Letter #4 - a few days early because of General Conference*

Hello Family and Friends,

Since we don’t have our normal p-day this week due to General Conference,I’m emailing for 2 hours today (Wednesday). So this email will be a little shorter than other emails.  The past 4 days have been busy but of coursegood!  Here’s my rundown:

Saturday 9/26 – After emailing we did laundry, and then due to the Women’sConference we just hung outside our apartment as opposed to doing missionsports, but that was a lot of fun as well. 

Sunday 9/27 – We had branch choir practice in the morning and then wentto Music and the Spoken Word, and it was being presented in the ConferenceCenter this week, which was really cool. We then had church in the afternoon.

Monday 9/28 – I had to be up at 5am that morning to attend choirpractice, since our mission choir sings in the Monday devotionals eachweek.  Then we had our devotional and itwas another good one!  We then did ourdaily work in our zones.  That night wehad a really LONG District Meeting, but it was a really good one.

Tuesday 9/29 – We did more work in our zones in both the day and thenight. 

Wednesday 9/30 – Today we did some more of our zone work and now I’memailing.  Tonight we will do some morezone work. 

That’s my week so far.  You’llhear more about the remainder of my week and next week when I email again onSaturday October 10^th.  Loveyou all so much! J

-Elder Frederickson

*Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide gather in Salt Lake City twice a year for general conference. Six sessions are held every spring and fall for members to receive instruction from Church leaders. The sessions are also broadcast throughout the world in multiple languages

Week Three - Data Quality Zone!

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week in the mission has come and gone and it was another week of busy work.  Here’s my week in a nutshell:

Saturday 9/19 – After emailing last week, we had to go to a mission wide driver’s training presentation for all the potential new drivers.

Sunday 9/20 – We got up and went to Music and the Spoken Word, and I actually got to see it in the tabernacle; it was a lot cooler seeing it in person as opposed to seeing it on a TV screen.  Then we had church and my companion and I had a dinner appointment with one of the senior couples in our mission.

Monday 9/21 – We began the morning with our mission devotional and it was another good one.  We then went to work on our new assignments (for the new Elders).  We had our usual district meeting on Monday night.

Tuesday 9/22 – We had our normal schedule in the morning, and then we had our transfer conference (and it’s the first one that’s been done in our mission!) where we got to find out our new companions/assignments.  My new companion’s name is Elder Crittenden and he’s from Rexburg, Idaho (where BYU-Idaho is), and he’s a great guy!

Wednesday 9/23 – Yet again, this was a busy day in the office.  I also got to go to my evening assignment for the first time, which is really the same as my day assignment. 

Thursday 9/24 – This day was another busy one, but at least we try to enjoy our work.  That night, we went to Research Essentials (this is when we get to do some of our own family history as well as some indexing). 

Friday 9/25 – It was a little quieter in the office, but still busy enough haha.

Saturday 9/26 – We did our shopping this morning, and we had to do TWO WEEKS worth of shopping due to General Conference next weekend. 

That’s it for this week!  Since next week is General Conference, I will not be emailing next Saturday, but instead I will most likely be emailing during the week, so basically stay tuned haha. 

Love you all so much!  Thanks for the prayers and support! :)

-Elder Frederickson

 Some additional info!

What do you do in the Data Quality Zone?

Right now our supervisor is trying to set my headset up, and then I will be helping patrons out via phone.  I cannot give a lot of details due to confidential reasons.

 My package has not come yet, but I DID get your guy’s letters and the conference tickets!

What do you usually do for lunch and dinner?

I usually make my food, but every once in a while I go to the Church Office Building Cafeteria to get lunch – it’s on the bottom floor of the COB I believe (there are 26 floors in that building).  I usually cook some popcorn chicken and smiley potatoes and make pb & j sandwiches. 

Do you still have the same p-day?

My p-day is Saturday at least until next transfer. 

Did you have to move apartments when you transferred?  How many Elders are in your apartment?

I did have to move apartments and I’m in a two man apartment (just me and my companion). 

What did the Senior couple serve you at your dinner appointment?

For the dinner appointment we were served something I don't normally see, but it had pork in it which was good!

Elder Frederickson and his new Mission President and mission mom!

Week 2 Email!

Dear Family and Friends-

Week #2 is done!  This past week was another good one, and maybe even better.  It’s also been cooler and rainy for a part of the week.  Here is what happened to me this week!

Saturday 9/12 – After doing my emails, we did our shopping, laundry, and did some sports at the stake center which is across from our apartments, which was great!

Sunday 9/13 – We saw Music and the Spoken Word in the morning, but we were unable to get into the tabernacle so we had to watch it in one of the Visitor’s Centers, but it was still good.  We had church in the afternoon (our branch meets at 1pm with ward choir before that). 

Monday 9/14 – Our mission had a devotional at 7:30am (our mission does devotionals every Monday morning!) and we heard from some of our senior missionaries and it was a good devotional.  Afterwards we had our photo taken with all the new missionaries (young elders and seniors).  Funny thing happened – me and another young missionary had to squat down a little bit and the photographer said that I looked like I was in pain hahaha.  The photographer has been teasing me about that ever since, but it’s okay haha.  My companion and I shadowed in the library this week in a zone called Hosting Services.  Monday night we had a district meeting and then we had a branch activity called “Hail and Farewell”, which welcomes the new missionaries and says farewell to those heading home either this month or next month.  We do this activity every other month. 

Tuesday 9/15 – We continued to shadow in the Hosting Services.  We also continued our family history training classes that night.  Tuesday was the day that I found 38 names to take to the temple – yes I had time to look for my own names. 

Wednesday 9/16 – In the morning that day we had a mission conference with all the young elders and the mission presidency.  Two members of the presidency gave lessons and they were both really good.  The rest of the day we continued with our shadowing.  Wednesday was super chilly and rainy, but thank goodness we have umbrellas haha. 

Thursday 9/17 – We did some more of our shadowing.  That night our AP’s (the president’s assistants) took us to the Discovery Center in the Joseph Smith Building, and it was the coolest, most fascinating thing I’ve seen.

Friday 9/18 – We found out what our first official zone assignment is going to be.  Mine is in the Data Quality Zone.  I’ll find out my new companion on Tuesday, so I’ll talk about that next week.  That day we had the opportunity to go into the temple TWICE, which was really cool. 

That’s it for this week!  I hope that everyone has a GREAT week!

Love you all!

-Elder Frederickson

Already doing the work!

Excerpt from an email ... Made my day!
 
"You and Mary will not believe this. I met your grandson, Michael, at the family history library here in salt lake where I am presenting to their league of municipalities.

I was dumbfounded. At the greeting desk the young men asked where I was from. Then Michael said his grandparents lived there. I asked who and so on..."

Michael's letter - Week 1

Dear Family and Friends -

Week 1 of my mission is done!  Not a ton happened this week since this was my first week in the mission.  Here is what happened to me this week!

Tuesday 9/8:  This day was my introductory day to the mission.  Our day started early in the morning with a bunch of orientation stuff.  We were introduced to the majority of our leaders and to the mission as a whole.  That night we were given a tour of the Family History Library and then we were able to go shopping for our Week 1 groceries.

Wednesday 9/9:  We began to "shadow" some of the zones that we could be doing as part of our mission.  Later that morning we had the opportunity to do a session in the Salt Lake Temple - which was nice.  After the temple we spent the rest of the day doing some more shadowing of the zones.  That night we began our family history classes where we started to learn about some basics of family history.

Thursday 9/10:  We continued to shadow our zones that we shadowed during the previous day.  That night we continued to learn about family history in our family history training class. 

Friday 9/11:  Once again we shadowed some of the zones that we had shadowed during the previous 2 days.  We did have the opportunity to meet our President and his wife since they had been out of town earlier in the week and we were able to have an introductory lunch with the mission presidency and our senior coordinators.  That night we did another training class on family history - that time we began learning how to index. 

Saturday 9/12:  Today is our first prep day.  After our 2 hour email block we'll do our shopping and laundry.

Well that's it for this week!  Have a great week! :)

-Elder Frederickson