Pictures

I found some photos with Elder Martin on his mission blog from that last zone conference he spoke of.

Week 46

HI THERE!

So I am trying to think of pretty much ANYTHING to say.. but really nothing is coming to me..

Last week was Zone Conference, but I think I already talked about that, it was good, learned a lot, I am kinda a fan of being 20 minutes from the church that holds Zone Con,

I went on a quick day exchange with one Elder Huntsman, we ended up knocking out side either one of our areas, so that was sad, we had to give all the people we found to some sisters.. That has NEVER been a concern for me before, seeing as how my last two areas were as big as all 7 around here, and then some..

OH! Elder Huntsman is very green (just got out like 4 weeks ago) and also a black guy! So, its stands to reason, that he is rather terrified of all things DOG! I too was once frightened by the beasts, but, one day I prayed REAL hard that I could... like.. I don't really know, but it worked, and now dogs don't even come near me, they FEAR ME! I love it, SO, back to the story, We were knocking on this door, when we hear the very deep loud bark of a HUGE HE MAN DOG! We could here it, could not see it, never before had I seen such fear in the eyes of the young Elder Huntsman, (other then that time there was an AWESOME thunder storm... he also has a fear of lightning... and LOVES grape cool-aid...)

I went to knock a second time, and then saw the BEAST out of the corner of my eye, as it ran across the yard. (don't worry, the yard was fenced.. which meant nothing to elder Huntsman) This dog was a MONSTER! still barking, but still mostly unseen, The beast had Elder Huntsman right where he wanted him.  Before I go on, let me give you the lay out of the house. It has a detached garage and connecting the garage and house was a small green fence, so as to protect the world from the creature on the other side. The beast stops barking.. silence, the glimpse of an unseen creature from the underworld as it bolts through the window between the house and garage leaves Elder Huntsman backing away slowly, then suddenly and with out warning, as if it came straight out of some horror movie script, the beast SLAMS against the small green fence drooling and barking ferociously at the sight of Elder Huntsman!  Although, Elder Huntsman was NOT in sight for very long, I must say the boy can RUN! I don't know if I will ever again have the opportunity to see a missionary running full speed down a street, but I sure hope I do, it was quite entertaining. If I had not been on my knees laughing I probably would have been pretty startled as well, I mean that dog came out of no where, and I must say, his head was bigger then my torso! Add to that the fact that the thing had MURDER in its eyes, and it was quite the frightening experience..

ANYWAY! That is far more then I expected to write, hope you enjoy!

LOVE!!

Elder CamCam Martin.

Week 45

It was another great week,

We still don't have anyone that has REAL potential, but we are making REAL headway with the ward, so that is really good.

We did a lot of service this week, and that has been... hot.. but good,

There are a lot of changes that are going to happen in this mission, and its very interesting, to say the least.

We had our zone conference yesterday, and for the first time, I did not have to drive 2 hours to get there! more like 15 minutes.

I has been all kinds of stormy! when its not hot, its raining, one day there was all kinds of flooding and what not, I could not even SEE, I was driving..

This has got to be the most boring letter I have ever done!

I don't even know what else to say, umm... THE CHURCH IS TRUE THE BOOK IS BLUE! ... ahh, love is a good thing.. An Elders bike was stolen, that was a thing, jokes on then though, it was very broken.

WELP! this was sad, but it really was a good week, I guess I need to start bringing my journal again, so I can remember ANYTHING!

LOVE!!!

Elder CamCam Martin.

Week 44

So apparently this area I am in has a bad rap, like, no one thinks work can be done here, so last week I had a lot of motivation, and Elder Adams and I went out and DID WORK! and, we led the mission in numbers, now, I have never cared about numbers, and still don't, but, it felt good to be able to prove all the doubters wrong!

 

It was a fun week, we got wet every day, either by the buckets of RAIN! or from the extreme heat making me sweat like crazy.

 

We talked to A LOT of people, and knocked on A LOT of doors, most everyone was really nice this week too, its kinda funny how different things are depending on where you knock, if we knock on like kinda higher end houses, they know exactly who we are, have talked to us before, and tell us right of the bat that they will chat with us, but never change, but if we knock in the HOOD! they have never heard of the Mormons!  So we spend most our time in the hood, mostly cause we live in the hood, I have no idea why either.. I have heard gun shots.. everyone we talk to tells us to move! like, this convo happens all the time "where do you live?" "In the shirewood apartment's," "MOVE!"  Just like that, they don't even say we should try to move, just, straight, MOVE! so that's interesting.

 

We were on bikes all last week, so even though my knees hurt, we biked all day every day! LIKE A BOSS!

We almost died a few times too! I don't know that ANYONE knows how to drive here.. One day on the bikes was spent mostly screaming from all the many close calls.

 

The other Elders neighbor likes them a lot, but is an avid... Mormon hater... anyway, he invited us all to a "bible study" with him the other day, it turned out to be a "the Book of Mormon will drag you to hell" study... that's common, so I know how to deal with it, the other elders kept trying to explain to him that Joseph Smith did NOT write it, but he was just not getting it, like most bapt... people here in the south, so I just put an end to it by sharing my testimony on the Bible and Book of Mormon, and told him that Christs blood was good enough for all of us, and there was no argument there, he said he was just concerned for our salvation and wanted to make sure Christ was number one to us.. I expect that he was told many a time that J Smith is number one to us and Christ is just in there somewhere, you would be shocked the things people think we do and don't believe down here, and for some reason, explaining that we believe in the Book of Mormon AND the Bible, and the the Book of Mormon is NOT our Bible, is really, REALLY hard.. You would think that that would be and easy concept.. 

 

ANYWAY! We really did have a great week.

LOVE Y'ALL!

Elder CamCam Martin. 

Companion picture

I found this picture of Elder Martin on the mission presidents' blog. 

Week 43

WELP! I love this new district, all the Elders LOVE SPORTS! ITS WHAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! We also all just really get along anyways, so that's good, oh, and I stayed in shreve.. I guess I did not make that clear last time..

 

So last week was a T-week, so KINDA slow, but not too bad, we still saw a lot of people, we went to this one ladies house, it was gross, there was a big cooking sheet FULL of cat food by her front door, and it smelled really bad, She didn't even open the outside door, and told us "Yeah, I have not been to church in a while" I asked if she knew who we were, and why we were there, new approach I'm trying :) anyway, really she has not been in YEARS! like, 10 of them, but that's ok, she didn't let us in, and I'm ok with that, cause I'm sure it would have smelled even worse in the house, so I just asked if we would see her at church soon, she said "ok" and closed the door... not really the answer I was looking for, or one at all.. But that's typical, the "Ok" answer when it should be a yes or a no.

 

We got fed a lot last week! that was a good way to introduce all the greenies, although, this week, no one is feeding us.. so that was sad.

We got a new ward mission leader, this is a good thing, the last guy tried.. but, he was busy, and.. um, this is good. The new guy's name is Ra. just Ra, he is from New Zealand, and is way cool.

 

We just randomly got our miles cut for our car.. we were expecting to have a few miles left, but now we are suddenly already over, so that's a thing, should be fun..

 

There is a member here, who LOVES the church, but hates the ward.. his words not mine. anyways, that's kinda the norm, so.. yeah, I know its not just here either, YOU IDAHO/UTAH MORMONS! we have a bad rap, and kinda for good reason, I had a lady in my ward come to me and tell me she has a good friend who not too long ago got married and moved to Nampa, she was wondering if I knew her, I told her there are 4 stakes there.. anyway, she said that this friend of hers has NO friends in her ward, and like, REALLY needs some, but no one will really talk to her, this is not the first time I have heard of this either, sooo... Y'all need to shape up and talk to all kinds of new people, talk to those that need you! Pray to know who needs a friend, and just go make friends! its really quite simple.

 

ANYHOW!

That's all I really got for this week, HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT SUMMER!

 

LOVE!

Elder CamCam Martin.

Week 42

SOOO tomorrow I get a new comp, and pretty much a whole new district, should be fun..

 

ANYHOW last week went by really fast, and I really remember none of it.. and if I do remember stuff, I dont know if it was two weeks ago or last week, so I will do my best to remember some good stuff..

 

Did I ever talk about how we went to this way cool gator farm? it was awesome!

We did a lot of biking, and I mean a lot, we biked all over, every day this week we have tried to find a less active.. or as they now call them, "returning members" ... cause less active is too offensive, even though really, they are just inactive.. but what eve, anyhow that kinda went good, met a few, they were all mostly nice so that's good!

 

We did a lot of service too! so that has been fun, we did this thing called "paint your heart out" and we just went and paintedsomeones house, it was this HUGE thing the city did, and our church was like the biggest sponsor, so that was cool, later that day the city fed every one that participated, it was like this big craw fish boil thing, and I cant eat craw fish, cause they are GROSS! so that was a thing, but it was really fun!  

 

Sunday was a really good day, some really good talks, good lessons, and then a Baptism! YAY! the guys name is Mark and he is WAY cool, he was the sisters investigator, and really seems like he has been a member his whole life, great guy, it was some good times, later sunday we put on this little mission prep call thing, it was good.

 

ANYHOW!

that has been my week as far as I can remember,

LOVE!

 

Elder CamCam Martin

p.s. Anyways, our district is kind of being rebuilt, three of the 6 are leaving! My comp of course, Sister Mongie, who is probably one of the best missionaries of all time! so thats sad, and Elder Souter, who, just got here, so that was weird, anyhow, Elder Eisinger, or ICE! as we call him, is training, so I dont know his new comps name, but should be good fun, and Sister Parsons, who, JUST got here last transfer, as in, she has not even been out 2 months, is trianing! making her also one of the greatest missionaries of all time! anyhow, I am looking forward to the next few months here with all of them, should be some good missionary times!