member, he gave us a sweet key chain tag with our favorite scripture imprinted on a piece of copper.  Afterwards we drove up to Omaha and cleaned the inside of the car and got donuts for breakfast.  It was snowing this morning so cleaning the car sucked.  Transfer point was super fun, we got to welcome all the new missionaries and see old companions and what not, 5 out of 6 of my MTC district was there as well!  so good to see them.  It is hard leaving a companion you've been with for about 4 months, but you build up memories and good times together if you take advantage of it.  My new companion is Elder Sandberg, from St. George, super smart kid and has been out on his mission a little over a year.  We headed home, then headed out for the day and had 3 referrals to contact, one was named April, we stopped by her house and...  She was in the shower...  She still came to the door which was super awkward but told us to come back!  We set up some more appointments and also set up our phones as well.

Thursday:  We went to the Kanesville Tabernacle with a returning member and a another member, and it was super cool seeing another church historical site!  We met a mission president who served a Chili, he didn't know a word of English but knew who we were!  We were able to contact a lot of people today, and saw a potential,  he told us that he studied our religion before and didn't want to continue learning more, but he told us we should study other religions instead of our own and how eternal marriage is a load of bull crap... so the smack down begins...  Elder Sandberg talked about how life doesn't end at death, but it goes on forever and we can all be happy together in the next life.  But the guy told us that everyone is going to get divorced and that I was going to marry an Indian woman who wasn't Mormon and life was going to suck for me.  What is the purpose of dating again?!  Then he started going off on the Book of Mormon and how we are wasting our time and should study other books to find out the truth, I started spitting fire on how God commands us to study to Book of Mormon because it is the true book and pray about it, he got quite and was stumped.  BOOM mic drop, We left after that point and finished our night syncing our phones.    

Friday:  We went to breakfast with a member this morning, then headed off to service.  We met all of the new Elders in our zone, super cool guys.  Afterwards we started weekly planning, went finding tried a few potentials and what not but had a good day.  We had dinner with our Alternative doctor, super cool guy, taught us some cool things about the human body and blew our minds again and fed us a super cool meal!  It was spaghetti and meat balls... but healthy...  He subbed the spaghetti for brown rice and the meat balls for Brussels sprouts mixed with a homemade sauce, super good and super healthy!  We tired April again today, we pulled up to her house and she ran inside and wouldn't answer the door, I guess she only does that when shes naked...  

Saturday:  We finished up weekly planning today and were able to help someone by helping move a couch, sadly my back is still recovering from a recent injury therefore I supervised, everyone did a great job 👍  The family fed us pizza and we got to know the family a little better, but while we were eating pizza, the dog came back into the house and brought a present with it.  It was a foot of some kind, not a body, just the foot.  After searching the back yard, the family found remains of a rabbit.  It was so cool!  Bloody but cool!  The family was ready to throw up and I was having a blast.  Later on in our day, we drove up to to South Omaha to try the rest of our referrals and had some luck, tried to talk to some people on the street but didn't get too far.  We were heading back to our car to drive to our next appointment an there was a Nissan with the hood up, (shocker) but being me, I asked the guy if he needed any help, the guy told us he was just cleaning the battery and could handle it but was started talking to him about our church, within minutes the guy wanted to be baptized and start coming to church!  Its amazing how the Lord works and im so grateful for the opportunity to teach this guy.  We went to a birthday party for a member.  It was super fun, we got dinner, cake and Ice cream.  Our present to him was a blessing, right before we left he asked for a blessing, it was a super spiritual moment knowing people trust us and we were able to act upon it.  

Sunday:  Church was good today, lots of good lessons and meeting up with people, afterwards we had dinner with a family and were able to have a good time talking about dogs, jobs and schooling.  Super fun and great lesson afterwards but only 1 of 2 investigators showed up to church.  we finished the night by street contacting, we talked to everyone we saw!  We even chased down a few people!  I had another opportunity with talking to someone working on there cars!  It was a 2012 Ford F-350 dully, and he was checking the oil and right next to it was another Ford F-350 dully and both of them were red with the duel paint, and it was brown and the bottom half of the truck.  Both had the 6.7 L Power stoke Turbo diesel.  Parked in the street was an older Ford F-250 with the 6.0 Power Stroke but I got super excited and started talking to them!  They gave me the cold shoulder and Ignored me but I was determined to give them a pass along card, they slowly turned around and told us to keep walking.  Geez bro just trying to talk about our Lord and Savior and your truck...  We got a call later that night from Kanesville, asking why Bellevue was on fire?  Psh Bellevue isn't on fire, I turned around to see smoke in the sky and my jaw dropped to the ground.  BELLEVUE IS ON FIRE!!!  Crap what are we gonna do!  The Elders in the area next to us couldn't cross the boarder until it was clear, we ran back to our car and contacted our ward mission leader, we found out it was a bush fire in Downtown Omaha had a tire fire and South Omaha had a bush fire.  I figured it was a Chevy trying to do a burn out or something and a dodge blew up in South Omaha. Im not sure if the city is still burning down but im still alive just in case if anyone was curious haha.  

I'd challenge you guys to always be worthy to act upon any opportunity you have to serve one another, and never take family for granite, even if they are just friends, you should always love them and spend time with them because thats what the Lord would do.  Hope y'all have a good week!  

Pictures
Zoo pics
Transfers
Skid steer








April 16, 2018 April Snow Showers

So I guess my email didn't send...  So here the short and sweet one! 
 This week is week 11 in training therefore, I take control of every situation which really sucks but I survived and Bellevue didn't burn down!  Also this week we had exchanges in Shenandoah, about an hour away.  Our DL is down in this area, but usually how it works, is the senior comp takes the junior but this time it was junior and junior paired together...  I thought for sure we were going to burn down the town but we didn't!  The missionary I had with me had been out for not even a transfer, but we killed it, knocking doors, finding investigators, talking to people and even teaching people!  We also hosted a Mutual event for the youth groups and it was lit, we marked Book of Mormons to give out to investigators.  This week was our last District Meeting for the Transfer, it was good, we hit up subway afterwards and then headed to the appointment we've been waiting for all week... Our recent convert temple trip!!!  It was a super rough road getting here but its finally here!  It was such a good visit, the spirit was so strong and we've already started seeing the blessing in his life!  The Rest of the week was slow due to snow showers, we got about 2 inches of snow throughout the day, almost cancelled church but lucky for us it wasn't.  Also this week, we were at a dinner appointment, and the Husband asked if we wanted to see his basement...  Being an Elder, we followed him down a narrow stair case leading to a dark room...  the lights turned on and blood covered the floor and a dead body was found!  just kidding, it was his man cave in the works, he recently got into RC racing, and showed us his workshop, and Car sadly he wrecked his car today so he couldn't drive it around for us but its suppose to go about 45 MPH but soon to 75 and higher!  He busted his Rack and Pinion, (the steering stuff)  and also blew out a shock and bent a tire under the frame.  Super cool dinner appointment.  Well Pday was a blast we went to Americas best Zoo!  to top it off we got in for free!  it was awesome, it was sorta warm but not snowing!  Hope everyone had a great week!        
So my phone is being dumb buy here are the pics 

District meeting
Nebraska weather 
Last P-day 
Temple Trip (last email)