"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...

P-Day 55

This week I got a recording (an awesome 14 minute one!!), but no written email to post.  The important news is that Elder Frey is heading to Juneau as a zone leader with Elder Keyes (sp).  He flies from Anchorage to Juneau tomorrow (Wednesday) to begin his service there.  According to Hayden, it is the most coveted place to serve in the Alaska mission.  He is so excited to go, but not as a zone leader.  He wishes he were “a regular missionary".  He sent these google maps pictures to give me an idea what it looks like.