I keep forgetting to do this (Keri)

So I decided that I would put my name in the title because everytime I read someone elses I don't know who it is. I can't really remember what I posted last so I'll just do the exciting stuff I can remember. This last weekend Kelly and I went down to Payson...that is so wierd to say...usually we have to climb the hill not go down it...anyway we went to Payson to visit the family...ok actually we went to do laundry and pick up the X-men Origins: Wolverine movie that mom got from netflix. Well...they were going to return it and I wanted to see it...so be quiet. (You do realize that you can not return the Stardust movie when you get it either mom) Then we came back Sunday morning because the institute choir was taking a field-trip to Holbrook to do a choirside(apparently thats what you call firesides that are mostly singing). Technically Kelly and I are not in the choir but we are awesome and went anyway. For those of you thinking how did they manage that............ we are awesome!!! AND in my math class even if I get a 0% on my final I still pass with like a 74%!!!! I can't fail the class!! IN YOUR FACE!!! So total bummer...for IWA (its kinda like the sorority for the institute) stands for Institute Womens Association...there is a girl ask guy formal dance coming up....the only guy I know that would actually go with me might have hockey that night...bummer!!! Oh well its not like I actually have a formal dress to wear anyway.

Missionary news

My week

On monday we went miniature golfing as a zone. That was ok. But going to a mall really isnt very fun.Work the reast of the days wasnt out of the ordinary. But we did a bunch of service this week. Well it was really just one project but it has taken all week. It was a tree that we needed to cut down that was HUGE! We broke the axe so we had only a hatchet so it took forever. But we dug out all the roots though. Tomorrow we will yank it out

Today we went to another mall and raced go karts. Oh man i LOVE racing! It was so much fun! But my arms are really sore from yanking on the steering wheel.It has been Arizona hot these past few days. Only today was it nce the other days were scorchers.But we have a baptism scheduled for the 29th of Nov and two more for the 13 of Dec

I love you Mom
Elder Mendenhall

Ponderosa Beehives

Beth, Sis. McLaws, Esther

Anna, Christina and Brooke

with their octopus that Keri, Kelly, Grandma and I spent hours making

to go with Pres. Monson's talk about beware the maka-feke.

I love being in YW!

Helping Hands

That is Andrew on the far right (hat on backwards). I don't know when this picture was taken. It was posted to Facebook by one of his "friends" in Africa. So I STOLE it. Yes, I did. And now you are all accessories, because I'm sharing it with all of you. Enjoy!

Heather & the Annoying Kid in Seminary

Ok so there's this boy in seminary named (*Mom removed the name*) who just won't shut up. He comes in and starts talking and yet it seems like five people are talking because he's so loud. And then of course since he's talking and making fun of people other boys start talking and teasing/making fun of people. They even talk straight through the lesson which I find very annoying and aggravating. It got to the point that our teacher had to assign seating. It's ridiculous when you have to have assigned seating in seminary because you would think that these kids would know how to behave. The first couple of days the seating order worked but then they started talking across the room to each other. So seats were changed again and again it didn't last very long.

So this morning I went into seminary and sat down. And then I noticed that *'s name had been moved by mine. I inwardly sighed. It was going to be a long day. Needless to say I did not have a very spiritual morning. He kept talking to me and being rude. When his phone would go off he would say "Turn your phone off Heather" and his phone went off several times. And before seminary started he banged on my scriptures which I thought was very offensive and disrespectful. He grabbed my arm and picked it up so I yanked it away and said "Don't touch me." Throughout all of seminary he would do annoying things like this. My friend Maddie sits next to me and she said somethings to him that probably didn't help the situation. But I never once told him to shut up or said something rude. I politely told him not to touch me and to stop when he was pestering someone else. I was just surprised that I could ignore him for the most part. I wonder if what Mom says really does work"They do it to get a rise out of you. If you ignore them they will stop doing it." because he was still loud but yet he was quieter than he usually is. So I wonder if my teacher put him by me for a reason because I'm the only one by him and I just ignore him.

from Elder A. Mendenhall

Im happy Nathan is done with everything now. It makes everytihng so much less stressful when its all done. My week has been pretty good. Nothing out of the ordinary except that we started chopping down a tree that had a diameter of probaby 4or 5 feet! We still arent done but we're going to go back on thursday to finish.The member missionary seminar on fellowshipping went really well yesterday. Immediately after the class was over the members started talking to all the investigators and swithcing numberrs like crzy. I just hope it sticks.
I love you Mom.
Elder Mendenhall

Heather got a calling

So I got a calling. I'm going to be the Laurel class president. I'll be set apart next week. I think it's kind of funny because I haven't even been in the ward for very long. Hopefully the other Laurels won't be upset because they've been there longer and didn't get the calling.

from Andrew

The Investigator, Mzondile, has gotten even further! We acrtually had to give him a PMG to study the lessons on his own because he was going too fast for us! He told us yesterday that he had some kind of dream that has him worried but those things happen a lot here ... its bot so hard to overcome if he wants to.

As far as the member missionary thing its coming really well ... mostly though im learning a lot of stuff to bring home with me for callings throughout my life. Its interesting how simple it is for members to do missionary work when they get past being afraid.

I love you Mom
Elder Mendenhall

from Elder A. Mendenhall

I actuall havent taken a new picture with my new companion yet ... i'll have to do that this week and get back to you next week. He is from Zimbabwe and has been out 6 weeks! He speaks english very well and like almost every African knows about 6 languages. We stay in a flat in a pretty nice area. Its small but then again i've been pretty spoiled in the rest of my boardings so i shuldn't complain too much.

They are stil called President ... at least i think ...

This week was actually really good. We have this investigator who is teaching and committing himself. He found out his Dad was a member and started asking questions. He visited church once near Johannesburg with his Dad and decided he wanted to be a part of it. So He saw the missionaries there once before coming home and saw the missionaries here once before i got here. So on his third visit with missionaries he had already read and prayed about the first three lessons: The Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Plus he had made it up to halfway through 2 Nephi and even looked through the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith a little bit. When we saw him the second time he had read the Word of Wisdom pamphlet and, having questions about why we dont drink tea or coffee, called his father for clarification. He then committed himself to change and is already drinking an herbal tea instead. He is so far ahead and knows so much that we cant really teach him so instead we gave him Preach My Gospel and told him to study from there which he has already started to do. This guy is so sweet! His baptismal date is December 13!

We are currently teaching 27 people who are progressing and 9 people have baptismal dates. Im having so much fun here! Its nice after all the hard work for no reward in my last area. Im going to start writing a seminar on how members can do member missionary work, particularly on how to be a fellowshipper. I only have like 3 weeks to do it so i need to start tomorrow. Actually i've been brainstorming fo a few days but i need to start the research stuff tomorrow.

I love you Mom
Elder MEndenhall

from Jennifer

Heather's fall break is coming to an end. She spent this last week in Glendale. It is Stake Conference weekend in the Glendale Stake. Nathan and I went to the adult session last night. It was really good. That's always my favorite session.

A counselor to the Phoenix Mission President spoke. Are the counselors also called President? President Morris, Brother Morris? Anyway. He told a story about a man who joined the church in the 60's, back east somewhere. Sorry, I'm not good with details. When he joined he ended up in a branch with about 10 active members. A few years later he found himself the branch president and the branch had only grown to 20 members. So he prayed about how to grow his little branch. And this is what he did. He invited 3 families to each invite 1 family for a meeting kinda like a fireside on a Wednesday night. The missionaries were in charge of part of the meeting and taught a lesson. Then they invited the families to come again on Sunday for another lesson. Then on Sunday they invited them to come again on Wednesday night. So, the families were getting 2 lessons a week and getting to know other families in the branch. He did this for a couple of years. He said they just kept teaching them until they got baptized or they said, "no more." In the first year they baptized 450 people! in families! 190 in the second year! Isn't that amazing? I'm sure he had to really pray about which families to have invite another family, but still. Great story.

He said something else I thought was interesting. The 3 fold mission of the church is: perfect the saints, preach the gospel, redeem the dead. If we consentrate on preaching the gospel and redeeming the dead the perfecting of the saints takes care of itself. Good meeting.

Lots of love, Mom

I love Google Maps

You know I had to look up - KwaDabeka, South Africa.

You knew where it was though, right?

from Elder Mendenhall

Im in kwaDabeka now. Its another township but it has a ward. My new companion is Elder Ndhlovu from Zimbabawe. I don't really know what to think about the place except that President Mann gave me a bit of a special assignment. The area im in just split into two areas because they had too many people to teach. So President said since he needed a good teacher he was sending me in. Apparently he's been telling all the missionaries that im one of the best teachers in the mission. I dont know about that but its nice to hear anyway ... only now i need to produce. I think thats why he said it in the first place. He is really good with that psychological warfare stuff. But i guess thats been his profession for most of his life, training and getting the most out of employees.
I love you Mom.
Elder Mendenhall