Email from an Auburn member

We still haven't received an email from Wilson this week, but received a text from a ward member as to what time we can expect his phone call on Mother's Day.

Thankfully, other people from his area drop me a line here and there. I received an email yesterday from the woman who owns the place that he's living in. Here are parts of the email... (makes me sad to know he's been a bit sick, but hopefully he's feeling better now!)

Hey Dayna,

Just a few more days and your wonderful missionary will be home. I guess you will still get to talk to him on Sunday and then he will be home on Tuesday. I bet you are so excited.
I am going to be making some chicken broth for Elder Simons for lunch. Apparently he got some food poisoning Monday night and has been sick from it since then. Of course it has to happen while I am gone, but we will see if chicken broth will help. He says it has been pretty bad. 

Well, is there anything I can do for you or Wilson? I love that name. It fits him perfectly. 

JUST A FEW MORE DAYS!
HAVE A GREAT MOTHERS DAY!

Letter from a member in Elder Simons' area

I love getting emails from people who live in Wilson's mission and who have gotten to know him. I have received a few emails from Rosalie, who lives in the ward he is assigned in. In fact, apparently she owns the place that the elders are living in at this time. I thought I'd share part of her emails...

Dear Sister Simons,

My name is Rosalie. I own the "shack" that your son Elder Simons is living in right now. What a great young man! I am so glad to have him next door. Sadly, I just found out a few days ago that this is his last transfer. I got to know him a little when he live in LOP. He and Elder Solomon are so fun to have next door. We have been housing elders for almost two years now. And your son even though he will only be here one transfer will be remembered as one of the best.

I have a story for you. I don't know if it is funny or sad. I will let you decide. Last night was our annual Spaghetti dinner fund raiser for the girls in our ward going to camp.  The girls each get the money they earn by selling tickets but there is also a dessert auction. The ward really supports this auction by bidding very high for a plate of cookies etc. The highest item sold was a basket that contained an instant breakfast including eggs, bacon, biscuits, jam, butter and I don't know what else, but it went for $160.00.  Any way your son made the first 5.00 bid on almost every item. He was really trying to get something for 5.00. Sadly nothing stayed that low, he was always out bid.

We had taken a nonmember couple with us and afterward instead of them going right home and since we didn't win any of the desserts, (they always went out of my price range also), we had them come in for ice cream. The Elders got home the same time we did, so I invited them in to join us and have ice cream and socialize with us for a few minutes.  

It was funny how Elder Simons said that even if he had won one of the bids he would have had to borrow the 5.00, because he didn't even have that. (HaHa) Any way we had a good visit, but they soon decided they needed to get home. Right after they went out the door we heard them scream and they were soon knocking on our door.  As soon as a answered the door, I could smell skunk.

Apparently there was a skunk eating our cat food by the front door.  The Elders thought it was a raccoon and they made a motion to it.  It sprayed them! Good! I told them to go over take those clothes off and bring them right over to wash them.  So I don't know if this is a funny story or a sad one. We decided it was definitely one for the journal. Their clothes did come clean and the smell was gone. But our yard smelled like skunk for a few hours.

I'll keep you up on anymore fun stories if they come up.

Have a great day!

Rosalie

Photos from Antelope

I received a text and then an email from one of the families in Antelope. (Elder Simons just left the Antelope area to go up to Redding, the northernmost part of the mission). The family emailed these photos to us tonight... nice to see he's still having some fun!  I know its hard for him to leave Antelope, just like it was hard to leave each of the other areas. But I also know his personality and ability to adapt and warm up to people. He will be fine, and he will love his new area after no time at all!

Letter from Gridley member

[This is an email I received just a couple of days ago... it brought a smile to my face as she described the Wilson we know! Also, as a reminder, I try to remove names of recent converts or investigators from the emails...]

Hello Dayna!

It was great getting an email from you!  We did have a great time going to the temple.  I'm so glad that Elder Simons stiil asks for a ride to the temple!! It is such a fun thing to gather some Gridley friends and do that and see him from time to time.  Did he tell you about Sister [...]?  She was so happy to have him there; it really made her first time to the temple more special.  He spent so much time with that couple.  Did he tell you about our picnic dinner on the temple grounds?  We all sat around reminiscing about the fun times and laughing...Elder Simons especially can make us laugh!  After the dinner he took her wheelchair back up to the temple by riding in it.  Yep! That is him!  Fun, fun. 

I hope he will continue to be in areas where he can go to the temple, but chances are, he'll get sent up north somewhere.  The Lake Shasta area would be a new twist, or Paradise (up the road from Chico in the mountains).  I guess we'll see here in a few weeks. 

Elder Simons has a way with people that I don't see in very many missionaries.  You have a great son and we miss him here in Gridley!  I know he's doing great things wherever he goes!

Take care, and thank you for keeping in touch!  I'm sure we'll meet soon!
Denise

Seeing God's hand work in people's lives

Thank you for the email yet again mom. It means a lot to have the support of an awesome mother. I feel as the 2,000 strippling warriors felt about their mothers. They did not doubt that their mothers knew the gospel. I'm sure they had this knowledge because their moms lived and taught the gospel in the home. I am eternally grateful for the amazing example you and Dad have set for me in the home. Even when I wasn't always what I was supposed to be you stayed strong and did what the Lord always asks us to do: keep the commandments. So thank you for always doing that. I feel like I'm reaping the blessings from you being obedient. So thank you.

Anyway,[our investigator] is doing good. She is struggling just a little bit. She doesn't know if Joesph Smith was a Prophet. Actually she feels like he was for half of his life. So we are working with that. We are going to be meeting with her everyday till Saturday in hopes of helping her receive her answer for herself. I know that she could receive her answer at any moment. I really hope and pray that she will be baptized this week. I will let you know how it goes and I will send you pictures next week. 

What else happened this week...our truck was acting up so we had to go get it fixed, and when the mechanic guy sat in the car with me while I was driving of course it didn't make the sound. I hate it when that happens. But eventually is made the thumping noise. He then got in the car to take it for a spin and he I was really scared. I casually grabbed onto the handle and slowly slipped
my seat belt on, hopefully he didn't notice. I guess I should have been wearing my seat belt in the first place. 

We are teaching this part-member family and they are coming along slowly but surely. The guy is a less-active member and his girlfriend is the non-member. She has such a great desire to do the things she has to, to get aligned with God's will. It has been a huge testimony strengthener (maybe not a word?) to see herand her progress. I love teaching them and watching them grow. I love seeing God's hand work in peoples' lives. It really is such a blessing to be able to just sit and watch him work. I love it! I love seeing miracles. It strengthens my testimony so much!! 

Thank you for all you do!

We barely have time to breath

Hey!

This week has been amazing! We were blessed to be able to set another baptismal date. We were worried because the lady we set the date with, (her boyfriend is LDS) lives with her boyfriend. They have a kid together. But we went over again on Saturday (we set the date on Tuesday) and she said "something has to change about the living arrangement here huh?" and she said "well we don't have enough money to be married." And then we told her they could get married for free by the bishop. They were like "okay, want to get married tomorrow?" Such an amazing experience. I can't wait! 

Life is great. Dorothy our investigator getting baptized on the 15th, is doing great. She asked me to baptize her. Which is such a humbling request. She couldn't decide if she wanted Elder Ellsworth or me to baptize her so she just asked if Elder Ellsworth could go in the back of the font and hold her back as she goes down. What a awesome experience that will be. 

I love how the Lord is building me with these wonderful situations. I feel so blessed I have been able to serve Him for 15 months of my life full-time. Let's see what else happened this week...Elder Coburn and I are doing great. We are working hard and we are seeing so many blessings. We had 13 member-present lessons last week. Which is the best I have ever had on my mission. We are teaching some less-actives as well. We barely have time to breath, we are so busy with teaching. Which is a good thing. Well I love you all, and continue praying for missionary experiences. They will come. They always do.

Elder Simons

A letter from Sacramento

[Editor's note: I got this note in the mail on Monday...]

Hi Sister Simons!
I am in one of the wards your son is currently serving in here in California. I would just like to say you have raised an amazing missionary. He has such a bright spirit and sweet personality, but I think the best thing about him is his love for this gospel. I've had the chance to work with him in our ward missionary effort and every lesson he has definitely touched and enlightened the people. Especially my best friend who he will be baptizing this weekend! What I am most grateful for though is the effect he has had on my parents. My parents are not members, and are currently investigating the church. Elder Simons has only truly taught one lesson with my parents, but he has found his way into my parents' hearts. His presence in our house has changed the whole atmosphere. My parents are now very interested in being baptized and scripture study. They always volunteer to let Elder Simons and Elder Ellsworth teach lessons here. He truly has an amazing testimony and I feel so blessed to be able to be around such a great missionary. Thank you for sacrificing time with your son so he could change as many lives as he has thus far. You should be truly proud to be his mother.

Lemon juice vegies?

First of all...I wish i had a time for you that we will be skyping. It will be after five though. I will call you before and let you know to turn on skype. Sound good?

So transfers came in...and I'm staying! I know weird. I thought i was getting transferred but Elder Rasmussen and I are both staying. Which is really unusual. Most comps don't stay together for three transfers so it will be good. We are going to do some good work and hopefully get a couple more baptisms! 

So I was ready to go. Ready to get transferred. But about ten minutes before we got the calls, I had such an overwhelming feeling that i was staying. It was really crazy. I told Rasmussen and he didn't believe me. But we now he knows to trust me :) I'm glad in a way to stay. My main focus is our investigator, and getting him baptized. I'm going to tell him on Thursday during our next lesson that God has granted me 6 extra weeks in this area and that I need to be at his baptism, and i will commit him and give him a date. So I'm pumped about that.

I want to get another baptism here besides that one though. Not sure who, but we will go out and find them, teach them and baptize them.

So Bob Thompson's funeral is tomorrow morning. We get to usher at it. So that will be a good experience. I miss him a lot. He was such a great guy. It should be a great funeral. Well...are funerals great? Either way it will be good.

I'm loving life right now. I love my misson so much. I don't want to go home. I'm glad I have a year left. I wish i had more time but its been wonderful. I can't believe I turn 20 soon. I'm just a kid!

Rasmussen has been down with bad allergies lately. It kinda stinks to see him suffering so bad. But it will pass i know that for sure.

Trying to think of some good things to talk about. This week was kind of uneventful. It was a good week but not too much happened I guess.

Dinner at our newest convert's house was way fun. We had some good meat, and then lemon juice veggies. Lemon juice veggies? I mean come on. It was interesting. I never have had that before. To me it tasted like veggies marinated in vinegar. I sat right by her dad so i had to get them down as best i could with a smile on my face. I don't know how well I did, but hopefully i did fine. Her parents are really cool. It's really interesting going over there and they know what we stand for and believe in and what our job is as missionaries. They aren't super relegious, but i want to talk to them more about it. I will tell you how that goes.

Sela came back from her 2 month trip! Finally. I missed her. She came to church and everyone just loves her so it was great!

But i better go. I can't wait to skype! It will be so much fun!!!  Oh cool scripture. Hebrews 11:40 and look at footnote "a". One of my favorite JST scriptures.

I love you!!

Letter from the bishop's wife

[Editor's Note:  Throughout this first part of Elder Simons' mission, I have received letters and phone calls from the people in Elder Simons' area, and thought I would share part of the most recent one, which happens to be from the bishop's wife of the ward in which he is serving.  I love knowing that he is loved and taken care of at a time that I can't be right there]

Hi Dayna! 
    Thank you for writing to me!  I'm thinking, "where to I begin to talk about Elder Simons!"  I wish I could express adequately what a sweet privilege it is to have gotten to know your son.  He is a pure joy to be around and has such a great personality; he makes us laugh all the time now that he knows us pretty well.   Doing things for him is small in comparison to what he does for us!   He has this incredible heart for serving and there are many times when I would think..."I wish his mom could see him right now"...washing our dishes without being asked, helping us move stuff in the rain,  entertaining my 5-year old during church which isn't always easy, clearing our old garden stuff before dinner, and just plain being patient with all of my kids who love him so much that they get all crazy when he comes over.  
  And then there are several times when I pass him on the road and He's riding his bike between Gridley and Biggs with all of his might.  He works hard to meet his appointments no matter how far he has to ride.  He is definitely getting plenty of exercise!   He has such a desire to teach, serve and help.  I love his testimony of the Savior which he bore a few weeks ago.
   I have enjoyed doing sewing for him so don't worry about anything that way.    It's really just a blessing to be able to.  
   There's just  one hard thought and that's that  he inevitably will get a transfer and that's going to be really hard for me and all of us because we love him a lot.   I always cry when my kids go off to college or something, and it feels just the same way.  I've never had a missionary feel like one of my own.  I hope you don't mind me saying that.  Elder Simons will always be special to us; I'm glad he started here so we can kind of keep track of him throughout his mission and hopefully be of support also.  He loves you  so much and always talks about his parents and family with great fondness and gratitude. 

Spaghetti with mushrooms

Thanks for the great letter mom!! It seems like it has been such a busy week for you guys.
This week has flown by. It has already been one transfer. Isnt that weird? This is where i am supposed to be. I feel it more and more everyday.  Its so cool cause i am falling in love with the scriptures! Like as soon as we get in for the night and finish planning i just want to read.  its really nice.
The float eh? you guys are busy little bees. That sounds so much fun. I bet the girls did very well throwing out candy. 
Dang i miss you guys! But it was such a good week for letters! Mom by the way i love getting all the talks and stuff you send me! Everyone in the district knows i have the best the support system at home. Its way cool.. Im so grateful. I love you guys. I am learning how to be patient at the times where i used to not even think about being patient.  
This work is fulfilling. Even when i knock on 389 doors and 4 get opened and 3 get slammed in your face and 1 just says not today, i feel like i'm doing my part in building up the kingdom of god. So even those hard days can be made not hard. I guess cause Heavenly Father pours down His spirit and lets you know He is proud and He sees your effort. Its crazy that Heavenly Father trusts His gospel to be carried to the world thru 19-21 years olds. That shows how much love He has and also how much trust. I feel truly blessed to be serving the Lord. I have already learned many things that will affect my life.
So news about the area...I was on exchanges with Zone leader Christensen (i seriously love that kid) and we went and knocked on Tim's door, to see if he was there so we could just talk to him and see how he was doing. And also maybe that i was disappointed i didnt get to see him all slicked up in my shirt for church. But we knock on the door and he comes out and says "I'm never coming back to your church again, its a cult" and goes way anti on the church. Man....that was so hard! But Tim isn't ready right now. He will partake of this gospel though. he will be so blessed by it. I know he will because i am so blessed from the gospel. It literally turned my life around. Made me a competely different person. I will never be able to thank Heavenly Father enough. Sorry i am getting side tracked.
Next is Matt. Our little slippery friend who wants to be baptized. So we (Elder Barron i love him!) had dinner with him on Wednesday. Going in there we wanted to just go over the baptismal interview questions and see how he was doing. But he did every little thing he could not to get a lesson started.. He showed us his crawdad traps. Which were cool...but turns out getting baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost is cooler. But he has come to church the last two weeks. This next week we have an appt. on Wednesday. So we will see how that goes. Oh at their house we had spaghetti  and on it there was mushrooms and zuchinnis. I was pumped about the zucs but the mushrooms?? Come on don't ruin it like that! But i didnt want to offend this family so i wolfed them down. 
So our next investigator is an older man named Bill. He is very deaf. Like very deaf. He has a word of wisdom problem. He said he doesn't have faith to get his answer about baptism. and i was trying to get him to commit to praying FOR faith but he thought i was saying praying IN faith. That really took about nine minutes to get sorted out. Because without faith nothing can happen really. Faith can be tiny or it can be huge. I have faith that when i take my next step my other foot will catch me or faith when you have lost someone that you WILL see them again. Faith is really interesting to me actually. I love it. I want to study it more in depth this week. Sorry i am like talking to myself here!
mom exchanges went amazing this week. I will write it in yours and dads letter. Really they went great!
And to meet the Westons we had a zone conference where like three different zones meet together. and we had lunch and stuff. it was cool. i saw Elder Trevort and we hugged and had a good old time. I miss Elder Bowerman.
The Westons have four kids Twin girls who are 15, a boy who is 11, and another girl who is nine! Crazy huh?
and the cool thing mom is we do presidents letters so i totally can ask him about anything and he will write a short response to me over the week! Its so nice!
Welll i love you a ton! and the family.
Have a great week!

Hotdogs and dehydration

Wow this week has been crazy. And super fast too. Its insane because last p-day seems like really ten years ago but it also at the same time feels like just yesterday! I have some good stories for you.

Okay first we went over to a members house for dinner named the Scotts and they had hot dogs and that is the one thing i cant muscle down so i was like "i will just take a bun and some salad" cause i really wasnt too hungry. But the next week at church i went into the Relief Society to get the missionary dinner calender and all the women in there were laughing at me cause I am the elder who doesn't like hot dogs!! They are all like "we will remember to not get hot dogs for you". And all this stuff. Then the next week (which is last week) all the women told their husbands and now i am the big joke! Its funny though! It makes the members like me more! The members are really starting to love us. They were a little held back but we have done some work and the area is already picking up and the members notice. So yeah, its nice here!



Elder Simons helping a family move on p-day

Another story! i was on exchanges with Elder Barron and we were in the Gridley third ward. We were at this investigator's house just talking to her and her son on the porch. And we were talking for like thirty minutes in the sun. I started to get really hot and sweaty. I was like "this is weird because i'm not even moving around...something must be wrong". Then i started to get super super dizzy and i was like "this is scary but i will endure as to not make me look like a total newbie at the heat". (which by the way is like 105 everyday). Fun stuff. so i am getting dizzy and then my vision is going like super black and i can't see. And Elder Barron was like "okay you guys have a nice day" and shakes their hands and i go and shake their hand and i am like "hey...i really need a drink of water". At this point i am dripping sweat. I never have sweated so much in my life. so i sit down and throw down this water and i go grab another one. But i survived without passing out! I bet i looked like such a idiot! Cause we were just standing there! I will for sure drink more water ahead of time! haha go elder simons! Elder barron is my friend so we laughed about it.

My head aches are pretty bad here. The only time i don't notice them is when i am bearing my testimony. Its funny but i feel so good when i get to do that. 
And you are lucky you got to go to the temple! i am jealous. Right now i don't get to. I actually may get to go because one of our recent converts invited us to go with him to take his own endownments out. i hope we can go! we will ask President Weston when he gets here!
i did get the package and stuff which was so nice! Thanks!! Really that was nice of you! And most of the meals here are good. They are a ton of nice fresh tomatos. Which are soooooo good!! I love them.
Have a good week and i love you!!
Love,
Elder Simons