the best week!

This past week has been one of the best weeks I have had so far in my mission; I've been learning how to plan effectively and how to study more effectively as well. I'm still not the best art it but it's a continual process of learning and progression. I went on exchanges with my zone leader this last Thursday and had a blast; we went tracting around some apartments and met a lot of people. We found several people who are inactive members that we didn't know about, or they have family members that are members. The only bad thing about it is that all of them were either Mexican, or Marshallese, so we gave the Spanish and Marshallese Elders a whole list of referrals at the end of the day. At first I was a little scared to knock on some of the doors, but after I had gotten a couple under my belt I was way excited about it. It was so sweet to go around and tell people what I believed in and bear testimony to them.
that night we met with Janet Henderson, she is Elsie's 50 year old daughter who is going to be baptized on the 29. Well she is being put through that "refiner's fire" you can say, satan is doing his best to stop her and her family from making the commitments that will progress them towards the savior. When we went over to her house the plan was to teach her the third lesson, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We walk in and she is almost in tears, you could just fill that something was wrong. She told us a little bit about what she is going through and mentioned how she is having second thoughts about going to church and be baptized. She said she was lacking faith and that she feels weak. The first principle of the third lesson is faith in Jesus Christ, so I flip to the scriptures and tell her how she has faith. We taught her that because she has faith in what we as missionaries tell her she has repented and stopped smoking. I could feel the Spirit so strong the whole time! It was so awesome! Then our exchange, Brother Athorton bearded his testimony about when he was converted and how he knows what she is going through. He told her that just before he was baptized that his world was falling apart and that satan tried his all to stop it from happening. I knew Brother Athorton that he came with us for a reason, normally he would have called and cancelled on us because he really busy, he's the first counselor in the Bishopric, but he called and came with us. It's so sweet to have members who go out with us and have them tell of their experiences and what they have gone through. Janet had a rough couple of days after this, but she came to church this past Sunday and is completely over her smoking addiction. It's so sweet to see how others change and the progress that they make.
Now tonight I get to go to a part member's home all by myself and tell someone with boldness that he needs to stop chewing. I get to tell him that he needs to act on the testimony that he has and follow what he knows to be true and let him know that he will be help accountable if he doesn't.
Mom I'm sorry to say that these suits aren't going to be able to fit me I'll send them home so that you can turn them back in or what ever you want to do with them. Don't worry about getting me any other suits, the two that I have will be just fine.
Remember how my Christmas present is going to be a camera? Well, I've been thinking about what kind I would like to get and I think the best would be a cannon power shot, they have editing tools on them that make it easier to fix and doctor pictures up so that I don't have to use a computer. I can edited them on the camera and send them to you over the internet. So what I was thinking was that if I let you know now you could get a deal on one on the day after thanksgiving, I think its called black Friday. If you take Tyler with you he could show you which one would be best to get. And if you get it at best buy it comes with a one year warranty that you can extend to two years. If you have already got one, or have one that's ok, I'll be happy with what ever, I just want something that can hold more then 512mb of memory and doesn't take forever to load and take pictures. Just thought I would give you some ideas. Sorry if it sounds like I'm asking for more thing, I don't mean it that way, I know how much of a sacrifice it is to keep me out here, so do what you can do and don't stretch yourselves for me.
That's all I have for you all today, I'm going to try and get the cord I need for my Alpha smart this next Monday, so my next email will be my journal hopefully.
I love you all and hope all is well with Erin and her new baby, and that Mom had a safe trip.

Love Elder David Kelly Conrad

FW: The Switch

Hey Mom, I did get the box with all those goods in them! The boots will be fine, I'll most likely use them because I'll be in a bike area over the winter and probably be walking every where. The suits are a little tight on me though, their tight around the chest and the sleeve length are way short, so I'll have to get back to you on what I'm going to do with them, I'll go see if they can be altered next Monday. I got the Garments and one of the sweaters, the other one you ordered was out of stock so they will be sending it later. The Garments and the sweater fit perfect. Thank you so very much for doing that for me!It's really gotten cold this past week and you saved me just in time.
I have so much that I want to say that I don't know where to start. My companion and I kind of switched places this week, he put me in charge of planning out the days and making sure appointments and exchanges were set. It's been a growing experience that I really hated at first! But with his help he has shown me how to be a good planner and how to keep everything in mind all at the same time. That might not make sense, so maybe I can explain it this way; we meet a lot of people each day and establish relationships with each and every one of them. We talk with them and listen to things they tell us and gather information about each and every single one of them. So it's really hard sometimes to remember facts about any one certain person and be able to recall that when it's needed. Every thing we do, or at least this is how I see it, is built on relationships. Either it's Relationships with the members, investigators, my companion and the Spirit. So when it comes to planning, for me, its remembering peoples needs, remembering when they are home, or what they are doing for the week and being able to be quick to observe all these things and plan out the day using the Spirit as a guide.
So this week I have been getting a taste of why missionary work is going to be that hardest thing that I will every do in my life. I'm responsible with other peoples souls and that is the greatest responsibility anyone can be given.
We met our next door neighbor this Sunday, we were standing outside the apartment waiting to be picked up for PEC and he came out and told us our suits looked good. Elder Harrison was on the phone so I was the only one that heard him and turned to talk with him. He told me that he had met other missionaries and that he had some questions about the church, so I told him how Christ set up his church on the earth and how it was rejected and was taken from the earth. I told him that that church has been restored and that we have a prophet on the earth today. It wasn't that smooth when I was talking to him, I start to speak faster and sometimes trip over words but that's the jist of what was said. He said that he would like to hear more and that we could come over some time. I asked him if 7 that night would be ok and he said sure. So 7 comes around and we met with him. We talk to him abit and get to know him and he's a big computer guy, has a ton of servers and things in his apartment and has all the newest gaming systems. He gets on the computer which is hooked up to his big screen and we teach him a first lesson off the T.V. He asked us questions about the second coming and about Christ resurrection, and we explained to him about how Christ came to Jerusalem and told the apostles that he has other sheep that he is going to visit and told Mark that the Book Of Mormon is a record of the other sheep and that he visited the America's. We left him a Book of Mormon and went to our next appointment. It's so sweet to be out here and to be a missionary!
So how is every one else doing? I have felt like I needed to write Erin back but haven't gotten the time, I will get to it today though and I'll be writing Cori as well. It's so sweet to have our family growing and changing. I love you all and hope all is well, I've got to go

Love
Elder David Kelly Conrad

My day as a missionary

Alrighty then, sorry for not writing the other day we had a zone conference up in Rogers the other day so our preparation day was moved to Tuesday so that's why this is late.
Well live for me is good down here, I've been learning lots still and have been having a lot of experiences that I cant even begin to tell you all about, but what I will do is give you a general idea of what I have been doing for the past 7 weeks I have been a missionary and what I will be doing for the rest of my mission.
At 6:00 am my companion and I wake up and say a prayer together, and then we have personal prayers. we get dressed and ready to go to the work out gym they have here which is way sweet, they have several tread meals and a full set up dumb bells and every machine imaginable. So we work out for an hour then go back to the apartment eat, shower, and get into our cloths and prepare for personal studies. This is my favorite part of the day; we get an hour of personal study which could include reading from the Book of Mormon, Preach My Gospel and the other mission library books. We have a huge stack of old ensigns and I like to go through them and pick out old conference editions and read articles out of them. So after that hour we have Companionship study and go over what we studied in the previous hour, and make lesson plans for people we are going to teach that day. We outline what we feel like we need to teach them and what commitments we are going to leave with them. At 10:00 we head out on our bikes to our first appointment and move on through the day, as best to our plan as possible. On our ways to appointment we stop and talk to everyone, when we contact someone on the street its called an OTM, Open Thy Mouth, which is kind of hard. I have had a lot of fear over being rejected at first but with a lot of help that fear is going away. I have only gone tracking once while I've been out and that was on exchanges with the Spanish Elders who just moved in with us. SO through out the day we have several people to meet and check up on. We bike or walk every where and met a lot of people that way. We come home for lunch at 12:00 and check the mail and then go back out and follow the planned out day as best as we can. We may meet with 3 to 4 families and at 6:00 we either come home to eat, or a member has signed up to feed us. We have meals for most of the month and when we do we talk to them about missionary work and try to give them a desire to do missionary work. We are going to start asking the families to create a "Family Mission Plan" and show and help them with that. After we eat we will get dropped off at our apartment and get picked up by our exchange and go to the last two appointments for the day. We get home somewhere around 8:45 to 9:10. the first thing we do when we get home is plan out who we are going to meet with the next day and call them, along with calling the dinner appointments and exchanges to make sure that they are still going to follow through on their commitments. After that I will wash the gel out of my hair and get rid of the part that is required for us missionaries to have. I will write in my journal and get ready for bed. We will say prayers together and then our own and get into bed before 10:30. So that's my day in a nut shell, that's really my mission in a nut shell, lol.
Well mom I love you and the whole family and know that you are in his watchful eye.
About the AlphaSmart, ill just use batteries, but I need the data transfer cable, once I get that my letter will be filled with more details and will help you all track what's going on down here with me. This coat will be ok once I get the sweaters you ordered for me, it got warmer this week so I've been doing ok. Mom thank you for all that you have done for me and what you are doing for me now, I love you and am proud to be your son.

Love
Elder David Kelly Conrad

P.S, sorry I didn't answer all your questions but I'm kind of rushed and had to type something fast. I'll try to answer more next time, sorry if it's a little frustrating,