North Canyon Ward LDS Missionary Newsletter, Fall 2014

1. N O R T H C A N Y O N M I S S I O N A R I E S
F A L L 2 0 1 4
MISSIONARIES CURRENTLY
SERVING:
ELDER BRYAN NALLY
SISTER MARTHA JOY BALE
ELDER ALEX MILLER
ELDER BRANDON NIELSEN
ELDER HOLDEN BIGELOW
ELDER JOSH PRESTON
ELDER ALEX BERTO
HERMANA SARAH EDWARDS
HERMANA KENNEDY COLEY
HERMANA JASMINE BERTHELSON
MISSIONARIES CALLED:

2. THE LOREM IPSUMS FALL 2016
Elder Bigelow is really working hard, but he is also enjoying his time in the Philippines.
Here is what he said about one of his favorite things this week. "I got to sit in a Lazboy this week :) yeah
that doesn't seem like a big thing but
it is to me. The very first time in my
whole mission. They are so soft."
Here is what he is looking forward to -
"Next week is the Baptism of my very
first whole family :) A Father and
Mother and 2 children :) I am super
stoked and can not wait :) Its the best
feeling ever :)"
Here is what he has learned. "I have
found the being exactly obedient is the
only way to go. I chose to break the
schedule one day this week, I thought
it would be fine to stay up a few extra minutes. What I found actually shocked me! When I choose what I
want to do and it is against the rules I lose out on those blessings that Heavenly Father is willing to give
me but can not because of my disobedience. Even just a simple act like staying up a little later than
10:30 affected the spirit that I had the next day. I lost the protection that comes from obedience.
2
Through that experience I now have
a testimony that I NEED to be
exactly obedient in all things."
Elder Bigelow also made a
statement about his age in the
mission field. "I am pretty old in the
mission." Yep that means he is
getting closer everyday to coming
home. Just like all of our
missionaries.
Please Prepare for a mission :) I love
it and I know you will too :) Please
Read your scriptures they are super
important to me and I know they will
become important in your life :)

3. THE LOREM IPSUMS FALL 2016
3
2
baptism!
Also, the family of “K”
came right before the
sacrament, YES! They
are progressing well! But
we do have a family who
isn't progressing too well,
were kind of thinking they
only come to church
when its convenient and
really don't put their baptism and their commitments
in first place...its sad because they have several
times in the church but you can’t force someone to
have the desire to come to church. Its something
you have to work and study to know the true
importance of keeping promises with God.
How wonderful that God is blessing us in this hard
time. I miss Ryan...I have the picture of him in my
Book of Mormon. It is always wonderful that with the
power of God I am able to continue every day. I
know that I can’t do anything by myself; I know that
it isn't because I'm a rock or anything like that. I
know God is strengthening me with prayers from
friends and family and I know that he is answering
prayers. I hope Nanny and Papa are ok and
Grammy and Grandpa too. What a blessing they are
for our family!
How wonderful to see your friend! Wow, that is a
miracle, and I hope you know that I proudly tell
people that you are the convert in our family! I don't
remember who I was talking with but I mentioned
how you converted to the gospel as a young adult
and they were quite impressed
I’ll keep working my hardest! As long as you do too,
hehe. Enjoy the last of the Temple Open House and
have a wonderful week!
Love, Sarah
1
Here's Sarah
Edwards most
recent letter:
Hmm…Well
I’m noticing a
lot of costumes
in the tiendas
(stores) and
lots of skulls
and other
Halloween
things they
have set up!
They also
celebrate Dia
de los Muertos,
where they set
up the table
with places
reserved for all
their loved
ones and serve
their favorite
food and other little things like that. Actually, Mexico
would be a great place to celebrate Halloween, they
have tons of graveyards, lots of crosses, and lots of
coffin shops. Also witchcraft is completely real here!!!
Ok so not so much in my area, but I never really
noticed people who believe in that kind of stuff in the
states, but here there are witches and all sorts of types
that sell products that are considered to be used for
black magic. I'm not sure if I ever told you that we had
a witch in the ward in my old area?? Not a big deal,
apparently she only did it for the money and doesn't
believe in it but yeah.... Its kind of a thing here
haha....Don't have any experience firsthand thank
goodness but we always hear the stories!!
(responding to news that we beat Ridge in Football) It
always brings a smile to my face to know that we beat
Ridge!!! Woohoo!!
This Sunday was good. SO they do daylight saving
times here, but our phone isn't programmed to change
automatically. We had planned to get to church early to
help set up for a baptism for the Elders, but we ended
getting there an hour early! We also lost an hour of
sleep But the baptism was great, she is an older
woman who had kept putting of her baptism until she
kind of eventually got it and she was so happy and
excited to get baptized! She was a great example to
“C”, who's back to being wishy washy about his fecha
(date) and saying that he wants to wait for January to
get baptized. She was talking to him before and after
her baptism but “C” is being a little bit stubborn right
now. We also had 2 other investigators there, so that
was great that they could be there and see the

4. THE LOREM IPSUMS FALL 2016
Elder Josh Preston
Here is an update on Elder Josh Preston who is
serving in the Morristown, NJ Mission (Spanish
Speaking). He is now with his 3rd companion in
the mission field and his 2nd area. His new
companion is from Peru and actually had a pet
llama prior to coming on his mission. Josh is
learning the language by leaps and bounds having
a native speaker as a companion. It is really
helping his Spanish teaching skills as well. And
the two of them are eating very well! Josh
practiced his culinary arts as a “lunch lady” at his
siblings’ school, and his companion is very good
at Peruvian dishes. Josh says he may have to find
a Peruvian wife as he loves the food. Besides
that, the members and investigators are always
feeding them as well. Josh has gained 20 lbs
since hitting New Jersey 4 months ago. He asked
that he be kept in our prayers as he has a car in
this area. Josh and vehicles have always had a
love/hate relationship…
He reports that the work is going well and they
are working hard, and teaching
discussions. After 10 years in a temporary
building, the Spanish ward he is serving in just
moved into a beautiful chapel and the ward is
fasting and praying to fill it up! It must be
working as they
found 4 new
investigators last
week.
4

5. THE LOREM IPSUMS FALL 2016
A few excerpts from Hermana Coley’s emails:
Okay first of all, conference was amazing! We are so blessed to have a
living prophet who receives revelation!
This week was great. I have really been learning about having faith.
Xiomara is getting baptized this Saturday! Please keep her in your
prayers.
Here are a few things i loved!
1.stay in the boat
2. keep the life jacket on
3. hold on with both hands
GOOD is not enough
Always think...is how I’m living going to help me receive the blessings I’m
promised in my patriarchal blessing?
*we must be willing to change
Best decisions: 1 consider the options open mindedly and include your family.....life before the mission would have
been a lot easier if i actually listened to what my loving family was telling me :)
In all I think when we decide to face God and always keep in mind that
He is the ONLY person that we need to please and whose judgment
matters we will be way happier!
I’m so grateful for my family! I love them so very much. I love the
mission, it really is the happiest place on earth :) I truly know that when
we choose to be positive no matter what the circumstance we will be
happier and become who God has intended for us to be!
…..I also am very grateful for prayer and answers to prayers. This week
I was able to really rely on prayer. Something my dad wrote to me awhile
back was that I would really get to pray as if everything depended on it.
He was right.
This week we had the wonderful opportunity to attend the women’s
conference. IT WAS PERFECT. It was very special and the spirit was so
strong. Us missionaries got to sing hijas de dios. I love that song.
This week my testimony has been strengthened on the fact that God truly loves each and every one of us
individually. We have so much worth to Him. We can rely on Him always. He is the one constant that we have.
I know that we can find happiness through reading and memorizing scriptures! This week I was able to memorize a
few. amos 3:7 No hara nada Jehova el Senor sin que revele sus secretos a sus siervos los profetas. We have the
wonderful opportunity this week to hear from the prophet of the Lord and his apostles. How blessed our we!
……This week was stuffed full of miracles! The miracles had a lot to do with the help of our members! AtFamily
Home evening with members we brought an investigator and she felt the spirit so strong. We invited her to be
baptized. She will be getting baptized 11 of October! She is amazing. The next day we took two members out to two
of our lessons and two more people now have baptismal dates. The spirit is amazing! The spirit really is key. We
also had Fiesta Patrias for our rama. Its a fiesta where we celebrate the different countries. It was such a great
night. Maria and the whole Vasques family ( investigators) came and had such a great time! The members are so
great at friend shipping.
We also had a fireside last night. Xiomara got to meet our mission president. She has completely grown as a
person! The best part of serving is getting to see people hunger for the gospel and be filled with joy!
5

6. Elder Alex Berto
…..The Phoenix Temple is amazing!!! I'm so excited to see the progress of the temple and now to finally
see it done... wow! What a blessing for our family to have a temple literally in our backyard. What a
great experience for you guys- dad and karen- to invite friends and family to join in on the open house.
I'd imagine you guys have been getting plenty of questions in regards with the temple and with the
church in general. That is awesome! I'm happy to hear about it all and also excited to enter it myself
when I come home. (Absolutely the first thing I will be doing is going through that Temple)
We had our Trunk o Treat the other night; man it reminded me so much of both the Parkway Ward in
WI and the Woodridge Ward in Bolingbrook when we did those. Of course Elder Lee and I participated
by dressing up as "the missionaries" and helped by passing out candy to the kids. We were also able to
make chili for the activity. They ended up giving us the award for the worst tasting chili.... haha:) We
had no idea what we were doing when it came to making chili, but it was so much fun! - All the ward
members ended up signing up on our dinner calendar the day after at church because they realized
how bad our cooking was lol.
…I am doing well. And yes, General Conference was the biggest event that took place for us. I like to
think of it as the "Super Bowl for Missionaries." lol. But that is what it basically is. I am able to get a
great spiritual high after watching and hearing from the leaders of the church on what we must do.
Well I definitely took a lot of insight on what I needed to do. Anyways, it was great. Favorite talk was by
Pres. Uchtdorf, in the Sunday Morning session of conference talking about Truth and how to self
discover it. I'm blessed for the given opportunities to feel inspired and uplifted in my life.
….This week for me was a pretty
good week. We had our Zone
Conference in Hartford, CT.
last Thursday, which was
awesome and then our baptism
was this past Saturday. It was
a blessing for me to be able to
perform the ordinance for
Berket. He is a 15 year old kid
from Ethiopia and he is also
planning to go to the Temple to
do baptisms for the dead for
his father, who passed away
when he was young. I know
that this is an incredible
moment in his life right now.
Also over this past weekend,
we had our AP's come to our
Zone to do exchanges with us
and we were able to get great
insight on ways to improve the
work here in New Haven. We
are going to be focused on our
finding efforts in order to have
more opportunities to teach.
We are blessed for the success
in the work that we have
already had and hopefully will
continue to have. Elder Lee
and I are tearing it up!

7. Hermana B
So that is a little about my life at this moment. It was such a good week, but i think what is more
important is what i am learning. It is about perseverance and just want to be an instrument in the
Lord´s hands (alma 17:11) I hope you have a good week and if you can pray for these people. I am
so grateful for the message of the Restoration. It changes lives. --
….We were able to have a conference with our President Wright and his wife and an area 70, Elder
Resek were able to come and speak to us Thursday. It was powerful conference and we were able
to focus more on helping South America Statistically. Starting the challenge there is in South
America for the members to 1. Actively come to church and 2. Pay tithing and fast offerings. I am
so blessed to have learned these commandments at a young age because it is sad to see the
numbers in the members who are members and do very little in the building of Zion. There is only
RECENTLY a construction of the temple in Concepción and our little temple in Santiago with all of
the members in the whole country of Chile. It gave us a clear overview of what we can focus on as
far as teaching... We were also cleaning out the area book and we found a name that the elders
had been teaching a couple of years ago. We stopped by the house to find the gal they were
teaching and another young woman came out. Her name is Carolina and she was an active
member of the chuch up until she was 12 years old. She had family problems and her mom stopped
taking her to church. She wants us to start coming back to teach her. Difficult because she only
remembers a little of what she was taught 8 years ago. But
is was such a blessing to find her because she said
she really feels "lost" in this time of her life.