Christmas in Fountain

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> Well to start off, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and will have a fantastic New Years. This week was kind of weird, mainly because I got to talk to my family, but it was still a good week!
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> Ok story first... so we went and had dinner at the Stowe's on Wednesday(they're the family we bought the ball for a couple weeks ago). They always make some super fantastic food and this time it was grilled chicken! It was sooooo delicious. Anyways I had totally not prepared an After-Dinner lesson, and she asked if I had a lesson for them! Well I kinda stalled a little then I came up with this super awesomesause idea. I told them, "this lesson is a little non-traditional but, we're going to go around the room and say Who Jesus is to us!" They liked the idea because it wasn't just us trying to talk over their kids but now their kids would have to interact in the group lesson! We went around and basically bore our testimonies and I got not only the Mom and Grandma to cry, but I got the Dad as well! He's a Blackhawk piolet so I guess I did pretty good. It was super spiritual and I loved every second of the on-the-spot lesson.
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> Alright so now, Christmas! We spent all day at the Burlingame's. We played games and had a nerf war and all that jazz! I really loved calling home to see everyone, but it was a little weird. I felt like I was just there but in reality that was almost 6 months ago! It's crazy how fast time flies on a mission! It has defiantly changed my life for the better in this short time and I know, as I grow older in the mission, it will impact my life more than I could ever imagine.
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> These 2 years that I have dedicated to the Lord will be the best 2 years for and of my life. I know they will be. Missions change people, I know this for a fact. And I'm so glad I chose to go on one and got called to the BEST MISSION IN THE WORLD! There's no other place I'd rather be. Sure college would be cool but this is where I need to be. Even though I haven't seen necessarily the impact I have on investigators lives(mainly cause we have like 2 that aren't progressing) I know that one day because of me they will get on the covenant path, and that's really why we're out here. We may not always see the results we expected or even wanted to see but in the end because of our actions we change people's lives for the better.
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> Well there's not much more that I can think of! I hope y'all have a fantastic New Years. Don't stay up to late though HAHAHAHA:) and I hope y'all have a fantastic week.
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> Love and peace,
> Elder Grandon

Christmas Eve

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> This week was packed. This week we had transfers and I said goodbye to my dad Elder Peel!:(
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> Welcome Elder Morrill and Westwood to Fountain. We've been tracting a ton because our investigators decided to leave for Christmas. So yeah tracting is fun! Other than that not a lot happened this week!
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> The special sacrament meeting was awesome. I felt the spirit so strongly. I truly love Christmas hymns and this gospel
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> Well that's all from me this week! I hope y'all have a great Christmas and a happy new year! Love y'all
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> -Elder Grandon
> 1.) A sidewalk masterpiece
> 2.) Us tracting

Ending transfer 3

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> This week was good! We had our Christmas Zone Conference and a lot of success in tracting.
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> First off, this week we have transfers. Elder Peel has been called to be a zone leader in the North stake. He's kinda nervous because him and another Elder are flushing the area and neither of them have been zone leaders before, but I know for a fact they'll do great! Also I got my wish! Christmas in Fountain! As Elder Peel transfers out I'm the senior companion and get to lead the area for probably one more transfer. I am getting 2 new companions. Elder Morril I know very well. He was in Mesa Ridge and got transferred within the district. Literally he got transferred to an area 5 minutes away from his last one. My other companion is Elder Westwood. I've been told he's a super chill guy, very easygoing, and is a great missionary. I can't wait to meet him tomorrow at transfers.
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> This week Elder Peel and I were getting pretty tired of tracting, so we did a creative finding activity in a local park. We made a boatload of hot chocolate and handed it out in the park, all they had to do is tell us what Christmas meant to them, then we'd bare our testimony and hand them a Book of Mormon and their cup of hot chocolate. We couldn't go about this by ourselves so we called up Mesa Ridge and Security and got a bunch of people who said they'd come to the special sacrament meeting on the 23rd. While some Elders were doing that an Elder from Security and I challenged some guys to a game. If they one we'd walk away, if we won they'd come on the 23rd. We of course won because "every mormon is good at basketball!" as one of them said once he figured out we were members of the church of Jesus Christ. I know what you're thinking, "they'll never come just cause they got beat in basketball." well they actually gave us their phone numbers and addresses and told us to come by before then(the 23rd) and remind them. Hopefully this means they've been prepared for the gospel. One can only hope!
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> On Thursday we had our Christmas Zone Conference. We talked about Joseph Smith for the most part. My admiration for President Stevenson grew so much while he was teaching us. He is a fantastic man and a future 70(I'm calling it) there's no way a man that spiritual isn't gonna become a 70 of higher. He's truly a man of God, and I love that he's my president. Anyways, after we were taught we had a party. The food, like always, was super good! After lunch we had an ugly sweater contest. Our district did things a little differently. Elder Peel was Santa(cause he was the district leader). I was Rudolf, the other Elders were other reindeer, and the sisters were elves. We went to Walmart and got these ridiculous onesies but it was worth it. We won so I can't really complain! All-in-all it was probably the best day this week!
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> That's really all for this week. I hope y'all had a fantastic week and have a wonderful Holiday season. Just remember, without Christ none of this would be possible. I thank him everyday for his sacrifice and for his love for me.
> -Elder Grandon
> 1.) The Squad
> 2.) Because of Z.C. we had to wash our car
> 3&5.) The Elders
> 4.) Our awards
> 6.) The outfit before we found the right one:)

Makin' Spirits Bright

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> This week has flown by. I don't know why I act so surprised, every week goes this quick. Anyways, this week was awesome. We had a great week!
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> Firstly some bad news. Our golden investigator, Juan, is going to other churches now:( We met with him on Tuesday and he told us that he wanted to try other churches to see if the feeling he got while attending our church is universal. Sometimes I wish I could just pick him up and shake the heck out of him while telling him "it's not universal. You feel good cause God has prepared you for this church!" Unfortunately I can't do that, and I think that would push him farther away from entering into a covenant with God. We're still meeting with him and teaching him but he's just trying other churches, for now. He will be baptized I know that for a fact! It will just probably not be while I'm here in Fountain. You never know tho. God works in mysterious ways.
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> This week was full of many hours of tracting, and not a lot of success. In total we probably tracted for about 20-25hrs. Thursday was defiantly the longest day of this week, tracting wise. That's what happens when you have like no appointments. But I know that by us showing the Lord that we are willing to do that much work then he will bless us with people.
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> On Thursday we had dinner with a family that's pretty cool. After that we stayed for like an hour playing basketball with their kids and friends. While we were playing their ball popped on a nail so we had to use ours for the rest of the game. The next day I felt like we should go buy them a new ball so they could keep playing. So we did so and left it on their porch with a bow. Then on Sunday, one by one, the boys came up to us and asked if we had bought them a new ball. Elder Peel and I had agreed that when they ask that we would act shocked and say no. It was really funny to see their expressions when we said that. I'm fairly confident no one in that family knows we did that. But we could see the joy on their faces as we drove by on the weekend and say them playing basketball!
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> Saturday was the ward Christmas party. I've never felt so homesick before! The whole thing just screamed home to me. We, of course, were the judges for like everything. Best dish, best dessert, best gingerbread house, ugliest sweater, and so on. It was a very fun night! I should've bought an ugly sweater on Monday but I will today for Zone Conference this Thursday.
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> Before I close I want to shout out my little sister, Hannah. She turned the big 16 yesterday! HUGE HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!! Don't wreck my car to quickly! HAHAHAHAHA nah I'm just kidding I know you'll be a great driver. Just don't girl-out my car too quickly:) Love you little sis!
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> Also thank the ward and the seminary classes that sent me the packages this week. Defiantly warmed my heart and gave me a taste of home!
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> That's really all for this week. I hope y'all have a fantastic week! Love y'all!
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> Elder Grandon
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> 1.) The stocking recieved from the seminary class
> 2.) The box from the ward
> 3.) The ward Christmas Party gym
> 4.) The dessert table
> 5.) The best looking, but not really tasting, cake

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

> What a week! A lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo stuff happened! It was pretty cool.
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> Firstly, we met with Juan on Tuesday and he wanted to push his baptism back so he could grow his faith. We're still meeting with him and sending him some scriptures and conference talks about the importance of baptism and stuff like that. He still has that fire in his eyes and in his soul but I think he's scared of the future.
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> Skipping forward to Saturday. We were invited to help the Blethen's pick up trash near their apartment. We were picking up trash from like 9-12, then they treated us to Dickey's Barbeque. It was soooooooooo good! I missed Dickeys. I may or may not have made like 2 root beer floats in that giant cup! I was so full.
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> Later that night we had the first of our 2 Stake Confernces. The visiting General authority was Brent K. Taylor. If you remember him, he gave a talk entitled "Am I a child of God?" He came and the talk he gave was so good! Then on Sunday we reorganized the Stake Presidency and Bro. Hinton got called to be the second counciler. The best part about that is we were at his house about 3 weeks before this meeting and said he'd be called to the Stake Presidency and his exact words were
> "Nah brother, don't put that on me!" After the meeting we went up and he lit up with this big smile. He'll do great I know he will!
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> Well that's all for this week! I hope y'all will participate in Light the World I know it'll change the world. I have a strong testimony in this program. It really does influence people.
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> Hope y'all have a fantastic week! Love from Fountain.
> Elder Grandon
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> 1.) Dickey's food
> 2&3.) Root beer floats
>

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

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> I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was full of family fun and volleyball. I think this year is the first time in my life where I wasn't able to go play football on Thanksgiving, it was defiantly weird, to say the least.
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> This week we noticed a lot more Christmas stuff going up. Not that that's a bad thing but it wasn't even Thanksgiving and people were already setting up for Christmas. It was a bit weird to see all the stuff but then say "Happy Thanksgiving" At the door.
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> Not a lot happened this week. We went on exchanges twice and then had thanksgiving so that's really what took up this week.
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> The only thing that is kinda noteworthy is that we had a lesson with Juan. We taught the commandments and he seemed to gather all the information we were giving him about stuff like the Word of Wisdom, Chastity, Tithing, Fasting, and stuff like that. Then he hit us with a super hard question that really showed how excited he was for December 1st. He asked what it felt like to be baptized and what it felt like to always have the Holy Ghost with you! I think that was the first time I couldn't produce an answer for him. Words truly are a disability when you try to explain spiritual experiences. That's all I could really say.
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> I just figured out that transfers are literally 6 days before Christmas. I know it's kinda far away but the way these last 5 months have gone by this one will surly go by even quicker. I hope and pray I stay here. There's just something about Fountain that I feel will make it hard to try and say goodbye, so why even try. I'm hoping for my first 6 months out I'll spend them all in Fountain
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> Well that's really it for this week. I hope y'all have a fantastic week. And as always, stay fresh!🤙
> Till next week,
> Elder Grandon
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> 1.) Thanksgiving at the Burlingame's (just sparkling water with apple juice, NOT WINE)
> 2.) A nativity set we found while tracting

Happy Thanksgiving

     First off I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving! It's come so fast and I fear my mission will go by even faster. But, Happy Thanksgiving!

     This week flew by for sure! I can't believe that I'm coming up on 5 months either. It's just crazy to see how fast it goes by. Hopefully it slows down sometime soon HA HA HA! I feel like this email won't be too long but we'll see.

     So a couple things happened this week. Firstly on Tuesday we had a Special Training from President on his experiences and learnings from his trip to Nauvoo. He wanted to implement this "Yes list" to help us get more referrals so we could meet our baptismal goal for the rest of the year. We have tried some of these ideas and believe it or not, they actually work! We've added a couple more less active families to our teaching pool! 

     The other really huge thing that happened this week is we got Juan on date for December 1st! For those of you who don't know, we recieved Juan from the APs. He was being taught by them but then moved into our area. We have been teaching him for a couple weeks. We met with him last Thursday and I had the prompting to invite him to be baptized. It was like he was waiting for that question because he didn't even hesitate to answer me! To him it clicked(as he explained to us)! I can't wait to see him baptized or baptize him. 

     I'm fairly convinced that Fountain has no regard for Thanksgiving. We're seeing more and more Christmas trees and lights up every week and it's kind of weird to not see like turkeys or something along those lines instead of going straight to Christmas. But it's whateves, Christmas it lit!

     That's really all for this week! I hope y'all are doing fantastic and are feeling the spirit mucho! Have a great week! Love y'all!

Elder Grandon

1.) City Hall all decked out for Christmas 

2.) A pole covered in lights 

3.) The Annualm Christmas lighting(in the middle of November)