Finally - an update on Michael's
mission
January 14th -
Hello Family and
Friends,
This past week has been
another exciting and unforgettable one. Here’s my report.
Saturday 1/7 –
After doing our emails, we went to Harmon’s to pick up some items, and then we
went with a few other elders to Deseret Industries, which is a thrift store,
since I needed some shoes, which ended up not fitting me! We then made
one more trip to Harmon’s and then finally had dinner.
Sunday 1/8 – We did
not attend Music and the Spoken Word since my companion had not gotten ready
yet, so we just basically hung around the apartment in the morning until it was
time to leave for church. We had our church meetings, which as always,
went really well. It was Fast Sunday, so we had testimony meeting, and I
had the opportunity to bear my testimony (I’m going to try to bear my testimony
every month until I go home, since I’ve come to understand that bearing
testimonies can strengthen them as well!). In the evening, we had dinner,
and then went to a young elder fireside, where we got to hear from Brother
Larry Burns (who served with President Tate in the mission presidency when he
served in the Lavages Mission back in the early 2000’s!).
Monday 1/9 – We
got up at the early hour so we could be on time to the Elijah Choir
rehearsal. We then had the first Monday morning devotional of the New
Year AND as a newly renamed mission. After devotional, we went to our
work zone as normal. We got to have lunch at Nauvoo Café, since a nice
man gave us $20 while we were at Harmon’s on Saturday. Speaking of Nauvoo
Café, it’s going to be closed temporarily for renovations. The newly
renovated Nauvoo Café is scheduled to be open sometime in February. In the
evening, we had our first district meeting of 2017.
Tuesday 1/10 – I
got up to go to morning sports, which was fun. We then had breakfast, got
ready, and then headed to our zone. Zone has once again been pretty busy,
which is good, since we’re able to keep ourselves occupied in the service of
the Lord. In the evening, we worked in our evening zone.
Wednesday 1/11 – I
got up in the morning to begin my day with running (which I actually do
walking, since I don’t like to runhahahaha!). We then had breakfast, got
prepared for the day, and then headed out the door to our work zone. We
had young elder conference in the morning, and it was literally amazing.
Two of our Assistants gave an instruction on temperance, Brother Cody Hansen
(who served in Vegas when President and Sister Tate were the mission president
and mission mom of the mission!) spoke on some of his challenges, and then
President Tate gave us a really awesome instruction, basically putting
everything together that was learned in the conference. We then had lunch
and then went to work for a little bit. We then had interviews with
President and Sister Tate, which went really well as always – I LOVE to visit
with them individually. We then had a zone farewell for some senior
missionaries in our zone who are leaving this months. After zone, we had
our Wednesday Elijah Choir rehearsal, which went really well as always.
We then worked in our evening zones.
Thursday 1/12 – I started my morning with morning sports,
which was fun. We then had breakfast, got ready for the day, and then
headed to zone. We did get to go see the NEW Discovery Center, which is on
the main floor of the Family History Library, in the early afternoon, which was
very cool (it opens officially to the public the week of February 6th!).
We then had dinner and went to our evening assignments.
Friday 1/13 – I woke up and went to morning running, and
there were a TON of elders there, which was pretty fun. We were 2 hours
late to our work zone yesterday since my companion had a cold and needed some
rest, so I spent little time cleaning our apartment. We were out of the
door by 10am, and then worked in our zone as normal the remainder of the
day. We had dinner and then had the opportunity to go to the temple to do
baptisms, confirmations, and initiatories.
Saturday 1/14 – I started my morning by going to morning sports
this morning. We then got our laundry and shopping done. After
shopping, we went to do a service project for a senior sister who was moving
some stuff to a storage unit. Now we’re emailing!!
This has been another exciting week in the mission, and I’m
really glad I get to be serving at this time in my life. When I’m done
with my mission in just a couple short months, I’ll look back to the
experiences I’m having now with ZERO regrets! Love you all – have an awesome
week!! :)
Elder Michael Frederickson
Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission
January 21st -
Hello Family and Friends:
Happy mid-January!! This week has been another great
one for sure! It’s also the week before transfers once again, so stay
tuned to find out when I will end up emailing again!! I'm super excited
to hear about Jensen's mission call to Portugal. Just wait until Phil,
Jonathan, and Jensen start speaking Portuguese to each other :)
I'm sad that I won't be able to see her until late 2018, but
she'll do a great job for sure with the people in Portugal.
Saturday 1/14 – After doing our emails, we went shopping at
Harmon’s, and then we went to Mr. Mac so I could get my new shoes, which are
actually really nice. We then had dinner and went to the last half of
sports.
Sunday 1/15 – We went to see the broadcast of Music and the
Spoken Word, which was really good. We then hung out at our apartment and
had lunch until it was time to head to church. We were introduced to our new
reading challenge, which is “Christ in You” which I am attaching to this email.
The next 3 months in our mission, we as a mission are focusing exclusively on
Christ and His Atonement, so that’s why our mission president had the
inspiration to give us the challenge at this particular time. I’m going
to take part of this challenge, and I’d love to invite everyone to
participate. The challenge began on Monday 1/16, but you can catch up,
and the challenge ends officially on April 16th (which happens to be
on Easter Sunday!), so this is actually good timing. After the intro to
our reading challenge during the first hour, we had the remainder of our Sunday
meetings. We then had a dinner appointment, and we had breakfast for
dinner, which is always very good.
Monday 1/16 – We spent the morning polishing our apartment to
make it very clean. We then had Costco pizza, which was very good.
We then watched “Quest for a Go-Getter” which is a film about a man who really wanted
to get a job, and he tried his absolute best to get the job. One of the
requirements of getting the job was to pick up a blue vase for the manager of
the job. Our mission office has at least 3 blue vases, which is actually
quite interesting. We then had our district meeting and district
activity, and I also had dinner.
Tuesday 1/17 – I got up in the morning for morning sports,
which was really fun. We then had breakfast, got ready for the day, and
went to our work zone. We had cake during the day since one of our staff
members was celebrating her birthday, which was cool. We had mission
conference in the afternoon, which was really good. We then had our
dinner, and then went to our evening zone.
Wednesday 1/18 – I got up in the morning to go to morning
running. We then had breakfast, got prepared for the day’s activities,
and then headed to zone. For zone on Wednesday, we had the opportunity to
work in the Temple Department, which is our special assignment in the zone.
We had the 2nd day of the mission conference in the afternoon, as
well as our weekly Elijah Choir practice. After choir, we had our dinner
and then went to our evening assignments.
Thursday 1/19 – I began my Thursday morning with
sports. After sports, we had our breakfast, got ready, and then headed
out the door to our zone, which was actually a normal zone day. In the
early afternoon, I met with the development counselor, which went well – I’ll
meet with him again in 3months. We then resumed our zone work after the
meeting. In the evening, we worked in our normal evening zone.
Friday 1/20 – I began my Friday with morning running.
We then had our breakfast, got ready for the day, and then went off to our
assignment. It was another normal work day, which was nice. Last
night, we went to the final evening zone of the transfer. After evening
zone, I found out that I am moving apartments in the upcoming transfer; at
least I have little more time to pack unlike other transfers.
Saturday 1/21 – I got up and went to sports to begin my Saturday morning. We
then did our laundry. After doing our laundry and getting ready, we found
out that we could not drive to Smith’s because of a snow storm Utah is
experiencing today, so we took the TRAX to Smith’s, and all I’m going to say
was that it was QUITE an adventure.
As you can see,
this past week has been another great and busy week! Thanks so much for
keeping main your prayers as I continue to serve within the next 6-7
months. Love you all – and have a great week!
Elder Frederickson
January 28th
Hello Family and
Friends,
I hope that
everyone has had another great week like I have. Here is my weekly
report.
Saturday1/21 –
After finishing our emails, we went to Harmon’s to acquire some more items that
we did not get at Smith’s. We then had our dinner and went to the last
little bit of sports, and then hangout with some other elders for a few
minutes.
Sunday 1/22– We
got up and saw the broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word. We then hung
around the apartment, had lunch, and then went to our Sunday meetings. We
then hung around our apartment some more as well as have our dinner.
Monday 1/23– We
got up at the EARLY hour of 5am so that we could be to the Monday AM Elijah
Choir practice on time. We then had our mission devotional, and then went
to our work zone for the remainder of the day as normal. We then had our
dinner and district meeting, and then we prepared for the upcoming transfer.
Tuesday 1/24– I
missed morning sports on Tuesday since I somehow overslept (my now previous
companion told me that he saw me attempt to turn off my alarm clock in my
sleephahaha!). So I got up, ate breakfast, got ready for the day, and
then headed to our work zone as normal for the day. We then had our
transfer conference in the afternoon. I’m now with a new companion (his
name is Elder Bess and he’s from Montana!), in a new apartment, and now working
in new zones, but still have the same p-day. I now work in the TROC zone
during the day, and then the new Discovery Center in the Family History Library
at night (it officially opens to the public on February 8th, so come
to the Discovery Center when you’re in Salt Lake ha-ha!).So - for the
TROC Zone- we basically do indexing, zoning, and family history research
and in the Discovery Center - we help guests in various positions - info desk
and greeter, we welcome guests to the library; floor manager - ensures that all
missionaries are in their proper assignments each hour; radial workstation - we
help with account issues and Family Tree problems; we also distribute the IPAD's
that guests and missionaries use in the floor; we also help people with other
areas on the floor - like there is a Relative Finder feature, we can also find
out where our names come from - there was a family that was there last night whose
last name basically means one who is talkative - it's actually very
interesting. We then spent the remainder of the night moving
apartments.
Wednesday1/25 – I
got up to do morning sports to begin my Wednesday (we normally do running, but
then the fire alarm was going off in the Conference Center when we got there,
so we did sports at the stake center instead!), and then we had our breakfast,
got ready for the day, and then we went to our new zone. We do indexing,
zoning, and family history research during the day, which can get tedious at
times, but the time does go-fast during the day. We then had the
Wednesday PM Elijah Choir practice, which went really well (oh, we were
notified during the practice that the speaker for next month’s mission
conference would be Wendy Nelson – wife of President Nelson of the Quorum of
the 12, pretty exciting!). We then had dinner and went to our evening
zone in the Discovery Center, which was pretty fun.
Thursday1/26 – My
companion and I went to sports to begin the day. We then had our breakfast,
got ready, and headed to zone. Nothing too much happened in day zone on
Thursday, since it is TROC and all. In the evening, we worked in our
night zone in the Discovery Center. Not too much is happening yet in the
Discovery Center, but we do get a few guests, but it will be busy once it
opens, especially since it opens during ROOTSTECH, so it will be busy by then.
Friday 1/27 –We
got up and got ready for the day. We then went to the Bountiful Temple
for our temple trip, which was definitely great for sure. When we got
back, we were treated to lunch, which was pizza from Costco, which was
fun. We then went to our zones for the remainder of the day. In the
evening, we worked in our night zone in the Discovery Center.
Saturday1/28 – We
went to sports to begin this morning. We then did our shopping and just
finished our laundry.
NEW – sneak peek:
Tomorrow night, we have a dinner appointment with some senior sisters.
February 8this when the Discovery Center officially opens to the
public. February 14th and 15thwill be the mission
conference with Sister Nelson. Pretty exciting month coming up!
As you can see,
this past week has been another great one! I’m looking forward to having
some new experiences this coming month. Love you all – have a wonderful
week!
Elder Frederickson
February 4th -
Hello Family and
Friends,
Happy February!
Another great week seems to have come and gone rather quickly. Here is my
week in a nutshell.
Saturday1/28 – In
the evening, we had our dinner, and then went to evening sports.
Sunday 1/29– We
got up and went to see the broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word to begin our
Sunday morning. We then did some studies and had lunch. We then had
our Sunday meetings, which was fun because I got to see Xander and Jenna Day from
my stake (Elder and Sister Ashton, who serve in my mission, are the parents of
Jenna Day and the grandparents of Xander Day!). In the evening, we had a
dinner appointment where we had Sloppy Joes (my family actually calls them
“Freddy Burgers!”). After the dinner invite, we hung out with some
elders.
Monday 1/30– We
got up at the early hour so we could be to the Elijah Choir practice on time.
We then had our mission devotional, and then went to our work zone as normal
for the remainder of the day. In the evening we had our district meeting,
and then we hung out with some other elders.
Tuesday 1/31– We
began our Tuesday morning with some morning sports. We then got ready for
the day and had our breakfast prior to going to our work zone. We then did
our normal work in our work zone. In the evening we did our assignment in
the Discovery Center.
Wednesday2/1 – We
got up in the morning and participated in morning running. We then had our
breakfast and got ready for the day. We then went to our work zones
normal. We were supposed to have our interviews with President Tate, but
that got cancelled at the last minute, since President Tate was out sick on
Wednesday (he was also out sick one day few weeks ago, so that must have been
hard for him, especially since he presides over 1,200 missionaries!). We
then had lunch, and then my companion had to go to a Job Searching class, so I
was on a temporary companionship exchange with the other 2 people in my
district for about an hour so we could still work. We then had the
Wednesday Elijah Choir practice, which was very enjoyable. We then had a
quick dinner, and then went to our evening assignment in the Discovery
Center. The Discovery Center was VERY busy during the last hour, so we
weren’t able to leave until after9pm, when the library closes, and it’s
normally our curfew, but since we were still working, it was actually
okay!
Thursday 2/2– We
went to morning sports to begin our Thursday morning. We then got ready
for the day and had our breakfast. We then went to do our normal
assignments in our work zone. On Thursday evening we had a not as busy
night in the Discovery Center.
Friday 2/3 –We
began our Friday morning with morning running. We then got ready for the
day and had our breakfast before heading out the door to our work zone.
We spent the day as normal working in our work zone. It was warmer
outside on Friday which was really nice. We did our evening assignment in
the Discovery Center last night which as always was fun.
Saturday 2/4– We
began this morning with sports where we played Volleyball and Badminton.
We then did our shopping, laundry, and went to the swap meet. Now we’re
emailing!
The mission just keeps
getting better and better each day that goes by. It’s so much fun being
able to serve in Salt Lake with some awesome people. Have a GREAT week!!
:)
Elder Frederickson