Transferred out of Stanford.

So, it is happening. I am getting transferred out of Stanford. Where will I be, I have no idea. I hope Everything works out and I am able to serve in a really cool area for my last area. I have figured out that I will either have one more longer area or two shorter areas. We will all have to bunker down and see what happens over the next 7 months! Transfers are exciting but I am also bummed that I don't get to stay here is Stanford longer. I have had a good run though. 7.5 months! It's been a blast and I am not sure how I will be able to move on! Just wait, two weeks from now I will be writing about how much I love my new area. They call Stanford the promised land of the mission. Usually we want to go to the promised land but I am all about trying something new :)

 

As you have all been hearing over the past few weeks, our area has been slow, but of course now that I am leaving the work is happening again. We got two new solid investigators this past week. One of them is named Mike. We had a member come to us and tell us that she had a referral for us. We were thrilled and asked her all about him. He is her boyfriend and he has agreed to learn about the church for her. We thought maybe his intentions for learning about the church weren't 100%in the right place but whatever breaks down that initial wall is great! We set up a lesson with him for Sunday after church at the stake presidents home. We went into the lesson and a funny thing happened. Now I have nothing against the Stake President or his wife, they are both incredible people with an incredible knowledge of the gospel. I just thought it was very funny to see how a member would teach and how a missionary would teach. We were teaching the Restoration to Mike and when we got to the first vision Mike had a question. It was at this point that our stake president and wife took over to try and answer his question and went on a long deep doctrine discussion that lasted a good 30 minutes. We sat there thinking whether or not we should cut off our stake president. But we got a chance to jump in and the stake president and his wife actually had to end up leaving at that point so the remainder of the lesson was just us. We got into a really good talk about the spirit and how we can recognize and feel the spirit. The part that was funny to me is that they never said anything that wasn't true or that was bad. They were just feeding meat to someone who needed milk. Now Mike is a very intelligent individual and conceptually understood everything that was being said but spiritually Mike is not even close to being able to understand what was said so he was taking in all of this great information but none of it was spiritually beneficial. Overall it was a great lesson and we had a really good time.

This is all I have time to write this week. We are super busy with goodbyes and packing today so anyone that normally gets a letter from me know that I still got your letter and I am contemplating whether or not I want to respond! ;)

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Maxwell

PS: I saw Elder Forsgren again! He went to his first outgoing fireside. In two more years he will be going to his own! He is doing great! Not getting transferred. Loves his companion loves his area. This mission is a great fit for him! It's really fun being able to see him around all the time. (twice)

Nothing can ever compare to ​doing missionary work!

 

  ​What do I write about this week? I am not sure? This week has flown by but now that it is over I don't know what I am supposed to write about. We worked super hard and stayed fairly busy but I honestly don't know of anything that I can share as a cool experience or as a miracle. Maybe if I think about it while writing about Emma's engagement I will think of a cool story to share. 

   So, Emma's engaged. I honestly saw it coming, but I will admit it took me completely off guard. I was shocked when I saw her email! Funny story, I actually didn't see Emma's email first. The first email I read was Kiana​'​s. In her letter at the very end she wrote a paragraph saying I read some very exciting news regarding your family this morning. After reading that I was like, what, what exciting news could she be reading? Nothing super exciting ever happens to our family! ;) then I proceeded to read Opa​'​s email next. He also mentioned some exciting news but he was also very vague about it. He never mentioned engagement, all he mentioned was Emma's exciting news. I then I had the thought cross through my mind. I thought, no, it couldn't be. I rushed over to Emma's email​ and sure enough it was all about her becoming engaged. My mind was blown! Like I said, I saw it coming but I clearly was not prepared for my little sister to be getting married! I believe I have gotten used to the idea now. Emma is very smart and I know that she knows what she is doing! 

 

​    We got to go to Santa Cruz again yesterday. I got more sun in one day than I have on my entire mission! It was an insanely beautiful day out on the beach! I love the beach. Sand, sun, and fun! It is always good to get back to work though. Nothing can ever compare to ​doing missionary work! I did do something different while we were on the wharf this time. After we finished eating our lunch, I got a clam chowder bowl, it was so so so good! Like I was saying though, after we finished eating, I took my now empty Snapple bottle and I put about 4 french fries in it. I tore the paper off of it so it became a clear glass bottle and I set it out for the seagulls to try and get the fries that were inside. It was very funny and kept us entertained for our entire walk down the wharf. I will send some videos so you can see what I am talking about. It was a good time. Some people said it was mean to do that to the seagulls but I don't think they took any offense to it :)

 

 

   I also got to see Elder Forsgren for the first time at the beach. We talked and I gave him the news about Emma's engagement and he was also blown away. It might have been even more shocking for him because I am sure he saw Emma while he was at BYU this last semester. It was fun talking with Elder Forsgren and getting to hear all about home and how cold it was when he left. I was cold in the 52 degree weather yesterday morning and he was enjoying the nice summer time air. Funny how that adjustment happens :)

 

 

   We created a really cool document this past week as well. We are calling it the constitution of the Menlo Park Zone. I will have to take a picture of it and send it home. It looks really cool. We created it in order to motivate all the missionaries in the zone to set more baptism dates. Recently our zone has been doing a really good job at finding new investigators. That has been the focus we have been emphasizing for the past three months but now we need to start baptizing all the potential that we have. So far this year our zone has only had one baptism and that was Stephen way back at the beginning of January. This month we are hoping to see a lot of amazing things happen as missionaries get motivated to be bold and invite others to be baptized! We created a document that looks a lot like a mini version of the constitution and we had all of the missionaries sign it as if they were the founding fathers. Then I went and got really fancy paper and I had it copied onto the fancy paper and then I had a copy of it laminated for each apartment and gave a copy to every apartment so they could always see it, every single day! The hope is that all the missionaries catch the fire and start to invite! We will see what happens...

That is about all that has happened this week. Hopefully next week I will have incredible stories to share! The work is moving forward! Keep doing everything you can and God will eventually place those who are prepared in our paths! He will more readily place a prepared person in the path of a full time finder (members) than he will a full time teacher (missionary). 

I love you all! Once again, congratulations Emma! You are wonderful!

   :)   Elder Maxwell

You never, ever stop working hard.

 Only two more weeks of the transfer! Time is flying by! I can't believe we are already four weeks in! The chances of me getting transferred on the 17th are really high, but there is the slight chance that I will stay in Stanford for one more so I can be with Elder Ayotte for two transfers. We will have to see what happens when the time comes around. ​

    There are times on a mission when you work really really hard. You never ever stop working hard. Every waking moment you are striving to work and focus on the work. We have been doing this for the past three weeks. Work work work! The strange thing is the entire time it has been what we call a trial of our faith. We really didn't see any miracles, didn't see any new "golden" investigators. We just worked hard and came home at the end of the day at the same place. This became very frustrating but we knew we just had to keep moving forward! Then we had an evening that changed all of that. It made being in a trial of faith stage worth it. Saturday around five we decided to go to Stanford campus. We were planning on walking around and trying to talk to people. We had been walking on campus for no more than a minute and this man who was with his six year old son came up to us and said that we were dressed up quite a bit to be here on campus. Then he read my tag and shouted out, "oh, you're Mormon!" He then turns to his son and tells his son, to listen closely, the Mormons are about to tell you what they believe. Then he turns to us and told us to teach his son what we believe. So my companion tells the little boy about prophets and how we have a living prophet here on earth today! Then the father looks at us again and says, "go ahead, tell him what you know." So I come in and teach him about the Book of Mormon. Then the father starts to ask him questions about what he believes. It was very strange at first but after a while we got acquainted with one another and we ended up having a really good conversation. They were very friendly and we talked about a lot of aspects of the Mormon church. He didn't really have questions but he had a lot of praise and good things to say about the church. 

  

    One of the coolest parts was that as he was talking with us. This girl walks by, probably in her 20's, student at Stanford. As she walks past I say hello really quick because she was on the phone but I still wanted to be friendly. She said hello and then continued walking. After a few steps she turned around, ended her phone call and came back to me. She asked me if she could ask me a question. I said sure! She then said it was a personal question and asked if that's okay. I responded, absolutely! She then asked if a Mormon can date someone that's not a Mormon. I laughed inside and was more than happy to teach her about eternal marriage and how important it is to us. Then I told her it is 100% okay for a non-member to date a member. I talked about how eventually most people date someone who is at least interested in learning about the church. I asked her if she was thinking about dating a Mormon guy. She said maybe with a smile :) then I asked her if she would ever want to meet up with us and learn more about the church. She said yes and as we started to exchange numbers she got a call that she had to take but she said she would come to church sometime. (We talked about church earlier) I don't know if this experience will lead myself personally to any new investigators but it was a really cool experience being able to see God place people in our path that were ready to learn and ask some questions. They will most definitely be asking more questions in the future and that will eventually lead them to Christ. 

   Great week! I have nothing to complain about. I am so happy!  We got to go look at really nice cars and we had a great day driving around!

Till next time...

Elder Maxwell 

The Pizza Miracle

   This week began with a miracle!  We wanted to order some pizzas one night because we didn't have a dinner and we had a coupon for Papa Johns for a buy one get one free. We called on the phone to order the pizzas and completely forgot to tell them that we had a coupon for the pizzas. This is after we ordered two extra large pizzas. We get to the store later to pick them up and we brought the coupon with us so we would only have to pay for one, because that's all that we had money for. The guy working there did everything he could to get the coupon to work in stores but it was only for online. It wouldn't have worked over the phone anyway. We told him that we only had money for one of them so we asked if we could just buy one. He said yes and after we paid he went and grabbed both and said, "I'll give you both of them this time. Keep up the good work." We talked with him a little as we thanked him for the free pizza and he said he would be open to hearing what we share sometime.

     He lives out of our area so we are going to have to introduce him to the other elders for that area. What a cool experience though! We got to talk with him about the gospel because he gave us a free pizza! You see everyone, missionary work is easy. All you have to do is get people to give you free extra large pizzas and then they will be open to hear what you have to say! Ha ha, he was a really cool guy and he gave us our coupon back as well so we can still get our other free pizza some other time. We had enough pizza for that nights dinner and lunch for the next two days! Saving money! Not really, I have spent way to much money with my new companion but I have realized that it is not such a good idea and I am going into saving mode. 

 

   Cool experience number two, we got to go to Facebook headquarters again this week. I have been there a couple of times before but I don't know if I ever wrote about it. This time we came straight from a meeting so we were dressed up in our suits. We actually took some pictures this time as well so we were looking pretty good. Facebook campus is really cool, it is designed by the Imagineers! The same people that designed Disney World and Land. It's like a little theme park without rides inside. I know that sounds a little anticlimactic but it is an office building so keep that in mind. They have fridges and micro-kitchens all over campus with free drinks and food all over the place. There are also restaurants all over the place that serve food morning to night everyday and they are all free so it's super cool. Very welcoming, family friendly, campus. All the employees that work there are kept very happy. We had dinner there with one of our members and he brought some of his co-workers with him and we had a really good conversation over some free food. Everyone was generally pretty happy. Even having missionaries there in suits dressed way better than anyone else on that campus. Jeans and a collared shirt is the standard for the employees. Casual Friday every day. 

We are working hard. We get along really well. My companions birthday is actually on the 27th. I am not sure what I should get him...

 

Have an AMAZING week! I love you all so much!

 

Love, 

   Elder Maxwell

On a more spiritual side of feasting...

   The cold sounds brutal! I am not looking forward to the adjustment back.

   We are getting into the swing of things! The work here in the ward is starting to pick up again. All of the finding and building of potential over the holidays are becoming a reality. We have had several cool experiences over the past week. Thank you so much for the wonderful Valentine's Day package. I love it! The timing is actually quite remarkable. I had just ran out of Reses when the package showed up to replenish my supply. I also am going to have to start baking more I think. I have so many good looking treats that only take a little bit of effort on my part. I might be able to start to put on some weight. Probably not though. I can still eat pretty much whatever I want and not have to worry about it. 

   Speaking of eating, I spent way too much money on food this week. We went to a place on Wednesday for lunch called Fogo De Chao. It is an authentic Brazilian steakhouse. How this place works is you have a never ending salad bar that you stay far away from. The main reason you go is for the endless meat. Now I'm not talking about some McDonald's Big Mac patties. I am talking about Filet Mignon, top sirloin, etc...  They would bring out all these different meats on skewers and would come to your table and ask you if you would like some. I tried all their different meats (about 12) and then decided the filet Mignon was the best so I probably ate 25oz of that incredible meat. It was all so good. Very, very, pricey but coming out of it I would say it was well worth it. 

 

   On a more spiritual side of feasting... we had a really good lesson with Stephen this week. We taught him about the temple and as we were teaching I made a very cool connection that everything we do in the temple has eternal implications. We can do things for this life in a church building but the covenants and sealing of blessings that last into eternity can only be made within the walls of the temple. I am always amazed at how I can learn so much from teaching something that I know. The spirit truly is the teacher and there is nothing that I can do that even gets close in comparison to what the spirit can do. 

 

    I really do love serving here. It is such an incredible experience. I have grown so much! Thank you for all the continued love and support. I am glad I was able to track down Elder Forsgren for everyone. I hope he is enjoying his first area. Still haven't seen him in person but we will eventually. 

 

   Stay warm! Have fun! Bundle up in lots of layers! 

Love, Elder Maxwell 

I actually have a real, living, companion!

  It is a great week here in the California San Jose mission. I have had some really amazing blessings happen this week. 

 

     First of all, I actually have a real, living, companion now. He is a really cool guy from Vernal Utah. He took my place in Fremont when I left and finished training my son. He has been out for almost a year and is such a solid missionary. He is perfect for this area and has been working hard for the past week. We have seen so many wonderful things happen just in the time that he has been here. It has been such a huge blessing having him here so we can give full time and attention to the Stanford wards. He has a birthday coming up on the 21st of February and will be turning 20 years old. He has some of the slickest looking hair I have ever seen. I think I'm going to get him to donate it to locks of love :) Just kidding, his hair is salubrious. I would like to welcome my new companion Elder Ayotte to the area. I am happy to have him here! 

 

    Second, I found him! It was not easy but I did it! Elder Forsgren made it to California. How it works in the mission is all the new missionaries will arrive on Wednesday morning and will spend a day together. Then Thursday morning they meet their trainers and go to their new areas. My zone didn't have anyone training so we had no reason to be at the mission office for the trainee meeting. But we did need to drop some things off at the office later in the day so we tried to plan going to the office in time to see the new missionaries so I could say hello to Elder Forsgren. Unfortunately by the time we got to the office, everyone was gone. We had no idea where Elder Forsgren had gone.  We saw some of his paperwork on a desk, but other than that, there was no trace. We went back home defeated. That night I decided that I would find him before the end of the week. 

 

    On Friday night we got out the phone and we started to call the areas that we knew had trainees. One, two, three zones called and nobody knows where Elder Forsgren is. Four, and then five! I got a hold of Elder Forsgrens MTC companion! Strangely he had no idea where his previous companion had ended up. I guess he had other things on his mind, such as I am so terrified, I have no idea what is going on, who is this weird guy that I have as a companion, etc. (There are a lot of thoughts going through your head on your first day.) We had no idea where the three other trainees were, we had found five out of the eight. We started to call the other zone leaders to ask them who was training in their zone. Finally, calling the seventh zone we found the area that Elder Forsgren was in. I called him and we connected for a quick 5min phone call. How cool is it being able to have a friend come and join you in the mission. He has helped me realize how adjusted I have become to the weather here. We have had a cold rainy weekend and Elder Forsgren said over the phone how nice and warm it is here. Oh boy, the adjustment back home is going to be fun! Elder Forsgren has a great companion in a super awesome area. He is Elder Kerby's great grandson in mission genealogy. He is going to love serving in that area. Right in San Jose, he has San Jose State in his area and he will be working with the YSA and family ward in that area. Really really good area.
 

   One of the cool stories of the week begins at family home evening last Monday. At the end of FHE, while everyone was socializing, a member came up to me and said that he needed me to challenge him to do something. I said I would love to and before I could say anything else he said that he wanted me to challenge him to have someone for us to teach on Saturday. I was taken back a little by his request but I agreed and said I would call him later that night with a challenge and a time on Saturday. I call him that evening and tell him that we want him to have someone for us to teach on Saturday at 4:00 pm. He accepted. We go through the week checking in once or twice and he still didn't have anyone. Saturday morning we give him a call and he still didn't have anyone set. Now at this point we had two options. One, we could have thanked him for trying and told him it wasn't a big deal and he could try again another time. OR... We could have told him that there was still time and that he could call down power from heaven and God would help him achieve his goal. We did the latter and a miracle happened!  He got ahold of one of his fellow classmates who said he would be willing to meet up with us. We met with them at 4 and it was incredible. I learned from this experience that if we truly set our sights with what God would want us to be doing. If our will is inline with His, miracles will happen. He does provide. The guy we met with on Saturday may never meet with us again. All we did was plant a seed and we don't know when that will sprout and grow but it is planted. 

 

Love,

Elder Maxwell

Yes, I love serving in this ward!

  Transfer time is here once again! I will be staying in Stanford again! I get to be here for five transfers! Yes, I love serving in this ward, I love all of the people in this Ward and I love how incredibly easy it is to really get to know someone in this Ward. I am so very grateful that they will be sending me a new companion on Tuesday. I have been missing having a real solid companion. Not that a little space here and there wasn't good but I can truly say that missionary work is supposed to be done two by two. Not three by three or one by one. Two is just the perfect number for this work. It is inspired of God and I can promise you that!

    I see that the snow is making itself very comfortable! Oddly enough I am sort of wishing that I could be there to enjoy the snow with you all but then I remember the cold and the shoveling and all the other things that come with snow and I remember why I don't miss it.

 

    I am really excited for transfers tomorrow. 13 missionaries are leaving my zone. That means that half of the zone that will get changed out! WOW! that is crazy! A whole lot of new missionaries coming in at one time. Oddly, not a single missionary that is staying in the zone is getting called as a Trainer. So unfortunately Elder Forsgren will not be joining my zone. But that means next transfer when I get transferred I can go where he is and we can be together for three transfers rather than just one! I am excited to have him in the mission. It is going to be really cool getting to see him. A familiar face again!

 

   We had a super good week. We don't have a lot of investigators right now so a lot of our work is with recent converts and returning members. But I had the opportunity this week to take the mission presidents son on a mini mission in my area for a couple of days. He leaves for his mission in two weeks. He is going to Argentina so he was really grateful that he could come and do a "trial" mission before he headed out. We had a really good time and did a lot of really good work while he was here. I am always nervous for things like that because with missionary work sometimes you have days that just fall apart and everything seems to go wrong. I really don't want to have a day like that when I have a mini-missionary because that is an opportunity for them to see the joy and the fire that comes from changing lives and doing really good missionary work. So I am very grateful that everything worked out and we were able to have some really good missionary experiences.

 

    Last preparation day we had only elders in the zone because all the sisters went on a sister trip to Monterey. So we did what guys always do and we turned it into a competition. We made two different teams and we competed against each other all day long. The final real challenge was a game of gator ball against each other. (Gator ball is a combination of soccer and team handball) It was very extensive and the adrenalin levels were probably too high for a missionary activity but nobody got hurt so we are all good. I attached some pictures (oops, I think he forgot!)  of the teams and of just our team. It was a good day. Our team name was F.A.R.M. (Fully Attractive Real Men) We were what you would call professionals. We all made our own shirts too! And it all costed under $20! I was pretty impressed with myself.

     Have a great week! Stay warm! Don't let cabin fever set in! I love you all! 

    

Love, Elder Maxwell