August 4th Email

I hope things are going well in post-graduaton life.

I had a great birthday. Sisters A and E (Sister missionaries in Morganton) called me in the morning to wish me a happy birthday. Sister Craven (President Craven's wife) also called me to wish me a happy birthday. My birthday was filled with miracles. We've met with an investigator for the first time in two months, we've found a new person to teach at chick fila; we are teaching him through Facebook. The Brletich family organized an ice cream social that evening. I really didn't think about myself at all on my birthday and just focused on helping other people come closer to Christ. The Penningtons (Brother Pennington is the ward mission leader, and he is a fantastic mission leader) also gave me a chocolate cake.

Yesterday, I went to the best testimony meeting I've ever been to. I went up to bear my testimony and challenge members to do missionary work. We have teams with members every Tuesdays and Thursdays, but the bishop felt that the members can do better at helping us.

On Saturday, we've met with a couple who are investigators by the name of R. W. and R. T. They both love us and appreciate the visits. They have a desire to come to church, but they both have health problems. He has severe arthritis, but he continues to serve people by serving in resting homes. He owns two resting homes in Morganton. She is bed ridden. She has seizures; it's not epilepsy seizures, it's a seizure that locks up her whole body and she describes it as a full body cramp, and he has to be there to give her a shot when that happens. She said it was the most painful thing she ever endured. We promised them that we will keep visiting, even after they get baptized.

Here are a couple of pictures that my trainer took. They day before transfers, we went zip-lining in Lenoir as a district activity. A member in Lenoir owns a zip-lining course and he let us use it for the day. Out of all the name tags in the picture, Elder Jackman, Elder Shumway, and Sister Ekins got transferred. Elder Morrow is the district leader and is training Elder Nelson. Sister Rendon is training Sister Dahle (she is from Sherwood, Oregon!!)

Today we are going to Lenoir for a Zone activity, we are doing the same thing as the last Zone activity.

I hope you have a great week.

From, Elder Stafford

July 28th Email Short, but sweet

I did get the package a couple of days ago. Thank you very much. I love everything about the package, especially the minionary twinkies and the yoda t-shirt.

I'm getting along pretty well with Elder L. We didn't have to feed ourselves for dinner for the entire week.

It was great that you got to meet Bishop and Sister Austin. They told me all about the visit.

Thanks again for the package!! :D

Elder Stafford

July 21st Email

I am still in Morganton, but Elder J will be transferred tomorrow. Normally, I won't know who my new companion is, but I found out who he is. His name is Elder Lyman and no it's not Alex Lyman. Yesterday we went to a family members house named the Wheelers. Brother Wheeler gave both Elder J and myself a priesthood blessing. If missionaries eat at the Wheelers, Sister Wheeler won't let them leave unless they bring some food from the pantry.

Right now, we have six people with baptismal dates. When I first came to Morganton, we had almost nobody to teach, but now we filled our teaching pool and have six people with baptismal dates.

I sent Annalina and Joseph with a letter and a couple of drawings that they'll like.

I hope you get to meet Bishop Austin, because I gave him my memory card. Bishop Austin told me that BYU Idaho was flooded. I hope the school is still okay. And congrats for graduating!

From, Elder Stafford

July 14th Email (with photos!!)

Here are some pictures that my companion took. I still can't figure out how to upload photos from my camera, so I'll just send my SD card when I get the chance.

A couple of the pictures are most of our district in a Zone activity at Bo's in Lenoir. One picture is of our whole district, Elder D and Elder S (the missionaries on the far right) are the Zone leaders.  The rest of the pictures are of us with a part member family.

L is an investigator that the past couple of missionaries have been working with. We are very careful with him because he can get offensive when we give him a baptismal date. He knows he wants to be baptized, but we think what's holding him back is that he has a step-son on a mission right now and we think that L is waiting for him to get home so that his step-son can baptize him. In the mean time, we are developing friendships with him.

One of the pictures you see is of Elder J and myself standing in front of the oldest church in the U.S.  Anyway, because of how humid it gets during the day, I would consider NC being extremely hot. We do have AC in our apartment.

We are working with two gentlemen by the names of T and J. We found T through tracting, he was really interested in what we believe. T is a Pentecostal, he does have a couple of issues with the religion such as they believe in a trinity. We met with T again last Friday and that's where we met his friend J. We taught them the Restoration. T asked if he could have a Book of Mormon because he would love to read it, he also wanted to come to church with us to see what it was like. T did not come to church yesterday, but hopefully we will see him at church this Sunday. We invited T and J to be baptized and they accepted it! If they progress and keep the comittments we invite them to do, they'll be baptized on August 3rd and confirmed on August 10th.

I'm excited for you to be graduating. I hope you get to meet Bishop and Sister Austin while they're in Rexburg.

The ward here is like a big family. Even though we haven't gotten any referrals from them, they try hard to do missionary work, they love to go out with us on teams.

A couple of weeks ago, Brother Mears asked me for your cell number because he wanted to text you to let you know how good of a missionary I am. I didn't know it.

From, Elder Stafford

A joyous occasion!

This is Kayla, she decided to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by proper authority. Pretty soon she'll have the opportunity to take a trip to Nauvoo and do baptism for the dead in the temple. I have a testimony this Church is true and this gospel is for everyone. And through the Lord's plan, families can be together for eternity. 

May 27th Email

When we have holidays on a Monday, we don't get preparation day; we have it on Tuesday instead. I just got the letters and photos from the kids today. The letters were marvelous.

Last Tuesday, Elder J and I traveled to Charlotte and had a trainer-trainee meeting. That meeting helped me with my teaching. On our way back to Morganton, there was a homeless lady that needed food and money. I realized I had a couple of fruit rollup in my suit jacket, so I gave them to her. Elder P and Elder K came with us because we got another car. As of now, Morganton is an all car mission because Elder P can't ride a bike because of this wrist injury. On Saturdays Elder P and Elder K walk because every Saturday is car fast day, which is the day that we don't use the cars.

I finally learned how to polish my shoes, since I didn't remind Richard to teach me how; Elder K did.

Ward members do pretty good with feeding us, we rarely make dinner.

President and Sister Craven visited our ward on Sunday. They were travailing to Hickory to interview missionaries and our ward was along the way there, so they came and visited us. It was great to see them.

From, Elder Stafford

Memorial Day Post

A little over 1 year ago, my grandfather passed away. I really looked up to him and he's one of the reasons why I'm on a mission. With my testimony of the plan of salvation, I will be able to see him again. I know he's in spirit paradise doing missionary work like me and thousands of other missionaries around the globe. If you have a loved one that's passed on, I testify that you will see him/her again. Happy Memorial Day!