Merry Christmas 2009!!!

Michael has had very little time for sending emails in the past several weeks. He was transferred to the Northern coast of Oregon, in an area where they don't even have mail service. They're trying to figure out how to manage the mail...along with a million other things! He and his companion have been living in a travel trailer which belongs to a member of the branch until their apartment was ready. They started moving this week and will probably finish up with the last few things right after Christmas.

The family was able to talk to him today (YAY!!) and he sounds like he's doing well. He said to thank Auntie Nelda and Kristie for the Sonic gift card, but alas...there is no Sonic where he lives - in fact - there are only a couple of Sonic's in their entire mission area! Kind of like Walmart...none to be found.

On the bright side of things, they don't get too many doors slammed in their faces...in fact, there are very few people even in the area to open the door and then slam it in their faces! Around half of the homes are vacant because it's a "vacation" haven during the summer months but few people live there during the winter months.

It was great to talk to MIchael and feel of the depth of his testimony. He loves serving the Lord and sharing the message of the gospel with others.

Enjoy a few pics - Michael in his new area PLUS...a BONUS of his "cameo" appearance on Christmas Eve at the family gathering (well...at least "flat Michael" was there!).

Yay! Transfers!

Well, no email from Elder Starks today but we know he was transferred from the Tigard / Beaverton area to the Northern Oregon Coast. He is serving in the Neah-Kah-Nie Branch in Rockaway Beach. He is currently living in a 34' travel trailer until their apartment is ready. The travel trailer is the guest house of some very kind members of the branch. The first picture is of Michael and his new companion with "Daddy D" and "Mama D" is taking the picture...I instantly like her since she's Mama D!!

We're really excited to hear about his adventures in this beautiful area of Oregon! We love him and miss him but know that he is in the Lord's hands.

July 16, 2009

Here's my update of the work. It's going great! I think I told you about the guy was being baptized last week with his son, and he was, so that was cool. But I wasn't really involved in his teaching, I just came in right before his baptism. However, we have another investigator who is going to be baptized on August 15th! So exciting!!! She is totally ready and has been SO prepared for the church. It's really an awesome thing. She's really a golden (if not platinum) investigator, just one of those you get maybe once in your whole mission (if at all). I'm so excited for her! As for everyone else, we've eliminated alot of those that aren't progressing or aren't keeping commitments after we've been trying to work with them for some time. We're still trying, but we're down to basically two other investigators that we're trying to get ahold of and tracting. We've also started a new program that is going WONDERFULLY well in Summerlake and that we're going to start in the next week in Beaverton 1st. We're going around doing FHE's with family's and helping them become better member missionaries as well as learning how we can best help the members become better member missionaries. It's SO COOL!!! And it's going great too. No results yet, but the members are really excited and talking about it with one another, so that is a big plus!

That's all the news I have for now. Things are going better, I had to buy an air pump and some new inner tubes last week.

I hope all continues to go well. I hope y'all know I love you so much! I really really love y'all with all my heart! Let Lisa know I thank her for her email and I'm sorry I wasn't able to reply to her this week.

I love you,

-Elder Michael Starks

July 9, 2009

Note: Michael's email was very short because of reading the email his sister finally sent him!! :)

The work is going well. We have a baptism this Saturday of a guy that's been investigating for 16 years (yes, years). And that is totally cool. His wife is a member and their 8 year old son is being baptized the same day. We're doing pretty well. It's true what my setting apart blessing said. I really do love my companions ~ even those who are different from me.

I love y'all so much and I hope everyone is doing well. I'm going to try and write a few letters today to make up for the shortness!

-Elder Michael Starks

June 18, 2009

Whitewashing and Other Stories

Hello family!

I've been transferred! Can you believe it? I know it's hard for me to actually believe it as well. I was only in Salem for 6 weeks (one transfer)! Well, now I'm serving in the Beaverton 1st and Summerlake wards with Elder Burroughs I have very mixed feelings about the transfer. I really didn't want to leave the Fairgrounds ward so soon, and to top it all off, we were whitewashed! That means that both Elder Hunter and I were transferred at the same time and two new missionaries came into the ward. That was really a shock because we had some good work going on. But I know everything happens for a reason, so hopefully the new guys (one of which I know! Elder Chapman) will do well and will keep the good work going that we had. Anyway, so, where I'm now at is actually right next door to my greenie area (Tigard 1st and Fanno Creek). That's crazy! I just left that area 6 weeks ago! And actually, the Summerlake ward meets in the same building that Tigard 1st and Fanno Creek meet in. Even more crazy! I'm pretty excited about that, though. It'll be kinda cool to see the old wards again. And then Elder Hunter (my last companion). Where was he transferred? To the area right next to me (no, not Tigard 1st)! And he's my district leader now. Crazy! So it's cool that I'll still be around him quite a bit. The wards seem pretty cool, we met the bishop in the Beaverton 1st ward yesterday and he seems pretty cool. The Beaverton Stake Center is HUGE. I'm serious. It's two levels, the chapel looks/feels like a symphony hall, and it's just crazy huge. I'll hopefully get some pictures to you soon.

Had you heard that they've changed the way you drop missionaries off at the MTC? There's no more little movie you watch and then go your seperate ways. You drop your missionary off at the curb and the missionaries go in, and the families leave. Crazy! But they said they were planning on doing that for awhile now, they just implemented it a little faster with the outbreak of the flu that happened there (I think there were 10 or 20 missionaries they came down with it).

I really love y'all. I hope all of you know that! I love you Dad! I love you Mom! I love you Jill! And I really can't believe I've been out for 7 1/2 months. I really still feel like I've only been out for a month. After this transfer I'll be out for 9 months. That means my trainer will have been out for 18 months. That's so crazy!!! The time really has been flying by so far. This past transfer went by so quickly. I feel like I was in Salem for only a week or two.

I love y'all!

-Elder Michael Starks

June 4, 2009

Hello family!

Well, another week has gone by. It's really weird how time feels as a missionary. It seems like it drags on forever during a day, but then each week seems like it was just the other day. Anyway. You'd think that at some point I'd stop being amazed at how fast time seems to fly by. But not yet.

So, how goes the work. Well. It's about the same. We met with one of our investigators last Friday and she was honest with us and told us that she is afraid to commit to God because she likes to be rebellious some times. We're working with her and mostly working with her to come to the knowledge that the Lord has her best interests at heart and knows best how to help her in her situation. Aside from that, the rest of our investigators are the same as well. We're working hard, but it can be a little discouraging when it's not readily apparent progress is happening. But the Spirit is present when we teach and we feel good about the lessons after they're through. So that's good!

Elder Hunter and I get along famously! I really love him. He's an awesome guy and I really couldn't ask for a better companion.

Transfers are coming up (June 17th)...I'm pretty sure I won't be transferred, but I think Elder Hunter will be. He's been in this area for 6 months (and it's his greenie area) so he'll probably go. That's sad, but I'm sure the Lord's timing and will is best. That's one of the coolest things about serving a mission, coming to really trust and rely on the Lord.

I love you guys, and I'm really happy to be serving the Lord. I hope all is well and that you guys know I'm doing my best.

I love y'all!
-Elder Michael Starks

P.S. I got a letter/card from Logan this week with some pictures from India. It was awesome! He gave me advice I was asking about for working with people without a Christian background. That kid is awesome!

May 28, 2009

Being a missionary...is...like nothing else in life. That's the best way to describe it. The Lord really supports His servants and helps them out when they're feeling down. The longer I've been out and the more my desire is to serve the Lord. I suppose more than anything else, the best way to describe those thoughts/feelings is to say that I feel like the Lord is slowly helping me turn toward serving him and "forgetting" the things of home. As I have desires to fully serve the Lord and am working on lining up my actions with those desires then the Lord will help me place those things of home in a place that won't distract me as much while serving Him. I really do want to serve the Lord with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength. I really do want to forget myself in His service...By serving the Lord will full intent of heart and giving myself fully in His service, it will strengthen me and help me to become the man the Lord would have me be. And that after this short time of service, I will be most ready and excited to investigate future possibilities!

I suppose one thing I'm learning is that we many times just don't see that the timing the Lord has planned is actually the best timing. He knows the process of events that need to occur in order for us to be the MOST happy that we can be in this life. And as we stay close to Him and follow the promptings of the Spirit to guide our lives, the best timings will occur and the most happiness will be able to be experienced by us. It's so cool! And the coolest thing is that even when we decide to not follow His counsel, He has a multitude of opportunities and chances in our paths to correct ourselves and still have as much happiness as possible from that time forward! It's SO COOL! And even when His timing brings us pain or sorrow or separation or what ever, all of those things are instruments or tools in helping us to have the most happiness and joy in this life and the next. We have to learn and many times learning is more difficult than we'd like. But once we do learn, we're able to apply that knowledge in our futures in order to have more happiness than we'd be able to have if we didn't have that knowledge. It's Sweet!

Alright, so, this email is starting to feel like quite the journal entry more than anything else. Hopefully everything I've written (or even some of it) has made sense or helped someone in the family in some way. I'll move on a little though.

The work. Well...it's about the same. Not much has changed. We're still working with the same people we have been, and one of our investigators has been forced a little to quit smoking or drinking coffee because she hasn't had the money to buy the stuff. It's been a bit difficult for her, but she's getting through it! Our biggest challenge, I think, is that of getting our investigators to keep their appointments. Now, the hard thing about that is most of the time the reasons they cancel are good reasons. Most of them are having relatively large trials in their lives that many times have interfered with our appointment times. But we've still be able to reschedule or stop by another time and catch them home. So all is good. We're going to be doing more tracting, as well as going after some potential investigators we found in the Area Book that no one had ever followed up on (or at least neglected to record). So, fun times! The ward is starting to get the idea of Elder Ballard's plan for the ward missions and that's exciting. Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll start seeing some results from that! Overall, the work is progressing. Probably not as fast as Elder Hunter and I would like, but it IS progressing. Yay!

Um...What else? Oh! Jill's banquet dress looked really cool! She looked beautiful (even if the picture wasn't good) and I thought she looked better than the other girls (she looked like a princess, the other girls looked like they just threw on a bath towel or something else that wasn't all that elegant). I'm so proud of that girl! She's such a smart and amazing woman. I'm not going to even probably recognize her when I get home.

Y'all should check out all the vidoes on www.mormon.org they're pretty cool. And the ones on LDS.org as well. Go watch the Mother's Day video they put together.

I love y'all. I really hope all is well. I hope dad gets to feeling better and I hope he tries to be more careful. Tell him I love him and that I really look up to him. I'm proud I'm his son and that he taught me how to work on things. I wouldn't let him teach me as much as he knows, but I'm glad he made the effort and really did teach me to be self-sufficent when it comes to working on things on cars or around the house. I love him! I love the example of being a righteous Priesthood-bearing father he set for me. And I'm so happy and grateful for my family. I'm so grateful for the way in which I was brought up and the things that were instilled in me at an early age. I love you guys! I love y'all!

Your Son and Brother,
-Elder Michael Starks

May 7, 2009

Hailing from Salem, Oregon...it's Elder Starks!



I thought we were in Salem, OR....what the heck is that sign for Dallas doing here??? lol

First off, I was transferred. We found out Monday night that I'd be leaving and that I'd still be on bike. Woohoo! I was most definitely sad to leave, and a little nervous about my future companion.

My new area. I'm now serving in the Fairgrounds ward in Salem. That's right. The bottom of the mission. Salem is the farthest south the mission goes and that's where I'm at. The area seems pretty nice and the ward seems really nice as well. We had a coordination meeting last night and the ward mission leader is quite enthused about missionary work and trying to get the ward involved. The RS Pres and EQ Pres was there and they seem pretty sweet as well. Actually, the RS Pres reminded me of you Mom (funny how it seems all the RS Pres's I've met so far remind me of you...wonder why that is...). Anyway, the bishop was also there and he seems like a pretty awesome guy as well. This area seems like it's going to be a really good area! Oh! and my new companion. His name is Elder Hunter and he's from Spanish Fork, Utah. Really awesome guy, so far as I can tell. He seems like a really hard worker and I think we're going to have a good time together. If you couldn't tell by now, he's the other Elder in the picture that I attached. The other picture is one that I snapped as we were driving down to Salem and I thought you guys would like, I know I thought it was cool!

As for the work back in Tigard before I left. Well, John and his wife seem really close to baptism. As for the work in my new area, it seems to be going really well! I actually met what seems to be our most promising investigator last night. She's an older lady. She is quite fun and loves to have the missionaries over. Elder Hunter and I then went to the coordination meeting I told you about earlier and then retired for the evening. I got mostly unpacked (all my clothes put away, etc.) and we got to know each other more. I really like Elder Hunter. So yeah. Good times so far. The work seems busy and progressing here. I hope it continues to be so!

Alright, so other misc. things. Ties. I like ties. Especially really sweet looking ties. I have, now, about 40 or 45 ties. But more are always good, especially so I can hopefully have more "sweet" ties. The best ties are 100% Polyester ties. And the best places to find the best ties are Thrift stores. The fatter (wide, like 5 to 7 inches wide at the widest part) the better. The thicker the better (meaning, more stuffing). The stiffer (meaning the tie isn't floppy) the better. Just an FYI. I'll send some example pictures at some point. Really good brands at thift stores: Wembly, Britannia, and a few others.

Alright. That's all I can remember at the moment. Oh! Mother's day calling. We get out of church at 4:00PM PST and we'll probably call sometime between 4:00PM and 9:00PM... I wish I could be more specific, but I'm not sure at this point in time. We're hopefully going to find a member's home to call from. So hopefully we'll touch base. I love y'all. You better know that. I love y'all so much! And thank you for sharing your super awesome spiritual experiences with me. It helps so much!

I love y'all!
-Elder Michael Starks

April 23, 2009

Hey Family!

I hope everyone is doing well! Thank you for the pictures of everything!

Do we see the sun here? Yes, we do see the sun. For just about 5 days of so we've had a good deal of sunshine (finally), but even then it hasn't been as gloomy and dreary as I'd come to expect from what everyone has said about the area. Now, the Elders from Arizona have said that there isn't enough sunshine here, but I've been quite happy with the amount we've had. Also, I'm so glad it hasn't been as hot as Texas usually is! That has been really nice! And I must say, it's quite beautiful here, very green and colorful when everything starts blooming. Anyway, what's been new with me? Not much. Same old same old. Still trying to be a better missionary, still trying to wake up on time, and even if I don't wake up on time at least get up when I wake up instead of sleeping in even longer. So that's fun.

Alright, so, how goes the work you're asking yourself by now. It's going alright. This week has been a little slow. Everyone we've had an appointment with so far has canceled or postponed on us so far. The only other appointment we have scheduled is with a girl and that is for Sunday evening. Keep praying for everyone though!

Things seems to be going alright. We're working more on tracting and trying to get the members more involved so we can hopefully get refferals from them. It's slow going, but we're trying new tactics and starting to see a little success. We don't have any solid new investigators yet, but we've got quite a few potentials!

Oh! I have a really cool story about some street contacting we did a few days ago, but I've run out of time and have got to go. I'll try to write a letter today and include that story in there. Needless to say, it was awesome and I loved it! It was so cool to have someone actually respond positively and actually accept a Book of Mormon on the spot!

I love you all and I hope everyone is doing well. It's good to hear that Kaycee is happy and is doing well!

Transfers are May 5th (or whichever Wednesday is close to that).

I love y'all!
-Elder Michael Starks

April 16, 2009

Comment from Darlene: This is Michael's response to a "howler" I sent him complaining about troubles I was having with the Mac in the absence of my "IT guy".....we've had a 'running feud" over the Mac vs. a PC so I knew he would laugh about it. (If you don't know what a "howler" is, read Harry Potter and you'll get an idea.)

First wow. I knew things would happen that you, of course(!), wouldn't go to the Apple Store for or call Apple Support about. For example, you shouldn't need to have downloaded Adobe Reader because Mac OSX natively reads PDF files via Preview, but also because I have (at least, I think I still had when I left...) Adobe CS3 Design Premium installed. Anyway, I'm glad you sorted it all out and I'll be happy to clear up the mess when I get home and make sure the iMac is in good running order. That'll be a fun job to get caught up on the first week or two I'm home. Anyway, that's far in the future. But, in the interim, GO TO THE APPLE STORE WHEN YOU HAVE QUESTIONS! Also, if something funky really does start happening with the computer, go online (to www.apple.com/retail/willowbend I think...if that doesn't work, just go to www.apple.com/retail and then pick out the willow bend store) and schedule an appointment at the Genius Bar and take the comp down there to get any "serious" problems fixed. The Apple Care should still be good on the comp until the end of November of this year as far as I remember.

Okay, so what's new in the work, you ask? Well, Easter was...interesting. In the first ward, the program was awesome and very cool, but we had to leave for part of it to go to the other ward's Missionary Coordination meeting. However, we didn't know we weren't holding it that Sunday, so we just talked with the rep. from the Relief Society who also didn't know it wasn't being held. Anyway, we got back in for the closing part of the program, but we missed two of the talks that, from the snippets I heard, seemed like they would have been really cool to hear. But we didn't have any investigators in that ward, so oh well. Anyway, moving on to the next ward. Wow. We had three investigators there, which was awesome!

Anyway, to make a long story at least a little shorter, we met with the couple we are teaching and the cool thing of the story was that last night she told us that she prayed like we had told her to doabout a difficult situation she had when she went to church and felt no one spoke to her and she got an answer! She said the Lord basically told her to not worry about what other people thought of her, that the purpose she goes to church is to worship Him, not others, and that she should go out of her way to introduce herself to people if people don't introduce themselves to her. It was cool to hear that, but it was also apparent that she had been upset by events. So...trials and tests. We testified to them that if they'll keep coming (which they said they plan to) they'll have better experiences and they'll feel the Spirit and be edified. It was so cool to hear Joelene speak last night! She spoke for probably close to half of the time! It was awesome! Aside from that, things are progressing along with others. I would ask that you all just pray for them and our other investigators.

Anyway, enough of that. We're doing our best and trying to find new people all of the time! We're hopefully going to get a referral from a member who's shared a copy of the Book of Mormon with her friend. Yay!

Anyway, things are going relatively well. I still get stressed sometimes and worry way too much, but I'm doing what I can. I hope all of you are doing well and that life is sweet! I hope to hear from y'all soon!

Take care and I LOVED the tape! I love y'all!

-Elder Michael Starks

P.S. When am I going to get another tape?! Jill and Kaycee both said that they were going to be making another one soon...and that was back in Feb! Also, I LOVE the pictures! Sweet Bluebonnets! Press one and send it to me! I love y'all! I'm glad to hear y'all are all doing well!

April 9, 2009

Weekly update -- Alright, so, investigators. The Tommer's are doing well!!! He watched all of conference on Sunday and a little bit on Saturday! He loved it! And she watched at least some of it with him, too! They have changed so much in the past few months! They're happier than they were, and it's a change in their countance more than anything else. We had a lesson with them last night and it went pretty well. We reset a baptismal date of May 10th, just because they haven't been to church enough times yet (well...technically not at all). But they'll be at church on Sunday and they're excited and nervous about it too. We are going to take them on a "building tour" tomorrow morning so that they will know where the building is at and just be able to be in an LDS building at least once before coming to church. We're so excited for them. They said they would pray about May 10th, but they felt good about it. We're into teaching them about commandments that they need to keep before baptism and some they'll keep after baptism. Last night we discussed tithing and they said they would keep it after they were baptized. The one that is probably going to be the hardest for them will be the Word of Wisdom, and we're going to tackle that one next week.

As for other investigators, they're coming along. Everyone else we're teaching are just about in the same place as last time. We're still doing all that we can and trying to help out the Less-Actives in our wards as well. Fun fun times!

We have some new investigators. They have grandchildren who are LDS (and actually, one of their grandchildren is getting married in the Temple on Saturday). We talked to them for a little while on Monday, and we have an appointment next Tuesday with them. Hopefully we'll be able to get somewhere with them! Pray for them, too!

I'm thankful for the prayer from dad! It might not be such a leisurely day as I would like, but it'll be good, I hope! I think I'll be able to buy or borrow a tape player today. Also, I need to copy Elder Nelson's journal entry about my bike wreck and mail that to y'all. The way he described it was just hilarious and mostly accurate (with great embellishments).

Okay, things Elder Starks would love in packages:
-home made cookies
-other home made goodies
-ties (and specifically 100% Polyester ties...most likely to be found in thrift stores...fat ties with awesome patterns on them...the thicker and stiffer, the better...one brand that is usually awesome: Wembly)
-letters
-pictures...current ones!
-CD's (I'll be more specific about that a later time)
-other things of that nature

Don't get me wrong! I like getting packages period...but I've been meaning to write for a little while some of the things I'd really like (if you can't tell, 100% Poly ties are high up on that list) so you guys would know what I'd like.

Anyway, I've gotta go for now! I love you all and I hope everyone is doing well!

I'm so proud of Jill for watching all 4 sessions (yes, we get to watch all 5 sessions of conference, including Priesthood session!). That's so awesome! She should write me and tell me what her favorite talk was. Mine was Kevin W. Pearson. I really liked his talk. It was awesome.

Anyway, I love y'all, y'all'er awesome!

-Elder Starks

March 26, 2009

Hey family (and friends who read some or all of this email)! How is everyone?! I hope well!

So, what’s new with me and the mission? Well, not a whole lot. Transfers were yesterday and I’m still in the Tigard 1st/Fanno Creek wards serving with Elder Nelson. Yep, no transfers for me. That’ll be 6 months in this area. And I really can’t complain. I’m happy to be here another transfer. I love this area, I love the members, I’ve loved my companions so far, and I just love the people! The work is progressing along and we have people that are progressing as well. Yay! Our investigator, John has a baptism scheduled for April 18th (and hopefully it’ll go through!) and work is still progressing with our other investigators. I’m not sure the last time I mentioned our other investigator - Nicholas, but things are going well there as well. He’s progressing (though not as fast as we would like!) and he is reading the Book of Mormon. We’re continuing to encourage him to read it from cover to cover starting at the beginning and working through it. Speaking of that, I really would like to get a copy of Journey of Faith (I believe that is the title of the film). It’s a documentary-type film produced by F.A.R.M.S. (the Foundation for Ancient scripture Research and Mormon Studies, at least I think that’s what it stands for) that we watched in District Meeting last week and it is AWESOME! It chronicles the journey of Lehi and his family from Jerusalem to America and does a wonderful job of showing how unlikely it was that Joseph Smith knew the description given by Nephi of their journey across Arabia was so accurate. That is a movie I think everyone would enjoy seeing if they haven’t…and it’s something I would REALLY like to have while out serving a mission. It would help (at least I hope) people like Ivory who are very through and do lots of studying before they will join the church. Ultimately, the only thing that matters will be a person reading and praying about the Book of Mormon themselves in order to get an answer of whether or not it’s true from the Holy Ghost. That’s the only way to have a deep and abiding faith, but it’s so cool to see that the Book of Mormon is constantly being proven to be accurate and true as modern research continually prods at its validity and reality.

Anyway, what else is going on. We’re tracting more (well, kind of anyway) and that’s always fun. There are lots of interesting experiences associated with that, and I’ll hopefully relate some of them at a later time. Right now, though, the story that comes to mind the most is what happened to me yesterday. We were trying to track down some less-active people and we were taking a road that all of a sudden dead ended and then started up again about a block away. Great! But, there was this small little walking path we could see, so we decided to take that on our bikes to not have to back track and go around in order to get one block further. Anyway, it had been raining, and since I was a little frustrated with our maps and I went first, I went a little faster than I probably should have. Needless to say, about half-way through I lost traction and fell over. Hooray! I was in the suit I had just gotten back from the dry cleaners and I landed right in a large mud pit. Fun times. My whole left side was pretty much covered with mud and let me tell you – I was really happy about that. Anyway, I’ve got a couple of pictures, but with time I’m not sure if I’ll be able to attach any right now. Huzzah! I was mad for a little while, but looking back on it, it was actually pretty funny. Especially since it wasn’t a fast wreck, being in the mud, my bike just kinda slowly slipped down a small (3 or 4 inch) ledge and I slowly tilted over to the left until I made contact with the mud. Elder Nelson got a good laugh out of that, so I suppose one good thing came of it! Also, since it was mud and all, I didn’t get hurt (besides my pride) and nothing was broken (aside from a small hole I found later in the side of my pants). Good times though!
I could go on and on, but I’m running short on time. I hope everyone is doing well and I hope y’all know I love you!

Read the scriptures! Study them!

Take care everyone! I hope things are going well and that all know I think of them regularly.

Have wonderful day!

I love y’all!
-Elder Michael Starks

March 19, 2009

A man convinced against his will, of the same opinion is he still.

So, that's a nice little quote I got from one of the Traveling Elders yesterday. We had exchanges with them (they're officially Traveling Assistant's to the President) and they basically go around the mission giving trainings at Zone Conferences or other "Traveling Elder Trainings" and they also go on exchanges with companionships to help uplift, motivate, and train them. Anyway, it was a good time! I went with Elder Wray (yes, I spelled that correctly) and we got some good stuff done. We ended up wasting some time trying to help a member move two TV's, but it still felt like a fairly productive day, even though we didn't get a whole lot of "work" done (like tracting, or teaching lessons, or other types of contacting). Elder Wray reminds me of myself and he had some good advice and suggestions to some of concerns, struggles, and questions. So that was pretty sweet! As far as other work is going, it goes...mostly well. The work has seemed to slow a little this past week, we had our lesson with Ron and Caroline Miller get postponed till next Tuesday, so hopefully that will go through. While on exchanges yesterday, Elder Nelson and Elder Henry were able to have a lesson with the Ferrell's and the Tommer's and that seemed to go well. They were able to set a more firm date with one of our investigators for April 18th to be baptized after he prays and knows that the Church is true. Now, the sad part this week comes from a couple, where the man was just baptized about 3 or 4 weeks ago. They're in a rough spot right now and struggling with their reasons for making the big changes in their lives they've been making. It seems that their testimony of Christ and the restored Gospel is not quite where it needs to be in order to sustain them; from what they told us it also seems apparent that communication between them broke down for a month or two; and most of all, it is apparent that Satan is doing his all to keep them away from the happiness and peace they are so earnestly seeking. Keep them in your prayers, please!

As for Elder Nelson and I, we're doing alright. It's still a challenge for me, but I'm learning to adapt to new personalities and live with people that are different from myself. I love Elder Nelson, he has some awesome qualities and characteristics I can definitely learn from; and I'm trying to learn how to just ignore some things that don't matter, and discuss things that really do matter so the both of us stay sane and united in our purpose and goals.

As for myself. I'm doing alright. Still growing and trying to figure out what it means for me to be a missionary, but still doing my best to give myself to the Savior. I love the Lord and I love this opprotunity I've been given. It's definitely difficult at times but I really appreciate the tender mercies of the Lord, and I appreciate Him in my life.

I'm happy I'm here, I'm happy my family and my friends (especially those very special ones) love me and support me doing this, I'm happy they're having their needs met and are okay...even though I might not be communicating with them as frequently as they or I would like, and I'm so happy that I have a chance to help others find a peace and joy that passeth all understanding.

My favorite scripture seems to be coming up more and more in my life, in my teaching, in my thoughts, just in general: 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Remember that!

I love y'all!
-Elder Michael Starks

March 5, 2009

Hello family!

How goes life in Tejas?! I hope well. I really do. I love y'all! Well, you might be asking yourself, how does the work go for Elder Starks? It goes well!

Things are progressing with a few of our investigators and one of them accepted an approximate baptismal date for sometime in mid-April!  Elder Nelson and I hope that things with him pan out and that he will continue to progress and make those leaps of faith necessary to find out for himself if the gospel is true. And his wife has even opened up a little as well. She spoke a few times (as I mentioned in my last email) but I'm not sure about this week, we were on exchanges with our Zone Leaders when Elder Nelson extended that time period of mid-April to John, so I'm not quite sure how Joelene took that and how she participated in the lesson. Anyway, we had a pretty good lesson with another investigator last Saturday, the Spirit was there and I think I was the most bold I've been on my mission with him when I felt prompted to tell him that if he would pray specifically to know that the Book of Mormon was true, he would receive an answer. He wouldn't commit to specifically pray, but the Spirit was there and we both felt it was a good lesson - not the usual listening to him ask questions about things from the Bible that (at least to us) do not pertain to Salvation. Pray for him and his family! Let's see...who else? A couple was just baptized two weeks ago. They're so cool. We're going to start teaching the new member lessons to them with their home teachers hopefully starting this next Tuesday. Yay! Um...I know there are more people to talk about...Oh! We have a lesson this Saturday with a lady. I think I told you last week, but we tracted into her and she said she had some cousins who were Mormon and one or two that had served or were serving missions and she said we could come back and share a lesson with her and her family. Hopefully something will come of that! We're trying hard to tract two hours each day so we can find some new potential investigators! Oh! In the Fanno Creek ward we had a lady refer her daughter (who is less-active) and her boyfriend to us. The daughter's boyfriend agreed to the lessons and the daughter apparently is on that line of being able to go either away or toward the church really easily. We hope we'll be able to make some progress with them and help them both to feel the Spirit and come to church and ultimately come unto Christ. Good stuff is happening and we're doing our best to work hard and teach people. We're hopefully going to get back to teaching the younger girl and boy we were working with. And we're slowly working on another famliy to reactivate the two that are members and teach the 8 and 10 year old's who aren't. Other than that things are going pretty well. Our exchanges with the Zone Leaders was fun. I was with Elder Barrett (one of our Zone Leaders) in their area and it was a great day! We set a goal to talk to everyone that we saw, and we were both pretty sure we did it, too, by the end of the day!

We also went to the temple this morning and that was really nice. I'm really happy that Pres. Dyches lets us go once a transfer - it definitely helps me out a lot.

Tell everybody I say hi and that I'm sorry for not writing anyone back yet - it's so hard, harder than I imagined!

Well, I've gotta go for this week, but I love y'all and hopefully will hear from y'all soon!

-Elder Michael Starks

P.S. Mail sent to our mailbox would be sweet treat!

P.P.S. Attached is a picture of Elder Nelson and I. And a picture of a cool rainbow we saw yesterday while I was on exchanges with Elder Barrett.

February 19, 2009

Weekly Update

First off, transfers and my companion. Yes, transfers happened last Wednesday and I received a new companion, Elder Nelson, while staying in my same area - Tigard. I was very sad to see Elder Jensen leave. I love him and he is an awesome guy. Though, now that a week has passed I can see that it's for the good. 

So, my new companion - Elder Nelson. He's a pretty cool guy. Of course, I don't have the same kind of relationship with him as I did with Elder Nelson, I've only been working with him for one week. But so far it's been good. It's definitely different trying to adjust to a new companion and everything after having adjusted for 3 months to my previous companion. But it's good experience in learning what is important and what isn't important, what "conflicts" to bring up and try and resolve and which ones just to learn to deal with and move on, and probably a good source of learning humility and trying to not be prideful. Anyway, we're doing pretty well. The teaching is going great and we're working hard!

So, what's up with those we are teaching, you ask? Alot and also a little. We had a lesson last night with a couple and that was awesome! The Spirit was really strong and it was super cool. I love recognizing when the Spirit is prompting me and then acting on those promptings! It's also really sweet to feel the Spirit confirm what I'm saying when I bear my testimony of something...and it seems that every time I feel I should testify that the Spirit confirms that and it's just another reminder that I do, indeed, know the things I say I know. Also, while we were there we gave him a white shirt, a tie, and a suit. The shirt was one that Elder Jensen no longer wanted and didn't take with him, the tie was one that Elder Nelson wasn't all that crazy for, and the suit came from a member in the ward who no longer wore it and just hadn't gotten rid of it yet for some reason. To see the reaction of John's face was so cool! For just a few seconds he seemed to be as giddy as boy opening his presents on Christmas morning! That was such a cool experience! As for when they'll come to church, we're still not sure - but they are much closer than they have been for some time. As for our other investigators, one sister seems to be coming along! She's always excited and eager to learn and our lessons with her also feel very uplifting and nice. We're hoping the progress continues with her and that she keeps making the steps to come back and closer to Christ. Things with another woman are at an interesting point...right now it seems like there is still progress happening, but we'll see if that continues - we hope it does. Another one of our investigators always shows a tiny bit of progress with him each time we meet him, but the hardest thing with him seems at the moment that he's not fully open to Joseph Smith being a prophet or seeing the need for the Book of Mormon. He bring alot of things out from the Bible and we're trying to think of ways we can help steer him toward the Book of Mormon and help him to have the desire to read it in FAITH - with a desire to know if it's true, and to then PRAY about it! Hopefully progress will continue there and we can continue to invite the Spirit into his home and hopefully the Spirit will touch him at some point. So, a new investigator this week! Brother Jensen basically taught the first lesson to one of his co-workers after she brought up church and asked him some questions. So, he invited her over for dinner on Sunday and invited us as well. She's pretty cool! She baked a really good coconut cake and we had a great discussion. We taught her the first half of the Plan of Salvation and she seemed interested. Our main focus, though, is mostly on Christ being the Savior of the world, because for the past 5 or 10 years or something like that she's been studying Islam...but she's very open and the lesson went well! We have another one for this Sunday, and from what Brother Jensen has told us from their conversations at work, she's pretty excited for it! Now, as for our investigators - mainly the younger kids - progress seems to have slowed some. What seems to be the biggest issue for the moment is reactivating them and trying to get the parents back into activity before we really go any further with the kids. What I think is going to help them the most is for the kids to come to Primary and learn in that environment. That's what Elder Jensen and I felt and Elder Nelson hasn't met them yet. But hopefully soon! As for other things going on, the work is progressing! We've been out seeing people and doing some tracting. Always funny times when tracting, but they're good learning experiences too! Trying to put a Gospel principle into a couple of sentances and getting people interested is always a trick, but fun experience!

Allright, that's all for now.  I love y'all and I hope that all is going well for the family and for...everyone else! I love y'all!

January 29, 2009

January 29, 2009

We have 6 or 8 lessons scheduled for this week (I'm not exactly sure how many we have remaining, 2 or 3 I think...maybe a few more). We had exchanges with our Zone Leaders yesterday, so I wasn't at 3 of the lessons (there were 3 yesterday) but they supposedly went well for the most part. Elder Jensen and Elder Henry were able to meet with one of our investigators and it is apparent that he is seriously seeking peace in his life. So, hopefully he will allow the Spirit into his life and he will be able to find some (if not all) of the peace he is seeking in his life. Pray for him! The other lessons went well, from what I was told. 

Oh! On Tuesday we met with a less-active lady who wants to come back to church. She is so awesome!  She took the lessons and was baptized in like 1998 or something. Anyway, long story short, fell away, divorced, and now she wants to come back to church and have her children there as well. She seems so ready for the Gospel to be fully in her life.  We're teaching her the lessons because she want's to have things refreshed and questions answered.

Okay, so, other work that's going on? Well, on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, Elder Ferguson (he and Elder Henry are the Zone Leaders) and I got some pretty awesome work done. We were even let into the home of a guy that is a Jehovah's Witness after we knocked on his door while tracting. That was a pretty cool conversation and he said that we had given him some things to think about and to read up on. We even made a return appointment for the Zone Leaders with him next Wednesday. Cool! I hope they might be able to make progress with him and his family, and that it won't just be a Bible bash or anything. It was pretty cool to go tracting with Elder Ferguson, but that's alot of what the Zone Leaders do in their area, because they don't have a whole lot of people to teach, and their potential investigator pool and former investigator pool is relatively small. Anyway, exchanges were good.

There is progress with another investigator.  We had a lesson with him last Saturday and have another one scheduled for this Saturday. There hasn't been alot of progress, but there has been some. He doesn't seem as antagonistic as we first thought, though it still seems like it could lead that way if the Spirit was not present. But he's awesome too! 

All of our investigators are really cool people and I love them all. That's one of the things I wrote about in my journal the other day. I'd been praying since the MTC that I'd be able to love the people, because I surely felt that I loved the people back home (family, Kaycee, friends, etc.) far more than the people here. But I've seen Him working with me somehow and I really do love the people!  I definitely don't love all their decisions or choices, but I do love them and I want the best for them. I want them to be happy and I want them to be more happy than they presently are. And I know the best way to have more happiness is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's weird, because I haven't quite felt that as strongly as I have since being out here, but I feel it! I love the Lord and his tender mercies! He has so many of them and He is always ready to help us. It's also been cool to see that adversity somehow really does make us stronger and helps us to grow more than just about anything else. We gain so much through the trials we go through, and it's never very fun or easy, but so worth it when looking back. I could go on and on, but I do need to get going soon.

I love y'all, take care, and keep praying. Y'all are in my prayers!

-Elder Michael Starks

January 15, 2009

NOTE FROM MOM:  I will try to copy and paste most of the emails Michael sends to us and publish to his blog but will try to remove the individual's names though for their privacy.....so most of the posts will be verbatim from Michael except where I need to make some adjustments.

On Tuesday night we got a call from a 14 year-old recent convert in the Tigard 1st ward and she told us that she had set up a lesson with one of her friends for the next morning at 7:00 before school started! Crazy! So, Wednesday morning we went with a brother from the ward (he teaches seminary at the Seminary Building across from the high school) to the Seminary building and met with him at about 7:30. We only had about 10 minutes to actually talk with him, so we got to know him a little and find out how he got interested in the church (it was seeing the 14 year old recent convert change her life as she joined the church) and we set up another appointment for Friday (tomorrow) morning to meet with him again and have a lesson. He even has a copy of The Book of Mormon! The 14 year old member gave it to him and we committed her to read with him Joseph Smith's explanation of how the Book of Mormon came about before our appointment. She's an awesome girl! Anyway, we attended Seminary right after that, which was pretty cool and fun (they have release time, so we just attended the "first period" class).

We got home and then were picked up by the missionaries in the area right next to ours (who have a car) and went to our District Meeting. That went well and then we got ready and went to contact a few referrals, but none of them were home, so we then went to eat lunch at Davidson's for a little less than an hour (Davidson's, btw, is AWESOME! It was talked up a lot to me, but I was not dissappointed, the burger I had was fantastic!).   NOTE FROM MOM:  Michael always loves a good burger!! :)  

We then went around to try and contact a few potential investigators that we were given by the Spanish Elders that they tracted in to (the people weren't Spanish, though, so they handed them over to us) but no one was home. We also tried to contact a few less-active people but again, no one answered the door. By that time we had to bike back to our apartment so we could get picked up by two Priests in the Tigard 1st ward who were our exchanges for two appointments at 5:00 PM. That's right, we had two appointments, both set for 5:00 PM. They were also people the Spanish Elders had tracted into and set up appointments for us. So, we split up and taught both lessons. That was pretty cool! We got return appointments with both of them. I went with one of the Priests and we taught one investigator. That was a crazy experience for me. She didn't know anything about the church and had only heard that we worshipped Joseph Smith. We were able to correct that misunderstanding and then we taught the first lesson. It was rough for me, just because it was the first time I'd ever taught a lesson where I was really the only one there who knew what we were teaching and how the lesson is supposed to flow. It was a little rough, but Pearl seemed interested and she said we just needed to call on Saturday to set up a return appointment after she gets her schedule for next week's work. Awesome! It was definitely intimidating, I didn't quite know what to say at many times. I would have been just fine if I'd been asked questions, but having to just present everything was definitely a learning and humbling experience. It taught me that I really need to go over the lessons in my own personal study more than I thought I did. 

So, after those, we went home and were picked up for our dinner appointment at 6:00. It was with an awesome family! And the sister is the RS President.  That was a good dinner and they even said they'd invite us over for breakfast either this or next Saturday for some German pancakes (she said they're like baked pancakes they fill with cinnamon and apples and stuff...almost like a breakfast apple pie) and that we should invite the 14-year old convert's friend and her over as well, because apparently he lives in their neighborhood just a few streets away and they know who he is! Crazy! It was mainly just an awesome day. After dinner we went home and then retired for the night. We hadn't done our personal or companionship studies because of the appointment at 7:00 so we tried to do those and then we were both just exhausted. It was a really good day, though!

Anyway, as for our other investigators. We had another appointment with the 10 year old girl we've been teaching. She was a little under the weather, so I'm not quite sure how much she got out of the lesson, but I hope some! We taught about keeping the Sabbath day holy...and we were nervous because as I had said before she's really big time into Soccer...they weren't at church last Sunday and we found out that night (that's when the lesson was) that it was because she had had 3 soccer games that morning. Hopefully her parents felt the Spirit (as well as her) as we talked and in the end, she did commit to keep the Sabbath day holy, so we're hoping that that will happen! 

The last appointment that we had with another couple fell through, so we're hopefully going to be able to set up another one and work more and more with them.

It's amazing how much I love them and all of our investigators and want the absolute best for them, even the blessings of the Temple! That has been one of the most remarkable things to me, that almost without my even knowing it, I'm beginning to love the people! That still doesn't conquer my fears about telling them what they need to do to have happiness in their lives, and "calling them unto repentance" but it certainly does help! 

We also finally were able to have an appointment with another lady and her roommate.  I've only met her roommate once.  They also have another roommate who seems to have the most potential - an inactive member of the church who has gone on a mission! Hopefully if we don't make any progress with the first two roommates, we'll at least be able to help reactivate the member. 

We have another lesson with another investigator on Saturday, and we would certainly like your prayers with us! We hope things will go well and that we will be able to invite the Spirit and have it present strongly during the lesson.

Alright, aside from that I'm doing well. Things are going pretty cool and I'm just trying to hang in there and let myself get caught up in the work of the Lord.

Love,

Elder Starks

December 31, 2008

So, on Sunday night (the 28th) I realized that the next day (Monday, the 29th) would be my 2 month mark. I cannot believe that I have been serving a mission for 2 months. I feel like I only left the MTC about 2 days ago and it's crazy to think that I've actually been through one whole transfer. I've been in the mission field now for 6 whole weeks. Crazy. However, on the other side of things, it feels like it's been forever since I was at home. Kind of interesting how our perception of time works. Anyway, moving on.

It's been a little rough the past couple weeks with the crazy snow-fall and Christmas and everything. But we have taught a few lessons to our investigators (despite many being canceled or postponed or rescheduled). I think the saddest thing has been trying to set up another appointment with John and Joelene Tommer. We'd been trying for awhile and just couldn't get ahold of them. We finally did last Friday (or maybe Saturday) as we were on our way walking home and we caught them right as they pulled in. They said to come back after the first of the year and we would set up an appointment with them that could be on a regular basis. So that was good news! Aside from that, we've taught Emily at least one more time since my last email (and I think maybe twice, but I wasn't here as we were on exchanges with our District Leader) and she seems so close to being ready. We just need to get them to come to Church on a regular basis and stay for the duration of the meetings. They were at Church on Sunday and that was awesome, but they left right after Sacrament Meeting. Hopefully we'll be able to help them with any concerns they have and finish teaching Emily the 4th Lesson (which covers various commandments...we've already covered almost all of them). Aside from that we're trying to get better at tracting and the like, as well as going through our area books to see if there are any former investigators we might be able to hit up or any potential investigators that never were followed up on. We've actually got two that Elder Henry (one of our Zone Leader's) and I found when we were on exchanges that we need to go see. Hopefully as we do our part to find and invite others to learn about the gospel then Emily, the Tommers, Thomas, Leah and others will possibly progress even more! That's our hope anyway. We're really hoping that this transfer we'll be able to commit Emily to be baptized and possibly to have her baptized...and to have her dad do it would be even better! 

The snow has finally melted and gone...though I do miss the snow to some degree. I don't miss the compacted and icy snow, though. The shoes I have are NOT meant to be used in walking on ice. I definitely felt like the Lord was supporting me many times while walking because otherwise I think I should have been slipping around a lot more than I did.