10 Weeks Remaining...

MOM's Email

:-) Yes I got your letter. The mail seems to get here super fast here. I got your letter on Saturday, even though you said you sent it on Thursday in your letter. That was pretty crazy. The same with the package, they both got here ridiculously fast...

It should be pretty cool to see all the changes to the house and every thing else there. It will be different, but all for the better.

Next week is the 4th of July! Woah! :P P-Days on holiday Mondays are a pain for missionaries, so we'll see what madness is in store for us next week. I can't complain, because I'll be getting a pancake breakfast next week. So I'll have some things to look forward to, but I may end up trying to look for some fireworks, but I'll see if that's permissible next week. We'll see how much the singles ward has changed since I was there. I got a feeling of immaturity when I was there, and that bugged me, but if Leah feels that it's good, then it may have improved.

Good luck with Leah and Jenna's Daycare idea. I hope that it is being successful.

It was fun to hear about the family cleaning day... :P I can understand more of where your coming from with that, because I've become more of an organized clean freak when it comes to the kitchen and my desk... so our house may end up staying cleaner when I get home.

 

DAD's Email

Mom, and my dear sisters are always very loved. They are all awesome. I hope that they do well with their daycare project. 

Is Leah preparing you guys for a 5k walk? or a 5k run? 5k walk isn't bad, Lake Johnson is more than 5k if I'm remembering my measurements right (~4mi > 5k)?. That could be fun. I'll have to prepare myself to see if I can jog it all. I heard from a member who's a professional runner that shin splints can come from several different sources, but that the main cause is usually the form that you walk. You can probably find out some more about it online. 

I really don't remember Falls Lake, but I would imagine that I've been there at least once... It'd be nice to go there again sometime.    

Mom let me know in here snail mail how much everyone enjoyed the card I sent you. :) I knew that it was the one when I found it last week.

Good luck with Japan Ben! you'll do great!

Welcome home Leah! Enjoy yourself.

Good luck at scout camp Joshua! Have fun! Earn lots of Merit Badges!

 

Questions

1. Can you send pictures?  I'm trying to be more camera-picture-taking-minded but it's still a work in process. I'll send some pictures of me and some of the members soon.
2. Did you get the pictures we sent?  I did get the pictures that were in the package. They were really nice. I can't believe how big Joshua's getting, and now that he's losing his blonde hair. :P Craazy! Jenna looked very nice for her Rose Prom pictures.
3. Do you think you’ll get transferred? I wont know if I'm moving until mid-July, but my guess is that I'll stay here to finish off my mission. 
4. How deep is your “gator” pool?  Our investigator is pool is decent, but there are a lot of people who we can only see once a week, or sometimes that we aren't able to contact on some weeks, so we're work hard on finding right now, but we've seen a LOT of miracles happening as a zone from that. So it's growing slowly, but it should be great!

This week has been awesome! There have been many spiritual experiences, and amazing people that are ready to change their lives and progress in the Gospel. My testimony continues to grow and be fortified through these experiences, and the the joy I feel seeing the love of our Savior in active motion working in the lives of these people. I know my Savior lives! I know that He loves me, and each and every single one of you! I know that He has a plan for us that will enable us to be happy, forever. Keep working hard, and do what is right!

Love your missionary,

Elder Richard Mackelprang

Summer is Here! Father's Day Approaches...

DAD's EMAIL

I’m proud of my family doing missionary work! Yeah! I hope that the dinner with the missionaries and their investigator goes well. Those lessons taught in Members homes can be some of the strongest lessons and teaching opportunities that you can find. That is from personal experience. It's a great thing.

Josh and EOGs. I think it's ridiculous to have classes 3 weeks after the tests are over. What's the point? It just doesn't make sense.

Jenna is Jenna, our prolific reader. :)  I hope she’s enjoying having some more time to read.  She probably has some good books for me to take on when I get back.

Happy Early Birthday Mom! Have a great one!  :)

Do I get to use some of the iTunes gift card when I get back? I'll have to listen the new Cars Cd sometime.

As Matthew Watkins would always say, "Leah Maria make me-a tortilla!" Leah's coming home this week. Awesome. We'll see how everyone adjusts to her being home. 

Q&A

• The Baptism was awesome! :) My comp Elder Glaus, baptized the "recent convert" and I baptized the younger brother, the "child of record." This song is actually the 4th time we sung in consecutive weeks at baptisms. 3 being Spanish, 2 being ours. :-D  I do have a great singing companion and we do some great things to harmonize and our voices blend very nicely together. It's reminiscent of the PriestQuorumQuintet days. I looking forward to singing when I get back. If Joshua's voice is deep enough I'll start teaching him bass. He'll thank me later for it. ;-) We've been singing in Spanish as well, so it's been very cool. We sang "Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy" = "Brillan Rayos de Clamencia" 
• My clothes are doing fine. When there are small rips and tears I sew them up and they're good as new. I've become quite good at sewing things. :P The bike is doing well, but I lent it to another missionary because his bike got stolen. (he just got transferred, so I have it back.) I'm thinking that I may just try to sell the bike to another missionary before I come home... I'll let you know if I need anything.
• We don't have any miraculous tracting or contacting stories, but we have met some pretty amazing people who have overcome drug addictions here, but coming to Jesus in their various faiths. Those were some very interesting conversations.
• Dinners are 99% with Hispanic families, but every once in awhile we'll eat with some Gringos, mostly that always know Spanish. Go figure. We have some amazing members, but I would take another hour talking about them all. We get dinners pretty much every night, most of the Latino wards are good about that except for my first area (being a greenie in Santa Rosa) which looking back is understandable because there were six of us missionaries.
• I’m getting along fine with my expired drivers License. Just not doing the driving now. 

I know my time is far spent.  :) I'll get my rocket boosters going. Turning on the jets and getting some more work done. I do need to turn up the heat, even though I'm seeing that we're already accomplishing a *lot*. I'm moving forward, and will be excited to make miracles happen here in Vallejo.

MOM's EMAIL 

• I’m looking forward to the package you sent! Yay! Oooooo, tape recording! It'll be nice to hear your voices again.
• Moe Joe's burgers sounds great! The Inferno Burger sounds like a worthy challenge. Grilled Jalapenos are worse than regular ones. It all has to do with the oils.
• Devin Romney, Congrats on your mission call. Tempe, Arizona. That's where I was born! Spanish culture is something you'll never forget.
• I actually enjoy cooking. There are some days where I really don't want to bother with it, but that's life. I can cook just about anything, recipe or no.
• Good luck with the health conscious change. I dunno if I can give up on your fabulous homemade bread though Mom. It's not worth giving up.
• Father's Day is here! That's pretty wild! It's just another reminder that home is around the corner...
• Singing has been awesome. Everyone just loves it. see Dad's email for more details.
• Don't die up there at Girl's camp Mom! :) I'm not worried, you can handle it, you raised us 4 kids! Ha! :-D

Things have been going well here! I'm loving life, and working hard. I'll make these last few months the best. :) It'll be nice to have some mail this week. I love you all!

Love your son and missionary,

Elder Richard Mackelprang

Two Transfers / Three Months / < 100 Days Remain…

MOM'S EMAIL

It's not the first time I've heard or thought about singing Happy P-Day to the Happy Birthday tune. I can imagine it perfectly. Although if you want to send me something on a recording you can ask Kayla to come over, she has a recorder that we've sent each other back and forth a few times. :) If you want to.

The baptism was fantastic! That was the 2nd week in a row that I've sung a musical number with another Spanish Elder, Elder Estep. Another best friend. He lives in Georgia. Has a great voice. We sang again this past Saturday for one of their baptisms, and we will be singing again this Saturday for ours this Saturday. So I've gotten a lot of singing in! I've loved it though. :P We're getting popular! Everyone wants us to sing at the baptisms now.

Robert has been very diligent in his studies. I commend him in that. I hope that I can work as hard and put my heart into my studies. I know I can, but I have to love what I'm doing. So that's why I think I can work with the Animation program. It'll be a challenge, but it'll be worth it.

I'm proud that Leah has grown up so much since I was home. She used to be holed up in the house all the time, and now she's started to use her wings. :) It'll be good to see how things will fit together with the family when we're all back together. The other kids have been growing so much too... it's a little weird being the eldest, but I wouldn't give up on the privileges it comes with. ;-)

Exercise. Yeah. :P. The balance between exercise and proper diet is a hard one. Especially since we love bread so much. Your homemade bread can't be matched.

I would like a package if that's alright with you.

List:

• Teriyaki Beef Jerky (Dr. G recommended it as a good snack)
• stamps (probably 30)
• drawings/ letters/ etc. from the kids and from my mission buddies
• *small* goodies/ a few chocolates
• pictures?
• something nostalgic? just an idea. I really don't know what.

DAD'S EMAIL

• Seminary Teacher again, huh Dad? You must be pretty awesome! 5 years running.
• Rose Prom. Dances are awesome, but the guys are scared. They fear rejection. That's sad.
• Less than 100 days! I figured that out this past Wednesday. That was pretty intense.
• Here is the summer! Scout Camp!!!
• Rachelle Romney's Missionary Farewell. Good luck in Chile! Dios este contigo hasta vernos!
• Wait -- Christina Hiltscher is getting married? Huh. I guess it was bound to happen. How has she been doing in BYU-Hawaii?
• I am planning on have lunch with Aunt Marsha and the Taylor clan in early August. That should be a wonderful treat.
• The weather is mixed right now. small rain some days, and brilliant sunshine on others.

How's the exercise program going?

• I'm back on the full hour exercise. Running to the church building (about 1 mi with hills) and doing some basketball afterwards with some other missionaries. It's going well, and I'm more now than ever working on learning on how to live on healthy foods for cheap... I'm still learning, and I'm cutting down my portions, which is only a problem with some dinners with members.

Any chance you can send more pictures?

• There will be another baptism this Saturday, and I will have more pictures there. Next week.

Any stories about people your teaching you can share with us?

• I do have a very sweet story. I believe that I told you about how Teresa got baptized, and how her husband has done a complete 180 with his feelings towards the church. Things having been rocketing along with them, because we went to the temple this past Saturday! We went to the Visitor's Center first, and then we helped Teresa go do Baptisms for the Dead. It was very busy so we were directed to do endowments. But it was a sweet moment to have our so recently converted sister come to the temple with us. It was a little rainy that day, and we didn't have the time to take a picture with us and them there... I regretted that even as we were leaving, but we had to go. However, in the Visitor's center the Sister missionaries and ourselves helped Antonio (Teresa's husband) set a baptismal date! For the 25th of June! I know he can make it, and even though he's apprehensive about it I know he can make it. It's really awesome.

I love you all and I hope that you have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Elder Mackelprang

Memorial Day!!

*DADs email*

:) Hey! That sounds like you guys are having a lot of fun over there. It's cool that you are working on developing apps for Mac systems. I'm wanting to learn more about programming as well, so it'll be cool to see what your new system can do. :)

:) Don't worry. I'll make these the best 100 days ever. They're going to be some of the most effective days of my life! I know that I have a second wind hidden somewhere in this hulky body of mine. ;-) Onward, ever onward. I will glory in His name. He will lead me, and guide, even walk beside me as I do His work. His will will I do. I'm especially pumped at the moment because I watched one of my investigators get baptized on Sunday, and I participated in my first Confirmation ever! Period. It was in Spanish, and I couldn't even remember the beginning of the prayer in English, so I the Branch President ended up reminding me how it went. The investigator's name is Teresa Solis. She's only been studying with us for 4 *_weeks_*. She's a golden superstar member now! Her husband was a roadblock to begin with, but since he came to the baptism, and to church to see her confirmed (he held the microphone for me, it was sweet. :) His attitude has changed, and he sincerely wants to know and understand. So we ended up teaching him last night, and picking him up as a new investigator. He has accepted to be baptized when he knows it's true, and you could tell that he meant it. That lesson was one of the best. The spirit was there throughout and help each of us understand and communicate clearly. Miracles do happen, and as we keep working hard, and have faith then our lives will shine even brighter. Those who seek that light will be attracted to us, because the light of the Gospel is the solace that everyone yearns for in this ever increasingly dark and riotous world. Let your light shine forth! Be thou an example of the believers! You know what you should do, what you ought to do, but will you do it? Hope becomes faith as we put forth our efforts to make our hopes and dreams come true. When the element of love comes into play with that hope and faith then you have a vibrant flame that cannot be vanquished! I know my Savior lives! I know that we can move forward through any trial and hardship, no matter how difficult, if we are willing and humble enough to constantly kneel before our maker and work with Him to make our lives change. I have experienced that miraculous change in my life, and I know that I still have many other challenges to face ahead, but like Nephi of old I can say, "But I know in whom I have trusted..." (2 Nephi 4) Trust in God, and obey His commandments. They are there for our good, and to help us be happy. Those who scoff, and scorn are those who are prideful, and most oftentimes ignorant of the blessings that are experienced as we give our will to the Father. There is a sense of purpose and accomplishment that comes from no other source, but from Heaven. I know my Father lives! He loves me, and watches over me. I fight for Him! I fight for my brothers and sisters who are struggling and searching for peace in their lives... I fight to help our Father's children come home. I love you all, and I pray that you are all safe, and doing well.

Your missionary,

Elder Mackelprang

PS enjoy the pictures from the baptism, and the one of me drinking natural Mexican coconut milk for the first time.

*Moms Email*

Dear Mom,

Hey! That's great that your vanity is coming through. :P Just another thing that'll be different about the house when I get home. JK   I know that I'll still recognize everything for the most part. Things are looking good, and I feel happier here now than I have in a long time. Things are moving forward, and I know that I'm improving myself as much as I am helping others.

Keep up the good work with fellowshipping. Keep inviting them to activities, and find small chances to talk about gospel principles. It doesn't have to be a 7 course meal on the Gospel, but it can be a fruit snack. There are small, but powerful ways to share the Gospel. It only takes the open eye, and the courageous and loving heart to act on those opportunities.

:) I think it's great that Jenna is getting her dating in. I could have done better with dating as a priest. Dating can be a lot of fun! Go Jenna!

I'm proud to hear that everything is going well with the ward being so awesome with sending out missionaries! :) It's also nice to know that we've kept that number really high! 8 missionaries out. I'm impressed. That's great that Ainsley was made a DL. The Salt Lake Visitor's Center is one of the only places you'll find a Sister missionary District Leader. I'd love to hear how the other missionaries are faring in their parts of the field.

I'm pumped and excited. I know that this is the last leg, and that being so I'm not going to let that be a weak finish. I will finish strong. I know I can. I know I will.

I'm down to 10 stamps :P so if that package is coming soon then it'd be nice if I could have another batch of 20. I'm averaging about 4 letters a week now!

con mucho amor,

tu hijo mayor. ;-)

<<Lots of Love, Your Older Sibling>>

Pictures:

3 Months Remain...

Hello Everyone!

<Dad's Email>

:) I appreciate the joke of the day! I like getting another chance to laugh. Sometimes I need more things to laugh about!

Vallejo is hustling and bustling, and we're happily preparing for our baptism this coming Saturday! A young lady (22 y.o.) named Teresa Solis, is getting baptized at 1pm this Saturday! She's one of the most faithful investigators I have had the chance to teach. This will also be one of the few baptisms that I have had the chance to be here to prepare, and help follow through afterwards. She has also asked me to confirm her, which will be the first confirmation that I will have ever done. I'm excited, and I'm happy here. Things are going along well, and time is flying although you do still have those days where everything falls through the floor, and you have to find things to do.

:( It's sad to hear that the Lete's are moving... Everyone that I know seems to be leaving the best ward in the world! Bro Lete's ribs are indeed the best I've ever had. We WILL try his recipie if he gave it to us.

Congratulations Joshua on your patriarchal blessing! I hope that it means a lot to you. It will help you in your life.

Jenna, congrats on your performance with the Cary High Choir!

<Mom's email>

That sounds pretty exciting! I can remember being in the office with Patriarch Stevens. I remember it taking awhile, but I do remember his booming voice. It was more calming for me though. I appreciate deeper voices. Patriarch Stevens will always have a special place in my heart. He's a great man. I think it's great that we (all of us kids) got to receive our blessings from him. I still have some work to do to meet all of those blessings, and promises, and also the expectations that the Lord has in store for me, but I'm another step forward. I look forward to learning more as I move along.

The Church is true, and I'm learning more and more deeply just how important it is to read the Book of Mormon everyday, and coming to church every week. I also am beginning to understand how our prayers can be more meaningful and effective as we put our whole hearts before Him. We are here to know Him, and if we search for Him with faith, then He will reveal Himself unto us. I know that Joseph Smith restored Christ's church, and didn't just set up his own. I know that you can know this truth for yourselves. If you will be humble enough to read the book of Mormon, consider it's teachings, and then asking God if those teachings, and also the Book of Mormon are true.

I love you all, and I'll keep you all posted!

I promise pictures next week.

Your missionary,

Elder Richard Mackelprang

All Mission Conference

Hey All,

We had 4 members of the quorum of the 70 meet with us last Saturday, including Pres. Snow. We almost had Elder Andersen of the 12 come as well. We are a truly blessed mission. They said we're still #1 for the biggest increase of baptisms in the entire world. :) Yeah! It was a spiritual feast.

Patriarchal blessing! Woot! go Josh – I’m way proud of you!

Missionary week for both Jenna and Josh -- It's a great opportunity for learning. Try to set goals for yourself about what you want to learn from this experience. Whether it's something to help you to prepare for a mission, or some other goal in your life. It will help.

:( No Father and Sons campout getting cancelled because of rain... That's really sad. I always enjoyed those. Hopefully they'll postpone it until I get back! ;-)

Keep it up everyone! School's almost out!  Endure to the end!!

I'll be writing Ben today.

Hopefully you wont get swamped keeping my website up-to-date Dad.  <<Editor’s note – he guilted me into getting all these updates done >>

Dad’s Questions:

1. There's only me and my comp in my current apartment. Which I probably prefer.
2. Our set of apartments is a gated community. We hardly see anyone, and it's pretty secure. The area round about is pretty nice considering that we're so close to the bay. It's refreshing. It's also very hilly. It's just slightly reminiscent of North Carolina.
3. We have the car everyday, but we do some really good exercise at the church in the mornings with early morning basketball, etc. I'm keeping myself in shape.
4. I don't have any interesting pictures, but I'll have some soon.
5. I hear that there are scary things that happen on those streets, but I haven't seen or felt anything to make me worry. For the most part gangs don't trouble us anyway. I'm not worried, but I'm not going to do anything stupid.

Story of other missionaries:

Elder Ames and his companion were zone leaders here in Vallejo and they were walking around talking to people when a group of 10 year old kids come out of nowhere and surround them, and ask them what's in their backpacks. I don't remember if the kids were armed, but what Ames said was that he knew that someone was teaching these kids how to be gangsters, and it was probably older siblings. So even though they could have fought off those kids, he didn't want to have any really dangerous people after him. :) crazy huh?

I heard this quote at my last Zone Conference, it's pretty powerful. I love Elder Holland. I can see him being apart of the first presidency someday:

Elder Holland from an MTC Devotional Address on January 11, 2011.

“We can get better at this. We can do better at this. We can grow into this. But it is going to take a masterful, modern, twenty-first century, last and greatest of all dispensations, kind of missionary to do it. And I love you for accepting the call. I love you for believing and knowing that you can do it because this is God’s work, the Spirit of the Lord is the key, essential, ultimate, ingredient.

The Spirit of the Lord itself will pronounce that gift upon your head and endow that mantle of authority upon your shoulders, from the first day, from the very first day! If you are as honest as we are pleading with you to be, in a day when you have got to be the best missionaries this Church has ever had. That’s what you’ve got to be.

We have a world in trouble. If we understand these scriptures it’s not over yet. You are God’s answer. You’re the hope of Israel. You are the hope of Israel. And you’re nineteen years old, or twenty or twenty one or twenty two or whatever. I stand all amazed at what a missionary is in this Church! What God would somehow know and have the confidence to believe could be done with people like you and people like me. Its a marvelous work and a wonder.”

Well everything's going great! And I love Vallejo! I hope everyone's doing well!!

Love your missionary,

Elder Richard Mackelprang

Post Mother's Day P-Day!

MOMs EMAIL

That was sweet! I did enjoy that phone call! We're going so fast, and are doing so much that I'm loving it! The days are whizzing past me, but I'm not as concerned because I know I'm doing all I can to help the people here. A funny thing happened yesterday. I felt like I should call Aunt Marsha to wish her a happy Mother's Day as well, but ironically due to something weird happening I ended up talking to Robert first. That was fun to talk to both of them as well yesterday. I'm thinking that I'm going to take a road trip to California after the Winter Semester 2012... at least that's the idea at the moment. I still have no idea about the details, but I thought that that would be fun. I'd get to see my mission President before he gets released that July, and the other families that I taught, and members that I befriended.  I hope I can work it out.

Even though Vallejo is a “bad” part of the area, I'm not on foot enough to be really scared about getting held up, and I don't take my camera around enough with me to worry about it getting stolen either. I really just carry my scripture case and pass along cards. They'd have nothing to steal. Too bad for them.

:) It's too bad that I didn't get a chance to hear your Spanish when you spoke in the branch. You might be able to understand what I speak and say in the Branch when I give my homecoming talk. I'm thinking that I may just stick with the branch for awhile, just so I can adjust to my new life being home. But we'll see what happens.

I'm glad you had a fantastic Mother's Day / Week-end / etc.! I hope that we can have some fun together as a family when I get back. Have fun with your new gifts, and presents. :) I'll see y'all soon!

PS I'll be happily awaiting the stamps!

DADs EMAIL

That's cool that you're helping me out with researching the career paths. I'm not just going for game design (although that would be cool too.) but I'm thinking about CGI stuff as well. Save a copy of what you've found and I'll dig through it when I get home. I'm sure that looking at the various fields that there are now would be helpful. I'm also considering learning mandarin / or Japanese to further my value as a worker, then you and I could have some secret conversations, or just laugh that everyone else doesn't understand. ;-)

I'll figure out the details when I get home. I have ideas, and plans, but they need to wait.

Zone conference this week was awesome, and it involved us taking another step up from where we were at to a higher plane. Teach short lessons (5 minutes or less, depending on time) to people who will talk to us on the streets, and invite them to act on our message. Even set baptismal dates with people if so inspired. It was intense. President Bunker also taught us some amazing things with the scriptures, and I learned a lot and was able to piece some things that I've been studying about the law of Justice, and Mercy into place. It's deep, but surprisingly simple at the same time.

I'll get to experience more humidity here in Vallejo since it's closer to the bay, but it's starting to warm up here too. :) We'll see just how much a change it is from home in 4 months.

Our Zone Conference was on 5 de Mayo. We went out to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate. Nothing super special though.

It's funny seeing the Latinos driving around with Mexican flags, and having parties, etc. Latinos party when they can find any excuse to party. :) And they party good!

The chapel address is:

110 Los Santos Ct
VALLEJO, CA 94590

Well sorry this is so short. But we talked about almost everything yesterday. :-P So, I love you and I hope that you're doing well!

Love your son,

Elder Richard Mackelprang