August 10, 2015 Sawldmo...

President Snow making sure we still take in some of the terrain that's a part of of the 

Nevada Las Vegas Mission!

Hey Fam!
First off Happy Anniversary to my wonderful parents, David Norman and Robin Hurst Faldmo. I'm grateful for your height! I love you! It was your wedding anniversary and my year anniversary in Vegas this week!

We saw a ton of miracles this week and are seeing a lot of blessings right now. The Bermuda Ward is on fire right now! Sunday was a pretty crazy day. We had a ton of investigators show up to church! Elder Sawyer & I taught Gospel Principles and the topic was The Signs of the 2nd Coming. One of our investigators named Jacqui that is really fun to teach but hard cause she has so many questions, anyway, she  commented in class and told us she wanted to be baptized! She raised her hand after another member was sharing about their experience when they were baptized and said, "Alright, I'm convinced! I'm ready!" Later we were talking about missionary work and asked the class how many of them are converts and she said, "I almost am!"

Also, a random family of 5 walked into church and said that they want to be taught so we are starting to teach them tonight!

This older lady named Leona just moved here from California and she said she wanted to find church again. She told herself that she would go to the first church she saw when she got here and the first church she saw was the chapel down the road from our chapel. She walked into
church last Sunday and the missionaries in that Ward taught her this week but she lives in our boundaries so we taught her last night and she's a hoot. She is one of the most fun people to teach on my mission. She asked us what sacrifices she had to make to be baptized and we talked about the Word of Wisdom and she said, "no coffee or tea?" And we said nope. Then she said, "dang, but can I still have my kool-aid? I need me some sugar still!" Yes Leona, you can have kool-aid.

We also started teaching this kid named Jake this week. His friend Robert, who is a member in another Ward invited him to church a few weeks ago and then invited him to listen to us! We taught him the restoration this week and he will be baptized in September! Robert is going on a mission in September too so hopefully he will be able to baptize him before he goes. Jake said that that would be good for him to prepare Robert for his mission so he can get used to it haha I went on exchanges this week with Elder Chase Carroll. He's from Gilbert, AZ and went to high school with cousin Kenzie Hurst! He goes home in a week so he said he will take pictures at her farewell for me :) we're excited for you Kenzie!

I also went on exchanges with Elder Rockwood this week in my last area! It was fun to teach some of the same people that we taught together there last transfer.

S/o to President and Sister Snow for taking us to Hoover Dam this morning! Besides the fact that it reminded me of Lake Powell it was really fun! (I'll send pics later) Also to Sylvia for giving a killer talk on Sunday at church yesterday I heard!

Elder Sawyer and I sporting our shirt given to us by our Ward Mission Leader.

 

Overlook at Hoover Dam with Elder Sawyer and the Sister Training Leaders

Love you all! Keep sending me pics of all of your great adventures!

Elder Faldmo

August 3, 2015 Miracles and Scorpions...

We had a bunch of great things happen this week!

President Snow and I with a new missionary from the Philippines, Elder Balajadia, that just arrived to our mission!

Yesterday we found another golden family. They just moved here from Carlsbad, CA. They have had LDS friends in the past and have gone to different churches but never found the right one. We were knocking on a door in their apartment complex and they saw us outside their window
and the mom sent her son out to try and talk to us but we left too quick. To try and track us down, they looked up the temple and called it but it was closed for cleaning so they thought they'd never be able to talk to us. Then, later in the day, the oldest daughter went to the
laundromat and on the floor she found a tattered Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet with the number of the Singles' Ward Sister Missionaries on in and called them. Then the sisters called us and we called the family and went over that night. When we went over, they
told us this whole story and then today they came to church and loved it! After church, the mom didn't want to come out of Relief Society because she didn't want her kids to see her cry. It was really good weekend to say the least. They now have a baptismal date and are excited to continue to learn!

On Tuesday, we were getting into our car and Elder Sawyer sits down in the drivers seat and he felt something on his back and thought it was his seat being really hot and burning him-- summers in Vegas! So, he leans forward and reaches back to feel the back part of his seat and something else hurt his finger and so he gets out of the car and we look and there's nothing there so we go to our next stop. When we go to get back in the car, on the mat there's a scorpion sitting there! It was on my side so I freaked out!!! Then we tried and catch it and it got away in the cracks of the seat, but we had an appointment to go to so we had to get in the car! So for the rest of the day, I was sitting in my seat, scared to death that the scorpion would get me or run up my pants or something. Then at the end of the night, we went to a guy in our Ward who is an exterminator. He sprayed our car for us. The next morning the scorpion was dead on the floor so we got it! Now it's the mascot in our apartment.

So, I hate scorpions but I LOVE snakes:) This one belongs to someone we are teaching.

I love you all! Keep up the good work!

Elder Faldmo

July 28, 2015 Fam Jam

Hey everyone!

S/o to Sylvia for going to the temple for the first time and completing the special ordinances for her grandparents. I'm sure it was a great experience!

Had another amazing week! First off, on Wednesday I went on exchanges with the one and only
Elder Chambers. We went to his area in the North (my birthplace for my mission) and had a great day. Also, we had dinner with the one and only Loveman! The rest of the country better watch out when Elder Chambers is playing as an offensive tackle for BYU next year!

On Saturday I got to go to lunch with my cousins the Clarks and Gallaghers! It was good to see all of the cousins and that night, Christian (formerly known as Elder Clark) came out to teach with Elder Sawyer and I! It was so much fun to teach the gospel with my cousin who I haven't seen in over two years. We had some good experiences in the ghetto! right Christian?

Our investigator Jorge was a champ this week. He came to church 2 weeks in a row about 2 months ago but then he got a job that scheduled him working on Sunday. He loves going to church and has been trying to get a new job and finally this Sunday he couldn't take it anymore without
going to church. So, he told his boss in the middle of work that he had to go to church, he left work, and just showed up for the 3rd hour of church. Then last night we had a lesson with him and his girlfriend and they told us that they wanted to get married as soon as possible and now they have a
marriage and baptismal date. Jorge is the man! All he wants is for his family to be sealed as a family for time and all eternity. I'm so grateful for the restored gospel and the knowledge that we have to give us more peace and direction for our lives. Jorge knows where he wants to go but now, unlike before, he knows exactly what he needs to do to get there.

Also we had 2 zone conferences this week. One was in Lake Havesu. We had to get up at 3:30 in the morning to get there... The lake wasn't even warm. Just kidding... but it was a good drive. President Snow has the lead foot of Dad so we got home quick. I got half trunky cause it had the same scenery as ion the way to lake Powell.

I love the mission life! Crazy spiritual, busy and fun! Love you all!
Elder Faldmo

July 20, 2015 Brother Hemmingway, Tyler Haws, and Prepared people‏

I had another busy and exciting week!

First of all, congratulations to my cousin Kenzie Hurst for getting called to serve in Los Angeles on her mission! You're going to do awesome Kenzie!

The most exciting part of our week was probably the fact that Brother Hemmingway, the Director of Proselyting for the whole world, came and evaluated and trained our mission. On Tuesday, he took Elder Sawyer and I to Outback Steakhouse(I got a 10 oz. Sirloin if you were wondering) and then worked with us and taught with us for the rest of the night and then planned with us at the end of the night.  He taught us so much, especially about planning. Everything I learned from him will benefit me for the rest of my life with school, work, and as a disciple of Jesus Christ. He is a genius! I don't think Elder Sawyer and I totally understood how lucky we were to experience what we did until after he left. We got one of the smartest guys in the whole world in regards to missionary work to work with us for 3 days and he was teaching with us for 5 hours of those three days! Pretty cool stuff. Something I'll remember forever. 

Elder Sawyer and I doing some training the week of transfers

Role playing with our training

We found this golden family this week. The girlfriend is a member and her boyfriend isn't and when we walked in their home, one of the first things they told us was that they wanted to get sealed in the temple! We were able to teach them almost everyday this week.

Another guy we're teaching told us that he never thought before that he would go to a church but last night he said, "why didn't you guys find me earlier?" We were able to tell him that the Lord prepared him for this moment to find and accept His true church. 

It's so great when you come in contact with prepared people!

The NBA summer league is going on here in Vegas and last week some Elders got a text from a guy named Tyler Haws saying that he needs something to do and asked if he could go out with them? So while Tyler Haws' teammates were partying, he went out with the missionaries. Thanks Tyler!

Elder Sawyer and I were able to go to the temple on Friday! It was an awesome experience again to be in the house of the Lord. We are so lucky here in this mission to have a temple so close and to be able help our new members get there quickly to experience the joy that is found within the temple walls. 

Elder Sawyer with the look

Love you Fam! 

Elder Faldmo 

Taking care of TRANSFERS... July 13, 2015

Hey guys just another quick email, 

this week was nuts!!! We had 27 missionaries leave and 25 come in and had to get up at 3:30 AM to take the first group to the airport... but it was a good time! 

Here's Elder Sawyer and I with a great group of missionaries that were about to go home

Return with Honor

Explaining lots of things to our new group

Object lesson and making a fire

There is a
bunch of really good missionaries that came in. I'm so exhausted but it's all good, if I wasn't exhausted there would be something wrong! It was fun to give trainings to the new missionaries and get to know them in the mission home. Also, S/O to Sister Snow for making the best food on transfer days! 

Here's our new group in President & Sister Snow's backyard practicing street contacting

Here's our whole new group of greenies:)

We're teaching this amazing person name Maria she's so solid. She's a single mom with 2 little kids. She should be getting baptized next week!

When we were going to pick up the new missionaries, I was driving a huge 12 passenger van and Elder Sawyer was driving the truck with a enclosed trailer on the back for all of the luggage and we went to go in the short term parking and the trailer was too tall for the clearance and so Elder Sawyer had to back all the way back down the ramp with a trailer!! President and I went with the MSTLs to get the
new missionaries and so we just timed it right where we got their luggage and then hurried to the departing line and threw the luggage in the trailer when Elder Sawyer met us all there. I felt like I was house boy in Harry Potter without Elder Sawyer with me weaving all of the missionaries through the airport. We finally got to the mission home and after we trained them on a few things and had them do some paper work, they passed out on the couches:)



The NLVM Airport Transport at your service
Hope you guys had a good week!
Elder Faldmo

The 4th of July: July 6, 2015

Hey guys just wanted to send you a quick email...

I don't have much time to write this week but I'm getting transferred back to Warm Springs (right next to my 2nd area) 

I'll be serving with Elder Sawyer from Montana and he lives right by Flathead Lake! He's such a stud!

We had a sweet activity we did for the 4th of July. We went to a park and set up a booth where we had a professional photographer camera. Families could come and we would take a family picture of them and after they gave us their address so the sisters can develop and print the pictures and we will deliver the pictures to the families this week and share a message about families. We also had missionaries out with their iPads seeing how many selfies they could get with random people and inviting them to take their family's picture at our booth. Something else
was that a Sister missionary who is really good at the violin come and played patriotic songs for more people to enjoy. All in all it was good and we got 55 referrals of people who will contact this week.

Sample of the missionary July 4 selfie in the park

I

I'm really going to miss Elder Rockwood!

Have a great week!

Elder Faldmo

Sister Snow and President Snow at the head of the table with a few of us at Red Robin

Happy Birthday Abby & 'Merica! June 29, 2015

Hey Fam. 

First of all I want to wish my cute sister Abigail Faldmo a happy 18th birthday on Sunday! Stop growing up!
We had a great week again. 

One of the coolest lessons we had this week was with Paul. His kids are recently baptized and right as we started one of lessons this week he told us that his doctor told him some things about the church that he had never heard before. They were all false and he was really worried because he has been praying really hard for his answer and wasn't sure if that was an answer to his prayer or a test? We were able to resolve his concern and share a scripture, bear testimony, have his son share his testimony and also share a video of Elder Holland's testimony (on our iPads ) and by the end he was able to remember the testimony he already had. Definitely the coolest moment of the week! 

 We had 2 exchanges this week and I was able to learn a lot from some other missionaries from my zone. I can't believe this is already the last week of the transfer. We have 30 missionaries going home from our mission next week so transfers will be very hectic but the greatest
mission president, President D. Jack Snow will make the best out of it.

We had interviews this week and I love the time we have to study the scriptures and have time to talk with President and Sister Snow! They are the greatest! 

It got up to about 116 on the thermometer this week so it's a little uncomfortable to be outside but remember, "life is a beach party!"-Mont Tanner 

We taught sharing time in primary this week! It was about the Holy Ghost and when we asked them how not to have the Holy Ghost with us they said, "go to the strip" so that was good they knew that:) hahahaha

I'm very busy and tired but also very happy, that seems to be the theme of my mission.

Diligence = happiness
Family, I hope you are all having a fabulous time at Heaven on Earth aka Lake Powell! I mean you could be serving a mission but Lake Powell is pretty cool too I guess :) enjoy Padre Bay and Ethan try not to catch too many fish! 

I love you guys! 

 Elder Faldmo

Me and Elder Rockwood and the kids from one of the coolest families you'll ever meet.

The Daltons

June 15, 2015 Swig & Such...

Hi family and friends!

First off, this week my brother Tyler Johnson aka Big T had a birthday so happy birthday T! I miss you!

Also happy birthday to Grandma Julie and Happy Fathers' day to dad this Sunday! (Don't worry I will write you both letters this week.)

We had such a great week! We found a lot of people to teach and were very busy. I was able to go on exchanges with one of the APs Elder Sawyer on Tuesday in our area and I learned so much from him! He's from Montana right next to Flathead Lake so he taught me some Montana words like heffer. He's one of my favorite people.

We are teaching this guy named Jason. He has been taught by missionaries for a while already, but we just started teaching him more frequently. If everything goes right, he's going to be baptized next month! He bore his testimony last fast Sunday at church about how we can't have friends like Laman and Lemuel so yeah, he's pretty solid. Also we are teaching the son in law of a family in our ward. Their daughter and him just moved in with them and he came to church yesterday! Last night we had a Why I Believe Fireside and we had 2 recent converts from our ward speak at it! They are sibs-- brother and sister and this week we started to teach their dad!

So all in all there are some exciting things that could happen here, which is rare so we are really happy to be able to have this much success!

I'm grateful for the quiet examples of service and diligence that I have here from the members in our wards. Most are from the strong youth. One example is a 16 year old young man who is the only one of his family of 6 who is active right now but he still comes every week on time to bless the sacrament and serve faithfully in his Priesthood calling. That guy knows what it means to "embark in the service of

God."

A member from Kingman, Sister Westbrook came to visit us because Elder

Rockwood used to serve down there and she's sort of the missionary mom there. She grew up in St. George and her maiden name is Abby Taylor. She went to high school with moms cousin Danny Shakespeare! And her husband knows Kyle Hurst! Anyway on her way back from visiting St. George she brought us some cookies from Swig in St. George so that was pretty much the greatest thing ever. Her mom is a teacher at Snow Canyon. You're the best Sister Westbrook!

Great week!

Love you guys!

Elder Faldmo

Hiiii! June 8, 2015

Hey guys I swear I just emailed you yesterday!

This is going by so fast! Oh every other missionary says the same thing in their emails too? oh ok. 

S/O to @mammafaldmo for sending me the Lake Powell calendar and Yonanas.  You're my favorite mom!

It was a week of spiritual growth for me and I loved it.   We had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) and so I was able to see Elder Chambers and some other buds there! I learned so much from President Snow and the APs.

  

Me and Elder Chambers reunited again... My companion Elder Rockwood on the left and his on the right. 

President Snow gave a training on "Expanding your Practice."  For those of you who don't know, President Snow was one of the big dogs at Albertsons before he was a mission president so he compared the leadership of a business to leadership in a mission and also using our ward councils effectively.  He's a genius! Grandma Julie and Uncle Jason should've been there! 

We received our iPads this week.  Yes, they actually came and they are so useful! They APs gave a really good training on using them wisely.  I can already tell that having them on my mission will help me for the rest of my life in using technology! I'm starting to get away from bad habits and develop good ones. If you want a sweet app go download "LDS Pamphlets" on the app store! 

Many of you might have heard the sad story of Austen Russell.  He was the 9 year old boy who died in a tragic accident a little over a week ago… right after I got to this area. His funeral was on Saturday.  I didn't know Austen and I don't know his family personally.  They live is our neighborhood but in a different ward.  Austen, from what it sounds like, is a replica of my little brother Sam.  His young life was absorbed with playing and watching sports and being the stud on his team.  He was an avid BYU fan and many BYU stars have tweeted and sent encouraging messages to his family including Jimmer.  Saturday was one of the hardest days and also one of my most grateful days on my mission because of the funeral.  I couldn't even imagine losing Sam and in the way that it happened.  It was amazing to see the mother and the father of Austen get up and talk and bear testimony of the plan of salvation to a congregation that was more than 50% non-LDS.  It was very very hard for me to sit through when Austen's 2 older brothers got up and shared memories they had with Austen playing sports in their yard and practicing with Austen.  I love you Samuel John!

Just think if we didn't have the knowledge that we have of eternal families, of the restoration of the priesthood power to seal families in the temple, and of what will happen after this life.  Also later that night, the Spirit again confirmed to me that the Book of Mormon is completely true and Joseph Smith restored all of these truths on the earth in these the last days.  I know it's all true.

Love, 

Elder Faldmo

P.S.

just some more thoughts from vegas.

i love all of the families in our ward.  our bishop, the one that played for coach wagner at byu hawaii has a grandma who taught our uncle bruce in high school!!!!

there's one family, the Dalton family who is one of my favorites too! they are like a combination of the clarks and the poulsens.  sister dalton is like our second mom out here.  her oldest is 12 and she is like maggie and they also have  4 boys who are all younger. one who is 10 named Ty and would be really good friends with Sam.  

Me and Elder Rockwood and the Sister Training Leaders for our Zone after a meeting.

ROCKMO June 1, 2015

i wanted to give one more shoutout to another monte bello family that i said goodbye to on last monday.  this is the family of our ward mission leader who passed away from cancer about a month ago.  the oldest son just got back from his mission in chile. they have been so strong through all of their trials.  i love them so much. that's something i've learned on my mission.  you have to learn to love people-- if you don't already know how.  there are a few people that we had started teaching here in monte bello that had told the previous missionaries no, they didn't want to have the missionary lessons. they said they wanted us to teach them because we "actually cared about them and aren't fake".  you gotta love the people and I really do!

Sup FAM! 

Don't even get me started with how much I love this new area! It's such a blessing to be here right now.  

So the area that I cover is two wards and it's like a neighborhood in Santa Clara, UT or the Clark's neighborhood in Orem because that's literally what our area is... a few neighborhoods.  It's like a mini-Provo with some non-members sprinkled in there too… but don't let that make you think that there's nothing to do here cause we are having a lot of success! We are teaching this awesome big family that is about to adopt another girl and also teaching a lot of part-member families.  It's definitely different work than my last area in the ghetto but the gospel of Jesus Christ is the same everywhere.  We just present it differently here.  #teachpeoplenotlessons

The members here are so good at missionary work! We are getting a lot of referrals from them and it's great! They aren't scared!

The Edwards Family lives in my zone (cousins of the Clarks… so pretty much my cousins too right?)

and this week I went to lunch with Will Edwards and also Tommy Taylor who was passing through on his way back from California! I also saw Will again last night at a fireside we had and we are having dinner with them on Tuesday!

Elder Rockwood is one of the coolest guys I know. We have so much in common! We are getting up at 5:45 every morning to workout and play basketball.  He played for BYU-Hawaii before his mission for the same coach that coached Dad at Dixie.  Also, one of our Bishops played for Coach Wagner too at BYU-Hawaii!  We are both left-handed, and his older sister is my Aunt Jill's personal trainer in Provo!  Small world! 

This next paragraph is for Will Clark.

One night this week we went over to one of our members house to meet some of their son's friends.  They were all basketball players for Foothill High School last year and they played against you (Orem) and beat you 2 seasons ago! Some of them are playing in college right now.  The member of our ward is the one who hit the game winning shot in one of the games against you in Orem!

That high school is also the same high school that has the dance team that goes to nationals every year in Orlando so Maggie and Abby… look for the members of my ward on ESPN in 2 months or so and maybe you can get as good as them! 

One of the members in our wards is the Hulshoff family and they said they were in Chris and Aubrey's ward when they lived in California. 

Here everyone, member and nonmember alike, know the missionaries.  Our work is mostly part-member families and tracting (first time on my mission I've done it).  So when we knock on nonmember's doors, it's not "who are you?" the response is, "what's up guys, want some water?" They might not be interested but their neighbors on their left, right, and across the street are Mormon so they love us.  

One of our members has pet monkeys, yeah like the real kind.  They have 2 squirrel monkeys that are very friendly, except they stole my pen when I met them! I don't have a picture with them yet, but I will get one in the near future.  

I love you guys! Have a great week! 

Elder Faldmo

... but one last thing about monte bello-- temple right there!