Me & my companion at the Christmas Créche

Ol' Smoky

Hello family!

This has been a very quick week! Plenty of things going on.

Last Monday night, we went over to one member's home. We had the ward mission leader there and his wife and had Family Home Evening with them and mainly went to fellowship them. I feel so many members need to know that they have a friend at church and that we are all struggling with various things in life.

We had Zone Conference last week. That's where typically 3 zones that are relatively close to each other come together where we usually have a general authority and President McCune speak to us. This time we had President and Elder Don Clarke of the area 70. He's such an awesome speaker! He had so many insightful things to share with us all! Essentially the bottom line was that we all needed to be more obedient to mission rules because they say obedience reaps blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles. After that, my comp and I have been trying to focus more on the little things that we need to work on.

One of our stakes put together a Christmas Créche. It's a humongous display of nativities and it was open to the
public as a missionary tool and to help everyone feel the spirit. Centreville Stake needs to do something like that! It was very cool!

We were with Jason R. and his family all day. We went to a team roping event where we supported their two oldest kids. Then we all went back to the ranch and did some service, then had like a super FHE. We invited over this guy and his girlfriend (who also happens to be the Bishop's daughter) and he is getting baptized in Orem.

We went to Jason's Ward expecting it to be one of our last times going there because of transfers. After that we went back to Spanish Fork and taught some great lessons. Good day! That evening we had correlation meeting for one of our stakes and we found out that one of our recent convert's brother had been baptized in Salina over the weekend. Now granted, it's the St. George mission down there,. But we're still overjoyed that it happened! Our next step for convert is getting his Patriarchal Blessing.

This morning at the crack of dawn, we got up and went to the Provo Temple to do an endowment session as a district! It was so nice!. Then we all went to lunch in Provo.

So the transfer list came out....AND ELDER DOHERTY AND I ARE STAYING IN SPANISH FORK YAY YAY YAY YAY

I would have been so bummed if I left because I know this area so well and have created a friendship/relationship with a lot of the members and also the leaders! I'm feeling so blessed to be able to stay here!

Also, Jenise, Dad told me everything that has been going on with you! I hope things continue to end in your favor! Also, that pic of me was with Ol' Smoky at a team roping event in Lake Shore. Hope you had an
awesome birthday!

Mom, I love you unconditionally and I'm glad you hit that final stage and completely kicked cancers ugly behind! Dad, I love you so much! Brother and Sister dears, I love y'all so much! I truly am appreciative of how supportive y'all are about my mission. It truly is a privilege to lead the pack when it comes to missions! I want all the nephews and even nieces and eventually my kids to go on missions to serve the Lord! It truly is a life changing experience! The things you encounter... holy cow! So wonderful!

I can't believe I get to skype y'all in only 10 days! It's incredible just how quickly things have picked up these past few transfers! I remember very vividly saying to myself...."I'm at 3 months"....then a few days later saying..."holy cow I'm at 4 months!".....it's indescribable just how things go.

Anyways....I think that about does it for this week. Looking forward to all the many lessons we have planned next week!

Love you all!!!!

-Elder Ahrens

 Learning to lasso the cow. You never know when this will come in handy.

Lake Utah

Hello family!

So as Jason so thoughtfully brought it to my attention, I should be telling you about what I learned this week rather than what I did. Well, I'm going to do a little bit of both, but instead of going on the day to day, I'm going to go over the highlights.

Last Monday night we had exchanges with our Zone Leaders. I was paired up with Elder Roberts, and Elder Doherty was paired up with Elder Jiles. Elder Roberts is from Wales!  We had a super awesome time. We really had a great time working together! We did a number of finding activities. Later in the day we did a little bit of contacting. We ended up at a member's house. Now this member is an older guy who is originally from Florida. He has been living in this dilapidated house for a little over 10 years. When Elder Roberts and I arrived, he had this flat bed truck loaded up with split wood. We offered our assistance and he obliged. We had a nice long conversation for about an hour or so while we were helping him sort this wood and stack it next to his house for firewood. We had a good time and got to know him really well. That night we exchanged back.

Wednesday we had a Thanksgiving Pie Party at one of our Senior Couples' home.

Thursday was turkey day! We had 3 Thanksgiving dinners lined up and we were prepared! The first family we went to, we are really close to and they always look out for us. He is a ward mission leader so we already see him a ton anyway! We actually returned to their home that night and played games with them and all their family that was visiting! Then we went to the 2nd member's home. After dinner, we went out and I practiced some of my roping. Getting a little better at it but still needs a lot of work! Mom, you're from Texas. Roping and cowboys are your ancestry! The last family we visited was a Bishop's family we really like...one of our favorite Bishops! So we always go over to his house during the week and visit. We're actually doing quite a bit of work in his ward so it keeps him and us up to date. Then we went back to the first member's home and played games.

Saturday we had a baptism in the early afternoon.

On Sunday, we spoke in Sacrament meeting. It went well...but it just rekindled my fire of dislike of public speaking haha. After that we took some Elders in our Zone all the way down 89 to Birdseye, UT. Population 70. :P It's in the canyon so it was quite a view. We went out there so my companion (being the District Leader) could conduct a baptismal interview for them. We'll be going back out there next week to witness the baptism..which is going to be held in a pond by the way! After that we went to Ashley P.'s ward and taught Primary Sharing time for her! So that was fun I guess haha.

That about sums up this week! I really do appreciate all of the support y'all have been giving me!  It truly is picking up quite a bit! I'm still in shock that I get to FaceTime y'all in a little under a month! Transfers are on the 18th and I'm really hoping I get to stay in this area for the new year.

Elder Doherty and I get along so well and have a great time together!

Love you tons!

-Elder Ahrens

P.S - loved the pics of the deck work! keep em comin! I love getting pics!