A Very Special Phone Call

Report from Mat's Mom:  Last night we received a phone call from President Dance, Mat's mission president.  He called to tell us what a wonderful missionary Mat is and that he has served well as an AP these past four months.  He said so many nice things about Mat and we were very happy and grateful to hear from him.  President Dance told us that Mat is being transferred tomorrow and that he will be training a new missionary.  The new missionaries arrive today and Mat will be helping with the process of assignments.  We may not get an email from him today.  We are very anxious and excited to find out who his new companion is and where they will be serving.    Mat had a feeling that he would be transferred this week and would be given the assignment as a trainer as President Dance likes to send his AP's back into the field as trainers during their last one or two transfers.  What a blessing for the new missionary to have Mat as his trainer.  We are so proud of the exemplary way in which Mat has served during his entire mission and we are grateful that he will have this new experience.  We are also grateful to President and Sister Dance.  Mat loves them so much and it has been a great blessing for Mat to serve with them.

Holy Cow!

Well, it's another Monday, and I don't know what is happening to time. Every week is a blur. This week Elder Piiparinen and I were in Fairbanks for a couple of days, and we got to see a few of the recent converts that we taught.  It was great besides the fact that it was -37 F haha.  It was so fun to see them again and to see their progress. One will be going to BYU-I soon, and another has applied to BYU Provo. I love seeing the change that the gospel makes in the lives of those we teach.

After Fairbanks we spent a day in Wasilla, and it snowed the whole time we were at zone conference. On the way back we counted 8 cars within about a mile of each other that have run off the road into the ditch or on the median. I didn't share that to scare anyone, just to share how crazy Alaska is. One of those 8 was not me so no worries. Just another day in Alaska. Saturday and Sunday were really the only two days that we had this week to work in our area, and they were a great two days. We taught eleven lessons in those two days, and found some amazing people to teach.

Yesterday we started teaching a lady named Naomi. She was so excited to hear the lesson, and the member that was there was like, "holy cow she's ready to jump in the water." Then Naomi said, "no really, I'm ready to jump in the water!" It was a fun lesson because she was touched by the Spirit and understood what was taught. We also found a great part-member family that we are teaching. The work is going very well, and the Lord always provides for us. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well. Seeya.


Love, Elder Squires

Zone Conference in Juneau

Hello everyone. It's already the middle of February and so much has happened this year. This past week was great. Eder Piiparinen and I spent a couple of days in Juneau for zone conference. I always love visiting Juneau. It is a beautiful place. Everyone came in for zone conference, like I did when I was in Whitehorse and got the privilege of going to Juneau. It was a blast to be there.

Now back in Anchorage, there is lots of work to do, and Elder Piiparinen and I teach as much as we can with the time that we have. Eloy was not baptized on Saturday. We are working some things out with him right now, and hopefully we will see his baptism in the near future. Other than Eloy, we have a few more great investigators that we are working with. Last Sunday we went tracting during the Super Bowl, and had some pretty good success, even though we thought most people would be angry that we interrupted their game time. Last night we tried to contact some people and we were having a tough time with it being the night before Valentines. Everyone was getting their celebrations in before the week started. Now that all of that is over this week should go well! I hope everyone is doing great!


Love Elder Squires

Baptism!

Well this week was so fast. Elder Piiparinen and I spent a few days in Kenai and Soldotna with President and Sister Dance for a zone conference. It was great to be down there again, but also a little stressful because we had so much to do in our area as well. We finished teaching Jennifer Unger all of the lessons right before we left, and then coordinated her interview while we were in Soldotna. We got back Friday night and then went to the church early Saturday morning to fill the font for her baptism. It was a fantastic day, and her baptism was a great experience. She asked her fellowshipper, Brother Black to baptize her, and then I had the priviledge of confirming her in sacrament meeting Sunday. She will be, and already is a great member. I have been so blessed on my mission to see so many great people come into this gospel and be converted through the Holy Ghost. This week will bring great things with more zone conferences, and a lot of work in our area. Have a great week everyone!


Love Elder Squires

A Full Week of Proselyting

This week has been fast and full of proselyting. This was the only full week of proselyting Elder Piiparinen and I would have before zone conferences so we just worked and taught as much as we could. We are teaching some fantastic people right now. Jennifer is on date to be baptized this Saturday and we are looking forward to that. She is awesome, and her sister Jamie being a recent convert has really helped her along.

If you remember I think last week I wrote about a man named Eloy that Elder Kerecman and I found knocking on a door. He came to church again yesterday and is so excited about everything. He is hilarious, and is going to be a great member. At church yesterday he was already introducing himself as Brother Galvez. We've worked really hard in this area the past few months, and we are definitely being blessed to see the fruits of those labors. These next two weeks will fly by getting ready for those baptisms.

We taught a man this week from Kenya. His name is Kenny, and he was a referral from some other missionaries that had tracted into him. He had been reading from the Book of Mormon that they left for two days, and he showed us a scripture in 2 Nephi 27 verse 9 that talks about the book coming forth out of the dust. He loves the Book of Mormon already and is getting baptized on February 12th! He is 29 though so the Young Single Adult missionaries are teaching him now. It was funny because we told him about Mormon.org, and he got on right away while we were there, and made a profile to meet mormons. The Lord is always preparing amazing people to hear the gospel! Hope everyone had a great week!

Love Elder Squires