Dear Mom and Such,
What's up guys. We had another 2 baptisms this weekend so I have now officially reached the North American missionary average! Hoorah! It was sooo cool. I got to baptise this Vietnamese dude named Lam. His story is as follows(be advised: you may cry)
O.K. So we met this dude named Lam. He just came to the states like, 3 months ago. He doesn't know much English. We ran into him tracting and took him on a tour of the church. While we were on the tour we showed him the restoration video and he loved it. We taught him the lessons that week and brought him to church. We had really hard time understanding him so we tried to get a Vietnamese speaker to come and translate. He was not down for that at all. So we pretty much taught him using only the scriptures. We took him to church and he decided to get baptized. Here's were it gets touching. Lam really wanted to get baptized, but he had work that Sunday. It's crazy cuz he is the bread winner for the family, but he doesn't have a steady job, so he takes work when he can get it. We were talking to him on Saturday and the baptism was the next day. We told him we could reschedule and stuff but he wasn't having any of that. He knew he would be blessed so he called his boss right then and said he wasn't coming in, thus probably losing his job and definitely losing 100 bucks. We felt real bad about him losing that money, so we all went to the bank and got together like seventy bucks. We brought it to his house and told him how we felt , but as soon as he saw the money in my hand he literally pushed me away. He knew he was gonna get blessed. He had such perfect faith! That touched me hardcore. I felt so blessed to have met such a genuine person. I felt the spirit so strong, I just started crying (first time on my mission) and I didn't stop for like an hour. I baptised him yesterday and I felt the spirit so strongly. I love it out here.
Tell Nathan that's awesome and that he should write me. I love you guys and I pray for Y'all every night.
Love
Elder Uppencamp
What's Up...
Monday, September 21, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Letter from Sept. 14, 2009
Hey fam/random readers of emails,
Whats up? I'm doin pretty good out here. We had another baptism last Sunday so I'm at three so far. How did you see a photo of me with my mission pres.? I do look good don't I( and so very humble).
Tacoma's still really ghetto and yes I have gotten to drive....once. Our car is a Chevy Malibu that gets -5 miles to the gallon so we have to fill up a lot. It still hasn't rained that much here. The only day it really rained hard was the day I got to drive, fun huh.
None of my missionary pals, or my regular pals have written me yet with the exception of Nathan. What the heck. I'll probably send that memory card back soon, though it's nowhere near full.
We're just truckin' along here. We met a way cool Vietnamese guy named lam who will probably get baptised. We had Stake Conference the other day, it was a broadcast and the Prophet spoke so it was really cool. WE TAUGHT 40 LESSONS LAST WEEK! Neat huh. Yeah, we keep pretty busy.
I'm feeling a little sick today though so I might have to stay in. My companions just got done being WAY sick so I guess it's my turn. I love you guys and I pray for you every night too. Tell Andrew to get a job, and please remind my friends I'm out here. I feel a bit forgotten.
LOVE
Elder Uppencamp A.K.A Elder Up at arms.
Whats up? I'm doin pretty good out here. We had another baptism last Sunday so I'm at three so far. How did you see a photo of me with my mission pres.? I do look good don't I( and so very humble).
Tacoma's still really ghetto and yes I have gotten to drive....once. Our car is a Chevy Malibu that gets -5 miles to the gallon so we have to fill up a lot. It still hasn't rained that much here. The only day it really rained hard was the day I got to drive, fun huh.
None of my missionary pals, or my regular pals have written me yet with the exception of Nathan. What the heck. I'll probably send that memory card back soon, though it's nowhere near full.
We're just truckin' along here. We met a way cool Vietnamese guy named lam who will probably get baptised. We had Stake Conference the other day, it was a broadcast and the Prophet spoke so it was really cool. WE TAUGHT 40 LESSONS LAST WEEK! Neat huh. Yeah, we keep pretty busy.
I'm feeling a little sick today though so I might have to stay in. My companions just got done being WAY sick so I guess it's my turn. I love you guys and I pray for you every night too. Tell Andrew to get a job, and please remind my friends I'm out here. I feel a bit forgotten.
LOVE
Elder Uppencamp A.K.A Elder Up at arms.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
From Elder Daniel...
Hey Dudes,
Guess what. I totally got my first (in font)baptism!!!! It was really my second one I guess.... but it was the first one where I was in the font. It was on Sunday, and it was like the raddest thing ever. Apparently I dunked him waay to hard but he didn't mind. I just dunked him Gunnell style so there was no question on whether or not he was baptized. He's a cool kid from Jacksonville Florida. His brother had gotten baptized the week before I got here so he was thinking about it, then on Sunday he came to church and said he'd do it. It was way fun and I felt the Spirit really strongly, even though everyone was laughing cause I dunked him so hard.
That's cool about the letters, I was beginning to think my mail was getting stolen or something. Yeah, my areas really ghetto. But its fun. We heard a bunch of gunshots the other night but DON'T FREAK OUT. That's just life in the hood. I'm a little disappointed that I haven't gotten into a flaming row yet, but there's still time. I'm probably gonna be out of Tacoma by the end of the month 'cause I'm a greenie and we get moved around a lot, so I'll send my address when I know.
My pants still fit. I'm actually not really even showing any signs of gaining weight at all(other than what the scales say) all though I'm not really surprised considering how much the Samoans feed us. Still haven't got any letters from any homies accept Nathan (which was hilarious by the way) but I remain hopeful.Yeah, having tons of fun preaching the word. And reading the scriptures is getting way more fun. Yes, a recipe book would be good, and I'll totally send you the memory card when I remember. I love you guys!!!
LOVE
Elder Uppencamp
Guess what. I totally got my first (in font)baptism!!!! It was really my second one I guess.... but it was the first one where I was in the font. It was on Sunday, and it was like the raddest thing ever. Apparently I dunked him waay to hard but he didn't mind. I just dunked him Gunnell style so there was no question on whether or not he was baptized. He's a cool kid from Jacksonville Florida. His brother had gotten baptized the week before I got here so he was thinking about it, then on Sunday he came to church and said he'd do it. It was way fun and I felt the Spirit really strongly, even though everyone was laughing cause I dunked him so hard.
That's cool about the letters, I was beginning to think my mail was getting stolen or something. Yeah, my areas really ghetto. But its fun. We heard a bunch of gunshots the other night but DON'T FREAK OUT. That's just life in the hood. I'm a little disappointed that I haven't gotten into a flaming row yet, but there's still time. I'm probably gonna be out of Tacoma by the end of the month 'cause I'm a greenie and we get moved around a lot, so I'll send my address when I know.
My pants still fit. I'm actually not really even showing any signs of gaining weight at all(other than what the scales say) all though I'm not really surprised considering how much the Samoans feed us. Still haven't got any letters from any homies accept Nathan (which was hilarious by the way) but I remain hopeful.Yeah, having tons of fun preaching the word. And reading the scriptures is getting way more fun. Yes, a recipe book would be good, and I'll totally send you the memory card when I remember. I love you guys!!!
LOVE
Elder Uppencamp
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Daniel's Latest Letter...
Hey moms!
Thats cool, we haven't really been rained on that much yet. I've only had to wear my coat like once. Last week was pretty cool, my comps baptized this kid but I'm not counting it as mine cause I didn't help. It was way cool though. We were in the middle of a meeting and talking about how we didn't have any baptisms set up that week, and he called and asked us if we could do it that day! Freakin Sweet, man. My companions/trainers are the coolest. They are as follows: Elder Cook from Centerville Utah, Elder Schull from Plain City Utah, and Elder Waggner from Medford Oregon. I cant believe our first transfers almost over, AND I STILL HAVEN'T HEARD FROM MY FRIENDS! whats up with that? I gotta get Chars address so's I can congradulate her. She's married now right? Guess what! I'm up to 150lbs!!! ridiculous huh? The first week I was here we didn't eat that much and I guess someone got on the ward's case cause they've been feeding us like crazy, and not just spaghetti too. We are over the Somoan ward so we basically get like 20lbs of food every time they feed us. Have you ever heard of Taro root? Yeah, things are going good. My companions are Uber hard-working. I beat Elder Schull in wrestling like my second night here. Elders Cook and Waggner don't believe that I like to box....teehee. Well, I love you guys, make sure you get on Nathan/Chad/everyone else/Corryns case about writing me. That would be nice. I love you all and I hope your enyoying yourselves. The Church is true, Tacoma is hot, and Samoans are crazy.
LOVE
Elder uppencamp
Thats cool, we haven't really been rained on that much yet. I've only had to wear my coat like once. Last week was pretty cool, my comps baptized this kid but I'm not counting it as mine cause I didn't help. It was way cool though. We were in the middle of a meeting and talking about how we didn't have any baptisms set up that week, and he called and asked us if we could do it that day! Freakin Sweet, man. My companions/trainers are the coolest. They are as follows: Elder Cook from Centerville Utah, Elder Schull from Plain City Utah, and Elder Waggner from Medford Oregon. I cant believe our first transfers almost over, AND I STILL HAVEN'T HEARD FROM MY FRIENDS! whats up with that? I gotta get Chars address so's I can congradulate her. She's married now right? Guess what! I'm up to 150lbs!!! ridiculous huh? The first week I was here we didn't eat that much and I guess someone got on the ward's case cause they've been feeding us like crazy, and not just spaghetti too. We are over the Somoan ward so we basically get like 20lbs of food every time they feed us. Have you ever heard of Taro root? Yeah, things are going good. My companions are Uber hard-working. I beat Elder Schull in wrestling like my second night here. Elders Cook and Waggner don't believe that I like to box....teehee. Well, I love you guys, make sure you get on Nathan/Chad/everyone else/Corryns case about writing me. That would be nice. I love you all and I hope your enyoying yourselves. The Church is true, Tacoma is hot, and Samoans are crazy.
LOVE
Elder uppencamp
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