P-Day 60

Hi Mom! 

Hahaha... You're soooooo funny*. What a busy week! There was a lot of stuff packed into a short of amount of time. We have Mission Leadership Council again, so we will be flying into Anchorage tomorrow. We hope we have a good training planned. We also have transfer calls and interviews with the Mission President this weekend. So by next email I can let you know if I stay in Juneau or leave! #PrayForHmong

We were supposed to have a baptism but we pushed off the Tyskas. Andy Ramirez is going to get baptized this Saturday! He's super excited. We finished up the lessons yesterday and have the interview tomorrow. His mom took notes on everything and Andy studies off of it so he will be fine. He's the best! 

Then we have the Tyska girls getting baptized in 2 weeks or so. They are the most energetic little girls ever. They are excited as well and doing well.  

So we went fishing with the APs last week. And..... We caught nothing again. I need to stick to bass instead of salmon I guess! We went out and found a salmon that got stuck on the bank when the tide was going out. Since it was still fresh, Elder Bird wanted to take it. So we filleted it for him. 

Elder Wilson and Elder Keys ended up teaching someone while we were fishing. So me and Elder Bird came over and started talking too. He was bashing but we unveiled the scriptures.... So he became interested and we taught the restoration. Hopefully a new potential! 

So all of the summer YSA workers that are going to BYU left. So the YSA branch was tiny and is only going to get smaller. Then Vili Tuopou, one of the YSA members got married on Saturday in Portland. So every Polynesian that was somewhat related to him left. That means every Tongan in Juneau was gone for the week. Our Mt. Juneau Ward attendance went from 180ish to about 50. And the YSA branch went from 60 to 15 because of the Tongans and BYU students. Haha good thing they will be back this week, Juneau doesn't run without Tongans!

Elder Keys and I had to give talks in the YSA branch this week. I talked about Renlands recent talk and the statement: "The greater the distance between the giver and the receiver, the more the receiver develops a sense of entitlement." But I changed it to The greater the distance between us, and God, the ultimate giver, the more we develop a sense of entitlement. Elder Keys talked about always remembering the savior. Our talks went very well together. It was amazing to see revelation play out throughout the week while we prepared. 

We picked up several new potential investigators this week, so we are hoping they are receptive. It will be cool to see how they develop during the week. 

I think that's all for the week. I don't know what we are doing today... We may just try and go fishing again. I am determined to catch a salmon in Alaska! Haha no pictures again... Sorry!! Nothing interesting to take pictures of. 

I love you! Hehe 

*I told him that I was forgetting what he looked like because it had been so long since I had gotten any pictures.

P-Day 59

Hi Mom,

That's so cool about the Greers*. I figured they were because they said they had family in San Tan area. Also that's cool about Clint! Tell him Anchorage is the best!! 

We went fishing last week and I caught one zombie dog... So a dog is a type of salmon and after the salmon spawn they start to die. So this was a 90% dead fish so it was gross. We are going today again because the APs are in town and the Coho salmon are running. We also went running 5 miles on a trail last week... It sucked. But it was fun too. 

Nothing unusual or extremely noteworthy happened. We had this extremely awesome week planned about and about half of it fell through so we had an average week. 

I went on exchanges with the DL to his area. We just walked and tracted all day. They live in the rich part of Juneau and we went to this area where all the houses are on the ocean. The problem was the road was a 1/4 mile away. You had to walk down stairs for a quarter of a mile. Which means after you knock... You walk a 1/4 mile back up. So I got a huge workout and sweat a ton. 

We were supposed to have a baptism this Saturday but the Tyskas pushed it back a few weeks. Which is good because we have to finish up the lessons. Also Andy Ramirez is on Sept 3. 

And about the gift- I just meant like birthday, Christmas or whenever. I don't care. It was just a gift idea. Love you!

Elder Frey

* Turns out the couple who took the picture while on an Alaskan cruise are related to members of our ward- brothers)

** I asked for more pictures and got this response...

How can I serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength if I am distracted taking pictures?

Hahaha jkjk 

"Cute Alaskan Missionaries"

My husband, Dodd Greer, and I (from Payson, Utah) just returned from an Alaskan cruise. When we stopped in Juneau, we saw your sons and had a nice chat with them. 

They looked well and happy.  We told them we would write to you and send a picture. ...

It's such a treat to see the church represented by such capable young men.

Best wishes,
Dodd and Annalyn Greer

P-Day 58

Hi Mom!

So this was a less meeting but just as busy week! Last P-Day we decided to go to the ice caves at the Mendhall Glacier. It was about an 2 hour hike there and 90 minutes back or so. It was cold and wet and totally worth it. It rained the whole time (and since!). I'll send pictures but the glacier is melting pretty fast :/ 

Tuesday, we taught one of our referrals! She was a referral from the Kawakami family. He is our 1st counsellor. But we taught the restoration and this lady didn't really know much or had a relationship with God so we focused on how to build that up. She speaks English well but didn't really understand the scriptures well so we gave her a Russian BoM! A lot of potential here. 

We taught the Tyskas and they are on date for August 27th. We watched the testament video and explained it with 3rd Nephi. They are super excited for their baptism! We also have Andy Ramirez for September 3rd who is excited as well. 

We learned how to make Sushi Saturday! Mary Ann taught us how to make it and we made a bunch and enjoyed it... A little too much.... We also have a ton of Tongans so we eat a lot of food. 

Juneau is doing well, rainy and foggy everyday and super beautiful! It's scaring all the tourists off the streets :( Nothing super noteworthy but the glacier happened. It was a great week though! 
Love you!

Elder Frey

Elder Frey and Elder Keys (from Jerome, ID and Saratoga Springs, UT)

P-Day 57

Hi Mom!

Ugh I'm tired! I've never been so exhausted in my life. Juneau is amazing. Being a zone leader is tiring. But things are awesome. 

So for my birthday... I don't think you really should send anything.. I think just a card would be good and maybe a few treats. I'm trying to get on a fishing charter!! But I don't really need anything. And maybe a few $$ dollars for dinner. Btdubs there are no big restaurants in Juneau. Only small momma and pops. 

We had MLC on Wednesday so we flew to Anchorage. We had to prepare. We had a solid basis for our training but we had nothing settled. So Tuesday, after planning for several hours, we finally got to a point where we were solid. So Wednesday morning we finished up just in time to go to MLC. 

MLC was an amazing experience. Everybody's trainings were so connected and I learned a lot. Inspiration is an amazing thing; The spirit was definitely present as we prepared these trainings. Even though it was long, we were tired: It was amazing. 

Well, we flew back Wednesday night. We landed about 10pm. We just passed out. Get up and do the routine all over again. We were super super worried. We had a busy day with a ton of set lessons and we still had to plan zone meeting.... We couldn't really plan before because we didn't have the stuff from MLC. We had about 1.5 hours of "free time" to prepare. So we went and started planning with Faith. Amazingly enough, everything pretty much fell through! While at first it doesn't seem like a miracle... We had ample time to plan. 

Here is where the start of a miracle happens. We started going to dinner after an appointment canceled but we had 20 minutes. So we were on Douglas island, and we went to this random park. Nobody is there at all and we start writing everything down and finishing up. Well, this random lady comes in and sits down and starts talking to us. She was a member and we just went and sat by her and talked. She was up visiting from St. George; super cool lady. We just hit it off. Well, we promised her we would give her some fish to take home (we get out 2 fillets a day it seems like so we have plenty). So we get her number and had to leave. 

So we go to dinner it was awesome and to our appointments in the night. We wake up the next day and finish planning. Well that Lady calls about the fish and we told her our dinner canceled and we were free then. Well she took us out to dinner and invited her nonmember friend. He was pretty Anti. Long story short: his wife divorced him and became the second wife of his dad... And they are active practicing so he wants nothing to do with us. As far as excuses go, that's one of the best ones I've heard. So we go to dinner and she didn't tell him. So he sees us and is super standoffish. 

Well let's just say me and Elder Keys KILLED it. He absolutely loves us and he and that lady ended up talking after we left. He softened his heart and accepted an invitation to church when she comes back up in 3 weeks. "I guess all Mormons aren't that bad of people." He isn't a member and had a baptismal date at one point. So, we may have a potential in the future. 

I skipped zone meeting so back to that. It went really good. We definitely over planned. It went long but was very spiritual. We trained about being "Quick to Observe" (Mormon 1:2), Loving your companion (And future companion (; ), and living what we are learning and earning our badge each and everyday. It was definitely inspired. I hope all of our missionaries benefitted greatly. 

So we have more miracles and "meat tenderizing". So we go by this less active lady. She really wants to be a mother and she miscarried her baby a few weeks back. She had called and asked for a blessing and she got one then miscarried. Well she got pregnant again and got super sick so she asked for another one. Well the non member husband was home. Elder Keys gave a fantastic, spiritual blessing. He (the husband) felt the strength of the blessing. He felt the spirit. He was confused and didn't recognize it. 

So we followed up this week and go over. We started talking to the two of them. It was a short 15 minute "Hey is everything going good" type deal before a lesson. Well we started talking with the husband and just hit it off. He started strongly encouraging his wife to go to church (he has to work). So we leave and go to our lesson and we get a text afterwards from the husband: "I really enjoy your company and how I feel around you two. We want to pay you back for everything so we will take you hiking or fishing and dinner one day. Please feel free to come over whenever".

He went from someone super standoffish to absolutely loving us. We also had a dinner yesterday with Polynesians and there is one less active who was super standoffish. Same deal, we just hit it off and he felt the spirit we bring and softened his heart. 

It was a testimony builder of us and the mantle of the spirit we carry. None of these things were super spiritual moments. It was just us being ourselves and carrying the spirit. We were real and showed an interest in them and it broke barriers.

We had dinner with Mary Ann, a recent convert. She is awesome! She is Filipino and came to America 2 years ago. We eat there every Saturday and teach a lesson but she canceled last week. She spoils us so hard. She reminds me of my Hmong family back in Anchorage. 

We also had a guy named Matt show up to church. Villi, a YSA member invited him last week but he didn't come. He came this week and talked about how he wanted to be like Villi and Josh and have what they have. They all played football together and Josh and Villi are RMs. So we got this golden investigator who wants to change his life. 

Super busy week. We were gunna go to the ice caves but that feel through so we went to Nugget Falls last week. We were gunna go to the ice caves today but that is probably falling through because of another Golden referral we got. One of the Laurels had a super spiritual experience praying about the BOM and called her best friend and bore her testimony. Her friend felt the spirit and wants to learn more so we have a lesson today. So we'll either go fishing or do a short little hike. Juneau is awesome. So much food.... Thanks Polynesians and Mary Ann. 
Love you,
Elder Hayden Frey

Thank you facebook

I found this picture posted on the Alaska Anchorage Mission facebook page...

Zone Leader

P-Day 56

Hi Mom,

Juneau is just as amazingly beautiful as the pictures! It rains.. A lot. And it's not even the rainy season yet. And the amount of tourists and cruise ships is crazy! There are at least 2-3 boats in the canal a day. Sooo many Asians and random tourists. It's fun. 

Yes Elder Keys is my new companion. So, we have basically been in the same zone or district my whole mission. So we knew each other well. We are both the zone leaders. 

Fishing was fun! I let Elder Gentry have the good rod because he isn't a super experienced fisherman. I had a little rod with 6 pound test. (It is meant for little trout, not 10-50 pound salmon) But I got a salmon to bite and it broke the line easy. Long story short, we didn't catch anything :( But we have a few good fishing rods in our apartment and we live right behind a river :3 haha and Juneau has amazing fishing. 

Yes I suck at packing. Although I got everything here perfectly. No problems at the airport or anything. And if I spend money here, it's because I needed a rain jacket, or pants or something. Because over half of our Ward and YSA is Polynesian. Which means too much foodddddd..... So we won't be going hungry much. Elder Keys hasn't bought groceries yet here. 

I had to speak at church yesterday. It was fine. I spoke about prophets and following them. It was not my best talk by far. It was alright. 

It rains so much here. We have only had 1 day of no rain. It's a very moderate temperature too. About 58-60 most of the time. Very beautiful. So Juneau is a Fjord. And the beach line is the city. So we are just surrounded by mountains and the canal/ocean. 

JUNEAU IS AWESOME. Hmong is still better though(; Not much this week, just getting to know people. We have been super super busy. We always have lessons going and we have to prepare a training for Mission Leadership council and plan for zone meeting. We fly to Anchorage tomorrow and fly back like Thursday. So more travel. 

Awesome week! Thanks for the analogy, Love you!

Elder Hayden Frey

P.S. YSA decided to put a dog in our apartment as a prank.. So we brought it to the pound and had to get selfies first...