News from Chaz-- End of 2008!

…So we have been going through this apartment complex that is full of, “ I am sorry”, but ghetto are uncommitted people. I am sure that Tosh knows, but people that are poor don’t commit to anything. So we drive clear the heck out to these people for a lesson, and then they punch on us (Don’t show up), and we are way far away from anyone. We have had about 10 investigators in this apartment complex, they called it the projects. We go to these people and they punch, and so we go visit all the other people that we have there. It seems like the only time we can have a lesson with them is when we just drop in.

But this last Sunday no one came to church with us. Yes, we do sort of feel like we are failures because that is what we need to do is to have people come to church. They all tell us, “Yea, we will come to church”, but then they don’t come, or they go to what ever church they want. So they are just uncommitted. What else really stinks is that they are like, “ Well it is really busy because of Christmas and New Years, so I will call you after the New Year”. We just sang Christmas carols, then taught them So, we tricked them to listen to us, hahahahahaha!

K, so we had to do exchanges on Saturday, and I went with the Spanish elder to a dinner appointment he had. We were in our area. So I am there eating with a Spanish family… they can speak English but they just don’t want to. Elder Ents was like, “Hey, he should try the baby tomatoes that you grow.” I thought, “Ok, they probably are peppers, so they got some and they are tiny, smaller then a pea, like way small so I thought they shouldn't’t be that hot. So I ate two. Oh my heck, they were so hot, my mouth was on fire! They thought that it was funny, One lady that couldn’t speak English was making fun of me and trying to tell me how much I was sweating. She thought it was funny, but then told me that I had eaten the hottest pepper in the world. For the size of the pepper, dang it was hot, and I had eaten TWO, yea that is right TWO

HEY so guess what? Just guess! Yep, I AM GETTING TRANSFERRED. But I don’t know where I am going, I won't find out until they say, “ Rymer, get off of the bus”. I am sort of sad that I am leaving San Angelo. The members are awesome. Elder Shumway and I had a great plan for the members to get more involved with helping us but he will have to go about it on his own.
On Christmas day, we went to a less active family to have dinner. It was SO GOOD, DANG IT WAS GOOD! We had lamb and ham, and the lamb was amazing, I can't even tell you how amazing it was, it was like roast but better. This family lives on the other side of the lake. They have a little dock and everything. We just chilled on the dock for a while and watched the sun go down while talking. We were there for three hours, talking and teaching. I hope Elder Shumway and his new companion baptize two of their children by the end of next transfer, at least that is what we wanted to do before I found out that I was leaving.

AFTER NEW YEARS, I am going to be so happy for 2009, which means Christmas isn’t for a while. Yes, this week was fun, but nothing really went on because of Christmas. So yea, I am leaving San Angelo, and yes, I would love to come back!
OK, Love You All!

Chaz's Mission Home Address:
Elder Chaz D Rymer
Texas Lubbock Mission
Sentry III Plaza
5214 68th St. Ste 202
Lubbock, TX 79424-1523

T's MTC experience

Elder Smith loves the MTC. He is doing awesome. We have received some amazing letters from him and are so grateful that he is so happy. Here are a few of his recent comments.

"Hola mi Familia!

The MTC es muy Bueno! I am learning alot about the gospel and I am coming so much closer to God our Loving Heavenly Father. Since I've Been here I have been reading the Book of Mormon and I am close to finishing the book of Alma! I encourage you all to read the Book of Mormon it is such an amazing book and it really helps to guide and direct you in life.
I had another amazing experience in the RC (Refferal Center). I was taking inbound calls and I got a call from a old lady in wendover nevada. She had been trying to contact the church for such a long time. She is handy capped now and Had a hard time getting around. She said her neighbor is a mormon and helps her alot and is really kind and nice. She in her youth was like a catholic nun or something and then she joined the baptist church. But then the baptist had the members donate clothes that they said were for the poor but then the next week the church sold the clothes for like five dollars a piece and Mary-Ann (the lady) was heart broken. Any way I told her that the spirit was the one that guided her to call and I told her about the book of mormon and told her that I would sent the missionaries to her home. She said she didn't have a way of getting to church and I told her that the missionaries would help arrange that for her. I talked to her for like about fifteen minutes before i even got any of her information. It was such a cool experience. I was on fire in the RC out of the Six calls I got I was able to send Four sets of missionaries to their home! My teacher then wrote on the board "SMITH IS ON FIRE!" it was way chill"

"Hey everyone!
I love you all! I have progressed so much in these last four weeks I have come closer to my Heavenly Father! I have finished reading the Book of Mormon and am a quater of the way through with the Doctrine and Covenants! EVERYONE READ THE BOOK OF MORMON! it is the key thing that has helped me know our Heavenly Father. also Pray every morning every evening and every night!
some one asked the question what I do in my free time... well usually I just like to read the book of mormon! but I finished it now! lol so I'll just give you a run through of my week:

Monday- arise at 6:20
study tell 8:00
Eat breakfast
Class tell lunch at one
Gymn for one hour
MDT
-one hour personal study
-one hour companion study
-one hour language study
lunch at six
class tell nine and then plan tel nine thirty. then we return to the residence hall. Usually everyone comes into our room to talk and chat for awhile its way fun then we write in our journals then go to bed. on P-day its like this six thirty wake up seven o'clock personal study eight eat breakfast then after that its companionship studay then we go do laudry and Email which Im doing right now lol we then can do pretty much whatever... I usually write letters and chill with the other elders! then we go get lunch then more chill time tell we go to the temple after dinner we have class. Its way nice to take a break cause the rest of the week we are working as hard as we can.

Oh another awesome experience ant the RC! I was Four for Four on sending the missionaries! the spirit really guided those people to call! By the end of our hour I decided I would just call one more number and the lady answered and said she usually is incredibly busy and never answers her phone I asked her if I could send the missionaries to her house she answered and said "I am increddibly busy.." the spirit directed me to tell her that the missionaries would share a message with her that would help her relieve stress in her life and find more time for her family (i didn't even know she had a family) she then said ok and gave me a date when she would have time! It was a great experience.

Thanksgiving was good the turkey was gross and so was the stuffing but other than that it was great! We had meetings all day. I really missed every one!

One of the christ like attributes I have been trying to work on is virtue. virtue is more than just doing nice things for people its doing kind things when no one is looking or standing up for what you believe and not wanting to receive credit! I hope you all can pick a Christlike attribute and work on it every day. I know that if you do you will come closer to the Lord and you will feel his love.

I love you all,

Elder Taylor Smith

First News From Texas...

Bidding farewell at the MTC

Look who found each other!

Chaz's address is now... 

3018 Knickerbocker Rd. Creek Side Apt. # 406
San Angelo, TX
76904 

HEY Y'ALL how are you doing? So I did y'all on purpose, I did. So I am in San Angelo Texas, it is below Lubbock and yes it has gotton cold.
So this area is flat with some hills, ya hahaha I get so excited when we go up them and then down them. . But our apartment is an OK size my bike is just chillin in a corner all ready to be riddin if that is a word.
Thanksgiving was fun and it was good too, we had ham and turkey and all of the good American food, hahha! So the Spanish Elders said that their Thanksgiving dinner wasn't good at all, I am so glad that I am English speaking. I still don't have the lessons down in English and I am so glad that I don't have to worry about them in Spanish. Oh but really good thing, I get free Golden corral lunch on Fridays it is awesome, I ate so much last time I was there.
So the people here are way nice until you bring up religion. For instance when I was mailing my ipod home ( Actually mom the president was fine with ipods, it was a General Authority that told everyone to send them home, even though it does say we can have them) Elder Shumway was talking to this lady for a while. She was wondering what we were doing here and then she got the whole spill and then she started arguing with him. She was way nice but then she got angry. We think she was a Jehovah Witness but oh well. This area has so many different church's around it isn't even funny, there is a street that probably has six different churches but that isn't even half the amount that is here. Everyone says they support us for what we are doing but if they did truly support us then they would join us. But "They have found Christ and they are saved". " It doesn't matter what church you belong in as long as you believe in Jesus" but oh well.

So people here have the worst teeth, it is gross. The only good looking teeth I have seen they aren't from Texas, even the little kids when they open up there mouth ...Oh ya, so you know that snap noise that was big in Brazil, you just move your hand really fast and your thumb snaps your finger, well I know what that is all about. So this is what it is from, you ready? So first you get out your chewing tobacco,and you bring it up and then you move it down fast which then makes a snap I learned that one day while watching this one guy pull out his chew and did that. But it is disgusting! We were talking to this one guy and he just put his hand is his mouth and removed a lot of chew then put in some new chew and then wanted to SHAKE OUR HAND. It was gross! I washed my hand as fast as I could.

I am doing great, and I am learning so much!

Much Love,

Chaz

Welcome to Texas!  It looks like this every direction you look!

Taylor enters MTC

Taylor entered the Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, November 5 at 1:00pm.
He was excited that the day had finally arrived. His address at the MTC is:
Elder Taylor Robert Smith
MTC Mailbox #212
FL-TAL 0106
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

Taylor Leaves Tomorrow!

Taylor leaves for the MTC to prepare to serve in the Florida Tallahassee Spanish Speaking Mission. We are so excited for him. He is very eager to hear from everyone so please write him at:

Elder Taylor Robert Smith

Florida Tallahassee Mission

Provo Misionary Training Center

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo, UT, 84604

Elder Taylor Robert Smith

Florida Tallahassee Mission

1535 Killearn Center Blvd Ste C-4

Tallahassee, FL 32309

Elder Drew Pande... Boots on the ground in Guatemala

Dear Family and Friends,

Elder Andrew Louis Pande, AKA "Drew" is actually from North Salt Lake. However, "Bountiful Boys" sounds a lot better than "NSL Boys", and we thank our hosts for letting us join their blog.

Called to Serve in Central America Drew was called to the Guatemala City Central, Guatemala mission, entering the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah on 23 July 2008. With family hand-in-hand we went to the farewell meeting. There we learned that the Church was considering lowering the minimum age of missionaries from 19 years down to 16 years of age. "Because 16 year olds know everything, and their mothers wouldn't cry when they left". My 16 year old son Eric was not amused with the officiator's joke as the rest of us were...

Missionary Switch Drew finished his first year at BYU before turning 19 years of age. For a short period the Pande's had two sons on a mission, one in the MTC getting ready to go to Guatemala, and another ready to return. Elder John Henry Pande was finishing up two years of service in Resistencia, Argentia. The brothers met with permission briefly in the MTC. An unforgettable reunion. Love, practical advice for new missionaries, strong hugs, confirmation that the eldest son is still taller, more advice, and a final embrace to last two more years, was exchanged.

John said "Don't worry about the future because it never comes. Live the present and work hard to love and serve the people of Guatemala. This is the best way to truly know Christ".

Provo MTC Drew spent only a brief 2-3/4 weeks at the Provo MTC, meeting up with many of his college friends who were destined for different directions on the compass, all to serve the Lord.

Both Drew's language and testimony grew at the MTC. Still, we were confident that Elder Pande was able to eke out a little fun to break up the long periods of seriousness.

Boots on the Ground in Guatemala The church has a number of MTC's world wide so that missionaries in other countries all don't have to travel so far to the US for training. As well, it provides the opportunity for missionaries in training to acclimate to their host country's food, climate, language, and most importantly their people. So, after his relatively brief training in the US Drew flew to Guatemala.

On the plane down, one of the flight attendants, a non-member, let each missionary up into first class for dinner because his best friend was Mormon, and that he had such great respect for young men to take out two years to serve their fellow men.

Well, as in the US, Drew quickly acquired every new food born intestinal bug, for the first couple of weeks. Many of the missionaries at the Guatemala MTC are from other neighboring countries. Drew talked about how many came from such humble means, admiring both their faith and determination. Drew also commented the he "Is a giant among the people of Guatemala". He quickly added "In physical stature, that is". Drew commented that the average Guatemalan is about the height of this 11 year old brother Hans.

Good by MTC... Hello rural country side D rew left the Guatemala MTC and is now in his first area, the rural country side of Guatemala. Drew talks about sound deafening rain storms followed up with hot sun, repeating the cycle once a day. His spirits are good after the normal difficult overall adjustment to a poverty like life. He finds his strength in teaching the people, sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Blog by Brad Pande 8 Nov 2008.

Taylor's Missionary Journey Begins

Taylor received his mission call in Hawaii on August 2nd, 2008.

Will going to Puebla, Mexico!

On September 25, 2008, Will received his call to the Mexico Puebla Mission! He enters the MTC on January 21, 2009. He opened the call with his family in North Salt Lake and couldn't have been happier! His Dad, who also served in Mexico, was just as happy, as was the rest of the family! Will gets to use his Spanish and play soccer in the streets with the children of Mexico!

Will will finish fall semester at BYU, while he continues to get ready. He is so very excited!

We are all happy for the other calls coming in, and we are certainly excited for Chaz, who is leaving right away. Good luck Chaz!

Will's mission call is on its way!!

Will's bishop has informed us that his mission papers have been accepted and are "waiting assignment." This means he may have his call by this coming Wednesday, Sept 24, 2008! Our family is excited and nervous as we anticipate this event.

Will is loving school and BYU. He especially loves playing soccer there and loves his position as Centerback. He started and played most of the game last week against Real Salt Lake's first team (an exhibition match). His favorite class this semester is calculus (surprising us all!), but he also enjoys missionary prep and world history.

The 'Missionary Movement' of our boys is begining...

Chaz D Rymer has been called to serve in the Lubbock, Texas Mission for 2 years. He will arrive at the MTC Oct. 29th, 2008 in Provo, Utah; and will be flying to Texas 2 weeks later. First, he will speak in church at sacrament meeting on Sunday Oct. 26th, 9:00 a.m. We'd love to have you join us! 965 Oakwood Drive. The church is just west of Bountiful Blvd., approx. 3000 S. Drive East, up 3100 S. from Orchard Dr. in Bountiful, and turn R onto Indian Springs. Turn L onto Bountiful Blvd. and then L again onto Oakwood Dr. It's about a block West. You're invited to our home following the meeting, to say, "See Ya Later!" to Chaz. 1348 Canyon Creek Dr. There will be food for you also! Call us at 299-1144 if you have questions. Drive back to Bountiful Blvd. from the church and turn R/South onto Bountiful Blvd. Turn L onto Canyon Creek Dr. (It's about 1 block S. of Oakwood Dr.) Follow Canyon Creek Dr. East. We're on the R side of the road, 5 houses from the end. YEE HAW!!!

Chaz's Mission Home Address:

Elder Chaz D Rymer

Texas Lubbock Mission

Sentry III Plaza

5214 68th St. Ste 202

Lubbock, TX 79424-1523

A blog for our missionaries!

Visit this blog to post about your missionary or to keep tabs on our missionaries! Parents of missionaries can write to bountifulboys@gmail.com to request a publishing login for the blog. The idea is that you'll help everyone stay up to date on your Elder by posting excerpts from letters and pictures for all to enjoy. We hope you'll help us stay informed about our fabulous Bountiful Boys!