May 30, 2016 ¿A que hora sales por el pan?

Baptism Day:)

The Carrillo kids and Ulisses got baptized this week! Ulysses lives with them and is a family friend. He also takes care of their chickens when they are in Mexico. You could say he's like Alice and the Brady Bunch. 

Me with one of their "chicks" :)

Ulysses has been coming to church for the last month with the Carrillo family and likes it a lot but he wasn't there when we taught a lot of the lessons to the family, so we didn't plan on baptizing him with them. Anyway, on Wednesday, he was pretty much like "can I get baptized with them?" We read D&C 20:37 with him:

"And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church."

We talked about the promise he was going to make with God, then finished teaching him the lessons on Thursday and he got interviewed and then Friday was able to receive the ordinance of baptism along with the Carrillo's.

We don't take the best pictures: Ulysses' eyes are closed

One thing I'm super grateful for is the reproving and correction the Holy Ghost gives us. Like Elder Corbridge (he's in the 1st quorum of the 70) taught us, "All we need to do to know we are right with the Lord is to understand that we are idiots." The context of that statement is the fact that "The only intelligent thing to do in this life is obedience and everything else is stupid." We need to understand that every good thing in life comes from being obedient to the commandments. When we understand all of these things, it's really easy for the Holy Ghost to give us correction to help us #elevate our discipleship of Jesus Christ.

I'd just like to give a special shoutout to Steph Curry... I'm on a mission but I'm still in America so I happened to hear he's doing some great things right now. It's all in the fundamentals people!


Also, a shoutout to my friend Robert at Men's Warehouse for scoring me a sweet deal on a Calvin Klein suit to finish out my mission:)

Love you all!

Elder Isaac Faldmo

May 23, 2016 The Corral Family and H. Wilkinson

Our greeting at ward council:)

 This week was another good week! The Corral Family got baptized on Saturday and it was a super great experience. They are the result of a member of the church opening their mouth to share what they know to be true. I know that there are people ready to make a promise to God to follow him and keep his commandments and be baptized in every part of the world at all times. The Lord calls no person to fail and "no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing." 

The Corral Family and us:)

There's people like the Corral family out there waiting...  we just need to find them and be there for them.

Love this family!

I was able to go back to my last area to the Robindale YSA Ward back across town in Warm Springs this week on exchanges with Elder Green from Rexburg, Idaho. I miss that place!

Also, Hannah Wilkinson came to Vegas this week for a clinic at UNLV and took Merrill and I out to lunch too! Thanks to her I will probably be in Arizona for some of this summer with her kicking my rear with her workouts. #GoSunDevils

She's practically my sister but she's also my future strength and conditioning coach!

There were two more sweet new families that came to church yesterday and one of them have a baptismal date now! People are prepared everywhere and searching for truth!
Love you guys,

Elder Faldmo

May 16, 2016 ISAID

My friend Isaid was able to get baptized this past Saturday! I am so grateful for the opportunity o had to teach him. I wrote most of his story in his last email. He just loves everything about the church and loves learning. I've learned from him that humility is the key to progress. Dallin H. Oaks said, "the quality we must cultivate is humility. Humility is the great protector." He is always humble and hungry to learn more. His wife and kids will hopefully be able to get here in about 2 months from Juarez! Another cool thing about his baptism was that he was baptized by Hermano Guerrero, a convert that was taught by Elder Thorne when he was in this Ward! 

Looks like comp unity for Tstroke and faldy30 never wares off :)

On Saturday in the morning we went to an elementary school to do service. The parents all scheduled and registered their kids and so we translated for them because our neighborhood is literally Mexico and none of the parents speak English.

I love El Rancho! It's the greatest Spanish Ward and it's about to be El Rancho Stake!

Here's us and Isaid and our young buck WML Sergio at Isaid's baptism.

Sergio is the second greatest WML behind Dave Faldmo:)

Love you all!
Elder Isaac Faldmo

May, 9, 2016 ¡Feliz día de las mamás!

Hey Fam.
We're teaching some way cool people right now. Let me tell you about them. Isaid is the most humble guy on the planet. He's here but his family is still in Ciudad Juarez and waiting for their visas. His wife is a member of the church there. He walked into church about 2 months ago and walks to church every week. He is going to get baptized this Saturday! He just wants to do what's right.

The Coral Family is getting baptized in 2 weeks. It's a single mom and 4 little kids. Her neighbor is a member of the church and referred them to us. They've been coming to church for the last month!

The Carrillo Family walked into church 2 weeks ago. The parents are members who just came back to church and all of the kids are getting baptized at the end of this month! They have pet chickens and when they grow to full size, they kill them and eat them.

More time with ceramic lawn figures... it's a troll.

There are so many people to teach the gospel to here in Las Vegas.  it's super fun! To be honest I don't like writing big emails but my mom wants me to and I love her cause she's amazing! 

Love you Mom! 

Have a good week!

Elder Isaac Faldmo

May 2, 2016 Elder Holland

Happy May Everyone!

Elder Lynn G. Robbins and Jeffrey R. Holland came to visit us this week! It was a super spiritual experience to hear from an Apostle of Jesus Christ and one of the 7 Presidents of the 70. Elder Holland is one of the funniest guys I've ever met. So we were all at the Warm Springs Stake Center and we lined up on the stage as a mission for a picture with them and once Elder Holland walked in it got dead silent. After a few steps, with his Southern Utah dry humor, Elder Holland just says, "BOO" and we all started laughing. We all got to meet them personally. I told him my grandpa was Ross Hurst and he said, "you're kidding?" and then I said how my grandpa loved playing basketball with him and he said, "well that's good!" That's the only convo I got from him cause there were 400 missionaries he had to greet. 

The training that he and Elder Robbins gave was amazing.  Elder Robbins talked about chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. He talked about "who we are now is who are becoming." It made me think a lot about the person I am right now and my nature. My nature has changed a lot on my mission but there's still a lot of things I need to fix. Elder Holland talked a lot about teaching skill and how we can "go where the investigators are and take them where they need to be." Elder Holland is such a beast that he quoted himself during his training. You know you've made it when you can quote yourself. At the beginning of his training he said he did a personal interview with each of us when he shook our hand. He said, "You guys get it. When I go to missions and they don't get it, it gets ugly but you're safe." President Snow went to a mission president's seminar in Texas 2 weeks ago and Holland was there too and said to President Snow, "You guys in Vegas are killing it. Whatever you're doing keep doing it."

Another miracle happened yesterday. A family of 7 walked into church. The parents are both less-active members but said they want to start coming back. All 5 of their kids have barely ever gone to church and aren't baptized yet so we are going to start teaching them this week.

Transfers are this week and I'm going to be dying here in El Rancho! A former missionary came to our ward yesterday with his wife and said he started and ended his mission here just like me and it was the best part about his mission. I'm super pumped to give my all this transfer and keep elevating!

Elder Thorne is going to be training in the Central/Sunrise zone by the temple to finish his mission so he's super excited for that.

Love you all!

Elder Faldmo

April 25, 2016 Tanta carne y yo chimuelo

CREE
This week was another great one. We are seeing a ton of miracle left and right and are trying to be as diligent as possible so they keep coming!
The Suberia Family and Coral Family are doing amazing. Both of those families came to church and are progressing really well towards their baptismal dates in May. Also, this guy named Isaid is the man. His family are members in Mexico and he walked into church about a month ago and he's going to get baptized in May! So yeah, things in El Rancho are poppin' off right now and it's so much fun. The members are starting to get more and more involved and some really amazing things are coming together. Also, the Rubio Family who Elder Rivas and I baptized almost a year and a half ago the first time I was here are
probably going to get sealed in May! 

This week, Elder Merrill and I were tracting in a trailer park and we knocked on this door and this lady let us right in and said how she's been to our church before and wants to start going again and get baptized. So that was fun. It's very rewarding to be a full-time
missionary right now. There are prepared people EVERYWHERE we just gotta find them.
Finding the elect is a fun process."Go where your celebrated, not where you're tolerated." -Eric Thomas

Brandon (former Elder Candelario) is in our Ward and got back from his mission about 2 months ago from Mexico City. He's a complete beast and we had him train our zone on helping investigators keep their commitments. Throughout my mission I've loved working with recent RMs because they're full of really good ideas and insights to move he work
forward.

We had the "Rovers" or traveling trainers come to our zone this week. They are Elder Sawyer (my former companion) and Elder Taylor (he was born in Panguitch). Rovers go around to each zone and we send them to various companionships and they work with them one on one and help build up each area. It was helpful to be able to be able to send them
to companionships and have another set of eyes on the North zone to give us feedback. Elder Sawyer ends his mission in 2 days everyone! I just wanna give a shoutout to him and say how great of a missionary he is. He left a legacy in Vegas! He's going home 1 week early because his brother is marrying Ty Detmer's daughter this weekend. I love you Elder Sawyer!

 

My mom always gets mad at me for not having enough pictures. The only people that would take pictures with us were these ceramic lawn figures.

I'm grateful for this special time I have to be a missionary. Love you guys!

Elder Faldmo

Mis Novatos April 18, 2016

What's up novatos?!
Guess what... the Apostle ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND and his wife PATRICIA HOLLAND are coming to visit us on April 29th! Also Lynn G. Robbins, our area 70, will be coming too. We're all super pumped. President Snow told us at Zone Conference this week and everyone went nuts. Good this we were in the gym. I mean I had my money on Oaks but Holland will do too:)

At Zone Conference they, the missionary department was there and they gave all of our cars "Tiwis". They're car monitors that tell you when you don't have your seatbelt on, when you're speeding and aggressively
driving. I'm trying to get a Morgan Freeman voice on mine so I can feel rightly rebuked when I speed.

We found a few more elect families this week! Two of them were member referrals. One of them is a neighbor of a member and with the other family, the mom Is a coworker of a member. All 8 of those people in those families have baptismal dates now! #Tier3MissionaryWork  One of the families is a single mom and 4 little kids. It's been super humbling to teach them. They don't have a lot at all and accepted the gospel so quickly.

We got a new Ward mission leader! Sergio! He got back from his mission in Lima Peru about a yeah ago. The assistant WML and other Ward missionaries are mostly young guys in their 20s and 30s so we named our new Ward mission team "Los Novatos" which means like rookies or inexperienced. It's a lot of fun right now. Unlimited amount of work and amazing members to work with.

I love you all!

Elder Faldmo

April 11, 2016 #NLVM

Hey everyone! 

A donde van tan peinado? Sorry for not writing a lot last week but I really just wanted to play basketball so yeah.

This week was quite a good one. We are teaching a lot of people and a lot are progressing and coming to church.  I was able to go back to my last Ward for another baptism last Friday! Tamara got baptized and after the baptism Shannon, her sister, who Thorne and I taught and they've been teaching still is going to get baptized in June right before I go home after she gets through some personal stuff.

Me and Elder Thorne with Tamara after her baptism!

The 2 exchanges I went on this week were with Elder Angele and also another one with Elder Dixon. Angele is one of the DLs in our zone and it's been a neat experience to help build him and see him grow. He's from Little Rock, Arkansas and the only really active church member of his family and he only really became active in church right before his mission. He has made big progress and has become a really good leader. Dixon is from upstate New York but grew up in Aberdeen, SD!

Elder Angele and I found another ceramic donkey on exchanges. For those of you watching at home that makes 3 burros this transfer. We knocked on the door, the guy answered and said "sorry guys I'm not interested" then I said "no worries, but can we take a picture with your ceramic donkey?" Then he said "absolutely you can!" 

One thing I learned in my studies this week was about the Atonement and grace. 

In Hebrews 4:15-16 it says:

15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Christ was tempted with everything that we are tempted with and still without sin.  In order to partake and access the atonement we need to "come boldly" "obtain mercy" and "find grace".

Those are all things that we have to do. Jesus will never force the atonement on us... it is up to each of us to learn about it, accept it, and apply it. It's a simple and perfect, yet difficult at times.  It is the path back to our Heavenly Father. 

Service at ThreeSquare was great this week

I love the process of growing so much! Spiritually, temporarily, mentally, physically, emotionally, all of it! It's so cool how life breaks us down and Christ can build us back up to something better than we were before. I know that we truly can be perfected in Christ.

#Elevate 

Love you all!

Elder Faldmo

April 4, 2015 Quick Update

Hey Fam!

Best part of the week was by far conference. My favorite talk was the first one of the whole conference, President Eyring. 

I came into this conference super prepared with questions and this Eyring's talk answered all of them along with some of the hymns in that first
session. I literally don't remember a word of what he said but just remember that I got a ton of spiritual promptings from him. This stuff is true!

I'm pumped to study all of the talks again this week! 

 Love you guys!

Elder Faldmo

March 28, 2016 La Pascua‏

Happy Easter everyone!

So most wards have a special sacrament meeting planned out for Easter and all the bells and whistles ready to go. For our Ward they didn't have anything so in Ward council yesterday on Easter Sunday, they told us we had to speak because they didn't have anyone else. So yeah I don't really know what I said but I talked for 15 minutes about the resurrection. It was pretty cool
because I was able to share my experience and testimony about knowing how the resurrection was real. From experiences at Grandpa Ross' funeral and also another funeral of a young boy here on my mission Heavenly Father has let me know through His Spirit that our bodies and
our spirits will actually come together again and be glorified, perfected beings. It's a step that we will be able to take to be able to become that much more like our Father in heaven. It's a pretty wonderful truth that we have a full knowledge of thanks to the restoration.

Elder Merrill my companion is a boss and it's a lot of fun to serve with him. We are teaching some pretty special people right now so I hope we have a big April to follow up with what we did in March. North Las Vegas is the place to be and there are a ton of miracles happening every day.
We just have to want them, pray for them and most importantly WORK for them. "Work, work, work, there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work." -Ezra Taft Benson

I'm so grateful for my mission and the opportunity I have to grow in so many different ways every day. I'm starting to learn to see every situation/problem/weakness as a opportunity rather than an obligation. We just need to realize what we're thinking about when our effort is low. When effort is low it's probably because we see things as an obligation rather than an opportunity to grow into what God wants us to be. The way we think about things in our life is everything.

I hope March Madness is going well and all of your brackets are busted and Remember everyone when you're shopping to "See Hurst First" :)

Here's a picture of me with another ceramic donkey.

Elder Faldmo

March 21, 2016 TRANSFERS

Hi Everyone!

Before anything I want to say congrats to Dakota Valley Basketball!  It's so good to hear how much success they had. I'm proud of Big T for finishing strong and being a leader! I miss it so much.

Me, Stephanie and Elder Smith and her baptism

Transfers are this week on Tuesday. We got our transfer doctrine on Saturday and Elder Smith will be leaving me :( and going to the Ensign Spanish Ward in the East stake. He'll be by the Stratosphere and around that part of Vegas. He's been the funniest companion I've had
so far and it was a lot of fun to serve with him. I'm staying here and my new companion is Elder Merrill! I served around him in my last area. He is from Cardston, Alberta Canada and went to BYU for a year before his mission. He has been out for about a year and a half and is a knockdown 3-point shooter :) He will be my companion most likely for the rest of my mission, he's gunna kill me!

This week I was able to go back to my last area to the Robindale YSA Ward (AKA RobSquad) for Haley's Baptism! She is best friends with a member of our Ward named Tatiana and one time we were at Tatiana's house for dinner and we asked her if we could teach any of her friends and she's said, "yeah I'll text one right now." (That's why YSA wards are so bomb.) Anyway, Elder Thorne and I started teaching Haley and a couple days after the first lesson, Haley, her friend texted us and said she didn't want to continue to learn because she didn't like the church's
stance on gay marriage cause she had a few friends that were but thanked us anyway. A few months later she changed her mind and decided to start learning again and decided to be baptized! I'm grateful that the church and gospel are true because we don't really convince
anyone we teach, the spirit does it on it's own and we are just here as missionaries to carry out what the Spirit teaches.

Haley's Baptism Day

Ok one more cool story... Last night, Smith and I were teaching this guy named Martin. He's has an alcohol addiction and really wants to stop. We were teaching the Restoration towards the beginning of the lesson when he started telling us about his problem he got really emotional. We
talked about how God knows him personally and knows who he is. We read over that part in the pamphlet as we taught him that simple truth and it hit him really hard. He just read that sentence over and over again to himself, "God knows you personally and loves you more than you can
imagine." We asked him if he had ever heard that before and he said "no" and started to cry again. We continued talking about this truth throughout the lesson and when we were almost to the end he wanted to go back to the first page just so he could read that sentence again. It helped me be more grateful for the knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Without the restoration we wouldn't have a full understanding of that simple, yet profound truth. God is our literal Father in Heaven-- not  just some blob floating around. He knows us perfectly and knows how to heal us through His Son's Atonement. Martin learned that last night and accepted a date to be baptized. 

This stuff is too good!

I love you all!

Elder Faldmo

They like their burro here in the North!

March 14, 2016 A donde tan peinado?‏

Hey Friends & Fam,

About a month ago, a priest in our Ward and I were out and about and a lady named Mixdrey opened her door and invited us in. Mixdrey and her daughter Ana were baptized this week! They are two of the most solid people I've taught on my mission. Mixdrey is already almost done reading the Book of Mormon and Ana cancelled her school and is going to go on a mission in
a year. Shoutout to my friend Sylvia for talking to Ana and helping her via text and answering some of her questions!

Elder Smith, Mixdrey, Ana and I all in white:)

I was also able to go back to Henderson this weekend for Debra's baptism! She is the mom of a part member family that Elder Rockwood and I taught a lot when I was with him. All of the family has gotten baptized one by one. Now they are going to be able to go to the temple and become a forever family in a year!

All of us at Debra's baptism

Elder Smith and I are loving serving the Spanish speakers here in El Rancho. My listening and understanding is almost all the way back to where I was a year ago with Elder Felix so I pretty much know everything everyone is saying and my speaking has gotten a lot better too these past few weeks. Elder Smith is a Spanish genius!

S/O to Christian Clark, Matthew Gay, Jake Hasler, Josh Pollard and Kyle Howard for coming to see us this week! Love you guys!

Me with the Provo All-Stars!

Also S/O to Elder Thorne's grandpa for getting baptized this week!

I'm excited for these last 3 months of my mission. We boutta sprint to the finish line no regrets! So much to do!

Me and Elder Rockwood with Brown family the evening of Debra's baptism.  They are one of our favorite families in Henderson!

Sorry for the bad quality of some of the pictures! 

Love you all!

Elder Faldmo

March 7, 2016 March Madness!

Me with my Uncle Jason (mom's brother) ... All the Hursts in Vegas for ACE show

 

March Madness is in full effect and North Las Vegas is on fire! I love serving here and the energy that's in our zone right now. This week Elder Smith and I went to MLC at the mission office and got some good training from our boys Clark and Thorne. They trained on strategic planning and always looking 3-4 months ahead in the future for your zone.

I was able to go to the temple this week with Elder Sawyer to be there for Leona's first time at the temple doing baptisms! He and I taught and baptized her when we were companions. She had her own family names and was able to do their baptisms and confirmations!

Elder Sawyer, Leona and me

The Ace Show was in Vegas this week and so that means every Hurst and their dog was here to be at it. I was able to see my Uncle Bruce and Aunt Holly and also my Uncle Jason and the mom's friends and Uncle Jason's in-laws the Smiths! I love you guys!

Aunt Holly, Uncle Bruce, me and Elder Smith

Everything is going well here! Elder Smith and I are working hard and having a lot of fun!
Love you all!

Elder Faldmo

Me, mom's BFF Marjie from HS and Elder Smith

February 29, 2016 FAM BAM

Missionary March Madness... in the North. Laying out the brackets for my zone.

Hey Fam,

First off S/O to my cuz Wilhelm Clark for tonight and his first playoff game! #OHS

Thanks for all of your prayers, my health is 100% and I'm good to go and I have feeling in my face again! I'm on some meds that are helping my nerves recover so it's all good. 

Elder Smith and I are having a lot of fun. It's a perfect area with an exponential amount of work and solid members and people to teach. My Spanish is getting better day by day too. One person were teaching is named Octavio. He has already read the Book of Mormon, Doctrine &
Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and Teachings of Howard W. Hunter book. We're just waiting for approval from the first presidency for him to get baptized. 

Another person we are teaching is Maexdrey. She's from Cuba and is almost done with the Book of Mormon. Elder Sawyer is
teaching her daughter in the YSA Ward by the temple and she's getting baptized soon too and wants to serve a mission! 

On Tuesday we had interviews with President and Sister Snow. I love them so much! President Snow gave me some good advice about college and my career after my mission. I just feel bad for young kids that dream about coming to this mission and don't get to. #NLVM 

I was on exchanges in the Nellis Manor Ward this week. That's the Air Force Base Ward. There was a member named Brother Coombs that came out to teach with us. He said he grew up in Orem and I asked if he knew any Faldmos. He said when he was younger he would collect fast
offerings from Nana and Papa's house and he said his brothers knew some of my uncles pretty well. 

I studied King Benjamin's discourses this week in Mosiah and learned a lot of cool things from those few chapters. My favorite verse from those chapters is :
"13 For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who
is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?"
To understand Christ, we need to serve Him. To serve him we must serve others. 

(See Mosiah 2:17)

Love you all!

Elder Faldmo 

 I met a guy with a sick mullet this week. I told him I would grow one after my mission! Can I mom? You can't see it very well in the picture but this is him haha