Dear Joycelyn,
It’s great to hear from you. Sorry to hear about the break up. Way to follow the spirit. Would you tell dad for me that I have not written anyone in a long time, it has been very crazy on Mondays.
I just received word that I am being transferred. President called me as a traveling elder and we are going to either Nebraska or Wyoming. I’m not 100 % which state I will be in but I will be driving the car for about 4 hrs today to get there and have to drop off and pick up my companion along the way.
All my stuff is packed and ready to go. It is hard to leave Brighton. I have really enjoyed it very much. I know one of the elders who will be taking my place. The new place that I will be at is several hours away from anyone else and my new companion goes home this transfer. Elder Isaksen is off to Boulder. He’s excited.
Well happy Valentines Day. I hope you find a new car soon. Tell the family hello for me.
Love Elder Durfee
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
2-8-11
Dear Mom,
I am glad you are feeling better. I submitted aunt Nancy names to the temple this week on Saturday.
It has been a great week. Elder Isaksen has been senior companion all week and did a great job. This week we only had 5 days to do missionary work because we had exchanges and went to the temple.
We started by teaching a less-active sister and her none-baptized daughter Patricia and Shian. We taught the first lesson and invited both of them to read from the book of Mormon and pray about it.
We taught a less-active for the first time Tom Thompson we invited him to read from the scriptures. During the lesson we asked about why he had joined the church and how he came to know it was true.
We taught Lesha and Clint again. The dad, Scott sat in on the lesson. They were sup post to come to church but did not make it and are planning on coming next week. They have some concern we invited them to read every day till church.
We taught another Johnson family in the ward. This family is trying to become active in the church and get the dad baptized. The wife asked us to work with her husband and help him get baptized. She said she wants to go to the temple as a family. We taught of reading the scriptures as a family and they accepted the invitation to read every day. We gave the father a blessing. He was very sick that night. We ended giving each member a blessing. I could feel the power of the blessings. We told the family that it is their time to act.
We taught sister McNeese about how God will help us keep the commandments. For some reason she did not make it to church. We stopped by but she was not home.
We also taught the brother Arellin about reading the scriptures. Sister Arellin was asleep when we came by so we had a great lesson about testimony and coming to know for ourselves. We felt like he needed some testimony building and when we spoke with him he told us that he has never seen his prayers answered before. We talked about it and invited him to look for the prompting of the spirit as he reads every day. They have a date for their son to be blessed in church.
Fort Lupton invited us to teach a referral and the Lightfoot family. The referral went great. We taught the first lesson and found out that her father might be interested in hearing the lessons in Spanish. We have a return appointment and the Spanish elders will be coming. The Lightfoot family is really not progressing but we taught about reading with them. The mom is not really interested and thinks she’s atheist. We have another appointment.
We taught the Bunt family. They have read, prayed and we taught and committed them to come to church. They came this last Sunday and sat in our investigator class. It has been great to see and hear the stories and hear their testimonies as they have continued to act.
We taught De Herarra. We have been talking with him about reading. He has not read and we talked about the blessings with him. Hopefully he will read.
We taught the Roseman family again. We have given them Sunday school study guides and invited them to church. They are excited to read. We brought the home teacher to the appointment.
We also taught a focus family the Chaney’s we taught the restoration and invited them to read every day as a family. The mom likes to talk a lot … Elder Isaksen asked a good question and helped the dad open up some. We noticed at church that the dad sat in the lobby for Elders Quorum. We invited him to come join us but he turned us down. He needs some friends.
It was a great week. We tried to see Matthew but his dad has been very busy at work and his mom has been sick again.
This is all I have time love you mom,
Elder Durfee
Ps we have been working on a teaching pattern. Our teaching has improved a lot. We teach equally and do lots of testifying and our questions are improving.
Pss we drove past a church and their sign said “Prevent truth decay, brush up on the Bible”
I am glad you are feeling better. I submitted aunt Nancy names to the temple this week on Saturday.
It has been a great week. Elder Isaksen has been senior companion all week and did a great job. This week we only had 5 days to do missionary work because we had exchanges and went to the temple.
We started by teaching a less-active sister and her none-baptized daughter Patricia and Shian. We taught the first lesson and invited both of them to read from the book of Mormon and pray about it.
We taught a less-active for the first time Tom Thompson we invited him to read from the scriptures. During the lesson we asked about why he had joined the church and how he came to know it was true.
We taught Lesha and Clint again. The dad, Scott sat in on the lesson. They were sup post to come to church but did not make it and are planning on coming next week. They have some concern we invited them to read every day till church.
We taught another Johnson family in the ward. This family is trying to become active in the church and get the dad baptized. The wife asked us to work with her husband and help him get baptized. She said she wants to go to the temple as a family. We taught of reading the scriptures as a family and they accepted the invitation to read every day. We gave the father a blessing. He was very sick that night. We ended giving each member a blessing. I could feel the power of the blessings. We told the family that it is their time to act.
We taught sister McNeese about how God will help us keep the commandments. For some reason she did not make it to church. We stopped by but she was not home.
We also taught the brother Arellin about reading the scriptures. Sister Arellin was asleep when we came by so we had a great lesson about testimony and coming to know for ourselves. We felt like he needed some testimony building and when we spoke with him he told us that he has never seen his prayers answered before. We talked about it and invited him to look for the prompting of the spirit as he reads every day. They have a date for their son to be blessed in church.
Fort Lupton invited us to teach a referral and the Lightfoot family. The referral went great. We taught the first lesson and found out that her father might be interested in hearing the lessons in Spanish. We have a return appointment and the Spanish elders will be coming. The Lightfoot family is really not progressing but we taught about reading with them. The mom is not really interested and thinks she’s atheist. We have another appointment.
We taught the Bunt family. They have read, prayed and we taught and committed them to come to church. They came this last Sunday and sat in our investigator class. It has been great to see and hear the stories and hear their testimonies as they have continued to act.
We taught De Herarra. We have been talking with him about reading. He has not read and we talked about the blessings with him. Hopefully he will read.
We taught the Roseman family again. We have given them Sunday school study guides and invited them to church. They are excited to read. We brought the home teacher to the appointment.
We also taught a focus family the Chaney’s we taught the restoration and invited them to read every day as a family. The mom likes to talk a lot … Elder Isaksen asked a good question and helped the dad open up some. We noticed at church that the dad sat in the lobby for Elders Quorum. We invited him to come join us but he turned us down. He needs some friends.
It was a great week. We tried to see Matthew but his dad has been very busy at work and his mom has been sick again.
This is all I have time love you mom,
Elder Durfee
Ps we have been working on a teaching pattern. Our teaching has improved a lot. We teach equally and do lots of testifying and our questions are improving.
Pss we drove past a church and their sign said “Prevent truth decay, brush up on the Bible”
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
2-2-11
Dear Mom,
It is good to hear from you, I’m glad aunt Nancy has been getting some rest. I will continue to pray for her.
Elder Isaksen and I got hair cuts today. Mine is really short again. I won’t send you pictures so you don’t have to look at it. It will grow out in a few weeks.
We have been blessed with people to teach this week. We found a young couple and taught them the restoration. We also street contacted a kid coming home from school and taught him the restoration on the side of the road. I hope his mom will let him take the lessons.
Thanks to elder Isaksen wanting to go tracting a lot we found a family. The Mom and her son are really taking the lessons. There names are Lesha and Clint. We taught them twice this week and invited them to church but they did not come. Lesha told us that her son had asked if they were going to join the church. She said that she was not sure. It has been fun teaching them.
It is exciting serving on the Lords side. I found a great scripture this past week. D&C 84:62. We have been inviting families to write their testimony in Book of Mormons so they could “send forth” their testimonies. It has been a great week.
Love Elder Durfee
It is good to hear from you, I’m glad aunt Nancy has been getting some rest. I will continue to pray for her.
Elder Isaksen and I got hair cuts today. Mine is really short again. I won’t send you pictures so you don’t have to look at it. It will grow out in a few weeks.
We have been blessed with people to teach this week. We found a young couple and taught them the restoration. We also street contacted a kid coming home from school and taught him the restoration on the side of the road. I hope his mom will let him take the lessons.
Thanks to elder Isaksen wanting to go tracting a lot we found a family. The Mom and her son are really taking the lessons. There names are Lesha and Clint. We taught them twice this week and invited them to church but they did not come. Lesha told us that her son had asked if they were going to join the church. She said that she was not sure. It has been fun teaching them.
It is exciting serving on the Lords side. I found a great scripture this past week. D&C 84:62. We have been inviting families to write their testimony in Book of Mormons so they could “send forth” their testimonies. It has been a great week.
Love Elder Durfee
Thursday, January 13, 2011
1-11-11
Dear Family,
The work is going forth. Elder Isaksen and I had a great time this last week. He speaks very well for his second language. He is a classical Pianist and very talented. He has perfect pitch. Elder Isaksen has 6 kids in his family. His brothers have served missions and he is the second to youngest in his family. I have attached a picture. He is very funny. He reminds me of Elder Mason Bennett.
Well for the work this week, we had an appointment with a less-active sister, her name is Kerry. She joined the church a few years ago but in the last 4-5 months she has not gone to church at all. We followed up on her scripture reading that we had invited her to do at our last appointment. She had read and had learned so many things that she did not know before. An example would be that she thought that the book of Mormon came on a gold plate, one gold tablet not a whole book. She was very excited and showed us all the things she had marked and learned. I learned the importance of following up on commitments. We taught Kerry about prayer and committed her to pray daily. Elder Isaksen was great because he changed his scripture to something that fit better with Kerry’s needs. It was a great lesson. We told her that Heavenly Father loved her and wanted to hear from her. She committed to pray and continue to read. She was very grateful that we had come over and after the lesson, she gave one of the most heart felt prayers I have ever heard.
We taught the Bute family for the first time. They have been less-active for about a year. We taught them the importance of scripture study. With more zeal then I expected they agreed to read from the scriptures every day till our next appointment.
We had a miracle tracting. It was 8 pm and very dark. Our appointment had fallen threw and Elder Isaksen suggested we go tracting. I was hesitant to tract so late but with a determination to let him learn just how angry people get late night we went right ahead and knocked a bunch of doors. That street had some of the nicest people I have ever met. We had two people set up an appointment with us to hear the restoration. I have been humbled.
Elder Isaksen’s first real lesson with an investigation we had a lesson to transition Hazel to the YSA ward. We had her elders and us teaching her. She committed to be baptized on the 29th. Told us she had been thinking about it since the baptism. She told us that she believes the Book of Mormon is true. It was cool.
We also taught a sister who has been a member for 8 years. Patricia has been less-active for who knows how long. We knocked on her door several weeks ago. She started getting teary eyed when she was speaking with us. She said that whenever she needed some help someone always shows up. We set up a return appointment and left rather quickly. We came back at the appointed time and the husband told us that she was asleep but that she really wanted to talk with us. We dropped by this last week and set up another appointment. At the appointment, we taught her about reading the scripture and she agreed to read daily. She has a lot of family problems right now and is feeling a lot of stress with it. We started talking about the blessing they do have and enjoy right now. Patricia told us that after we had met the very first day she started crying after we had left. She committed to come to church on Sunday.
Family it was a great week thanks for your prayers. I am sorry to hear About Aunt Nancy. I hope she gets better soon. Yeah for dad and work!
I love you have a great week,
Elder Durfee
Sunday, December 19, 2010
12-19-10
Dear Mom,
I have not received any instruction for a specific time to call on Christmas. I will call you in the morning and then set up a time to talk.
I sent you a picture of our "Christmas Bush" we were using before the tree came. I have enjoyed opening a package each day. It has been fun. Elder Frazier opened all of his packages from home already. He spoiled Christmas but I am waiting. I have enclosed other pictures. It has started to get cold but it looks like we will be having a brown Christmas this year. no snow. Just like home.
We worked hard this week. Drove everywhere. Matthew did not come to church this last Sunday. We will have to move his baptism date. We have been very blessed with people to teach. We are working hard in the day to find people and then the nights are filled with teaching. We are off. Have a Merry Christmas and I will talk to you Saturday.
Love Elder Durfee
PS the package is great. Elder Frazier received three thermals. He is very happy and warm. Thanks for passing the message on to his parents.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
It has been a eventful week. I am quiet tired and will probably take a nap today. It has been hot lately. 60 degrees with hardly any snow these last few weeks.
We have been making tons of calls and visiting everyone. We have been blessed with lots of lessons and people to teach.
A visiting teacher made contact with the Gonzolus family and found out that the mother was going in for surgery the next day. She wanted a blessing and gave us a call to go by and give her the blessing. The surgery went well and the mom is doing much better after the surgery. The family wants to be active in the church and get their ten year old son baptized. We taught them the first lesson, set the son for baptism on the 31 of December and made arrangements for church. The boys (age 10, 13, 17) came to church for sacrament meeting and the ward party the day before. Heavenly Father did everything to make this happen. We are just hear to teach. Their hearts are already prepared.
We contacted a referral we had received from Church Head Quarters. She lives 19 miles from town. When we called she was interested in meeting with us. She already has a book of Mormon from a friend and has lots of questions. We drove to teach her with our ward mission leader and had a wonderful first lesson. She is excited to read and pray and she even said the closing prayer. Heavenly father has prepared her too.
We have a family in the ward who’s mom moved in to live with them. The mother recently had a stroke and is learning to walk and be self sufficient again. Most of her life she has been anti towards the Mormons but since the incident she has had a change of heart. She has been coming to church, reading the Book of Mormon and watching BYU TV and following along in the scriptures. We were invited to come and teach her. Once again Heavenly Father has prepared the person for the gospel long before we ever arrived.
Many home of the less-active members have been opening up. Some great people have been prepared and are ready to come back to the church. We are seeing the Lords hand change peoples hearts. I love you mom, family you too.
Elder Durfee
Sunday, December 5, 2010
12-5-10
Dear mom,
I also watched the Christmas devotional. It was wonderful. We had hot chocolate with pumpkin pie after for dessert. It was delicious.
So I have compiled a Christmas package for the family. Will Celeste and Casey be joining you for Christmas Eve? I want to send them something too.
Lets see… the baptism was wonderful Jackie, Derek and Tori are so special. We had a great turn out from the ward. I heard that we had a hundred people show up in support for the baptism. It was wonderful. The Rydzeski’s dad came for the baptism and even showed up for the confirmation at church. He is such a nice man, fits right in with High Priests. At the baptism Elder Frazier and I taught the Restoration.
We had zone conference this last week. Lots of fun I saw many missionaries that I have not seen in weeks/months. Sister Ely was there she too a lot of pictures. She took a lot of pictures which I am sending.
Thank you for the wonderful package again. I have some pictures. It was a wonderful last week. At zone conference I received a phone call from a member who had someone for us to teach. His name is Jody. All we were given is a name and a number. We contacted Jody by phone. He is needing God in his life, he has gone threw a lot of trials. We told him the church address and he said he would come to church. Sunday afternoon we gave him a call. We haven’t heard form him since. Hope he is ok.
Mom I love you, have a great Christmas. Love Elder Durfee
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