Elliot's January 9 email

Here's Elliot's January 9 email. Somehow we did not receive it last week so he re-sent it today.

Hi!

What do I want for my B-day [February 5]? Oh man I'd have to think about it. I'll try to come up with something.

This past week was pretty good. We had our Zone Leader Council on Wednesday which was great. We learned a lot about accountability and goal setting. We got some great ideas that I think will help us to rise and see the vision of what can happen here. We're doing a Zone Meeting tonight after P-day applying much of what we learned so hopefully that goes well.

Things in our area are going pretty well. We had quite a few appointments fall through which isn't too abnormal but it was a bit tough. But we got 6 new investigators, one of which had gone to mormon.org and asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon. He and his family are studying different religions right now and looking for one that fits them. We're going back to teach them this week so that should be good! One of our investigators we've been working with for a while is heading back to Ecuador tomorrow which is sad but she promised to go to the church that's 2 blocks away from her home there. She'll be coming back to OK City later on in the year to visit the Lusks.

Things are going well. We're enjoying a lot of help and direction from both Bishop Peterson and President Bellows. They pointed us to a few families and people to visit so things should really pick up even more here soon. And that's what's up. We've also been meeting with a few of the auxiliary leaders who are very much helping us out as well.

This past week I ate so much spicy food. It was awesome. The Churchs on Monday fed us tacos and Bro. Church had some hot sauce made out of Ghost Peppers. It tasted really good but it was so stinkin' spicy. I think I drank like 2-3 glasses of milk afterwards. [Check out the video below.] I also went to a restaurant with the EQP [Elders Quorum President] of the Single's Branch, Jordan, and got some "Inferno" Chicken Strips. Again, very good tasting, but very spicy. Good times.

Well I hope everyone's happy and doing well in MI and CA! Tell everyone I say hi.

I love y'all!

Elder Elliot

Here's a video from one of Elliot's dad's favorite shows, Man v. Food, featuring Adam Richman as he fails miserably in a challenge to eat ten ghost pepper-seasoned hot wings in 20 minutes.

"Prophets of the Restoration"

The Church website includes a video with the testimonies of each of the modern-day prophets, from Joseph Smith to Thomas S. Monson, most in their own voice. From the website:

Since Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ ushered in the Restoration of the gospel and re-established the Church, the voice of the President of the Church has been a witness of divine, eternal truth. Although the means by which the prophet’s voice is heard has changed through the years, that voice has always been a clarion call to come unto Christ. A video and an article now provide an opportunity to receive the words of every President from Joseph Smith to Thomas S. Monson.

It's good to hear the voices of the prophets, as far back as Wilford Woodruff in 1897, as he shared his testimony "into a talking machine." Enjoy the video.

Grey Snow Eagle House in Perkins, Oklahoma

Today's Oklahoman features a great story and video (below) about the Grey Snow Eagle House in Perkins, Oklahoma. This eagle rehabilitation facility was created and is run by the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, with funds from the Tribe and from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. According to the Tribe's website,

The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma developed an eagle rehabilitation program to protect injured eagles and increase community awareness of wildlife and Native American culture. The Bah Kho-je Xla Chi (Grey Snow Eagle House) was completed in January 2006 through funds provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) and the Iowa Tribe. . . . 

As of November 2011, the Grey Snow Eagle House houses 35 non-releasable eagles (7 Golden Eagles and 28 Bald Eagles) which are cared for by an Aviary Manager, 6 staff members and volunteers.  The aviary manager is a USFWS certified eagle rehabilitator and an Iowa Tribal Elder. The Tribe has successfully rehabilitated eight Bald Eagles and released them back into the wild.  To date, the Iowa Tribe has received +6700 visitors from around the world.

The website is terrific. It includes bios of all the eagles currently at the facility, including Eetodo, Lucky, Hin Tuga, Pete, and Woody. They have also compiled several videos showing eagles as they are released from rehabilitation. And there are a bunch of pictures, eagle facts, and other links about eagles and the rehabilitation facility. Information about visiting the Eagle House can be found here.

The story in the Oklahoman features Victor Roubidoux, wildlife manager for the Eagle House. I love his description of the eagles:

“All day long, they'll just sit because we're here and they know when we leave at 10 after 5,” Roubidoux said, adding that there are cameras in each of the various flight cages and mews. “When we leave, they'll get down and they'll be crunching the green two-liter bottles. We have tennis balls in there, they'll be playing with those. Some put one under each talon and walk on them.  

“They'll do all that when they know we're not here. Just like a bunch of kids, when the parents are gone, they're out playing.”

Mr. Roubidoux adds:

“They have their own personalities,” he said. “They'll have their off days. They get up on the wrong side of the perch, I guess, just like we get up on the wrong side of the bed. They'll be grouchy and gripey and then the next day, everything is OK, they're sitting by each other being real social.” 

You can follow the Grey Snow Eagle House on its Facebook page. I'm adding this to my list of amazing places to visit when I go to Oklahoma.

Enjoy the video.

Fire at the Los Angeles Temple

Early Tuesday morning, fire destroyed a house under construction on the grounds of the Los Angeles Temple. The 4,000 square foot structure was to be the home of the mission president. According to a story in the Westwood-Century City Patch, the fire broke out at about 1:00 a.m. and was extinguished in about 30 minutes.

No one was injured in the fire and no other buildings were reportedly damaged. The affected building, a residence for the mission president, is about 4000 square feet, located behind the temple and the visitors' center. Some of the residence's frame still stands, blackened by the flames. An adjacent building, a residence planned for the temple's president also under construction, was not damaged as much. Most of it still stands.

A Los Angeles Fire Department House of Worship Task Force, part of the department's counter-terrorism unit, was dispatched to the scene for an arson investigation, but that is the standard response for any fire at a religious site, said Matt Spence of LAFD. It is not known whether electric equipment was at the construction site at the time, and an estimate of the cost of the damage is also not available.

There are many news reports of the fire (Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News, LA Weekly, Deseret News, CBS LA, 89.3 KPCC, KSL, BYU Universe), all with virtually the same information. We're glad the damage was mostly limited to the single structure and that no one was hurt.

Here are three videos of the fire available on YouTube.

News & Star: "Mormon Missionaries Aiming to Save Souls in Carlisle"

Courtesy of the News & Star comes a news report about a pair of Mormon missionaries serving in the United Kingdom, about 300 miles north of London. Elder Nathan Jensen of Utah and Elder Benjamin Harris of Idaho, pictured at right, are featured in this brief article from the city of Carlisle, home to about 100,000 residents in the northern part of Cumbria. It's great to see the missionaries featured in the media, near and far.

Claremore, Oklahoma: Home of Will Rogers and other fun stuff

A recent NewsOK story highlights the town of Claremore, Oklahoma. About 150 miles from where Elliot is currently assigned in Moore, and about 25 miles from Adair, Oklahoma, Claremore is the home of Will Rogers, Patti Page, and Lynn Riggs. Let's see what makes Claremore stand out among Oklahoma towns.

Will Rogers Memorial Museum

Claremore's main claim to fame is as the birthplace of Will Rogers. According to his website, Will was born in 1879 on the Dog Iron Ranch in the Cherokee Nation near what later would become Oologah, Oklahoma, just a few miles from Claremore. Today, you can visit the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, where you can watch movies, shop in the museum store, see a collection of western art featuring Will, and check out a series of movie posters. And if you can't get to Claremore, you can always take a virtual tour of the museum, which is really well done and allows you to see virtually all of the museum and its grounds. And here are a few memorable Will Rogers quotes:

• Remember, write to your Congressman. Even if he can’t read, write to him.
• Democrats take the whole thing as a joke. Republicans take it serious but run it like a joke.
• You could keep politics clean if you could figure out some way so your government never hired anyone.
• What this country needs is more working men and fewer politicians.
• I don't tell jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
• I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat.

Finally, enjoy this video tour of the museum.



J.M. Davis & Arms Historical Museum

Another great place to visit while in Claremore is the J.M. Davis & Arms Historical Museum, the self-described largest private gun collection in the world. Named for a gun collector who settled in Claremore in 1917, the museum houses a truly amazing collection of firearms, artifacts, steins and statuaries, and outlaws. Here is a video tour of the museum:



A few other Claremore highlights

Don't miss the Route 66 Nut House while you're in Claremore. No, it's not the state mental institution. It's a great place on old Route 66 to buy all kinds of goodies, including nuts, candy, fudge, salsas, and other tasty treats.





Then there's the Shepherd's Cross working farm and Christian mission in Claremore. As the following video shows, the purpose of the farm and mission is to teach about agriculture and how it relates to the Bible.



Something I'd love to see in Claremore is the Belvidere Mansion, a three-story mansion built by John Bayless starting in 1902 and completed by his family six months after his death in 1907. According to one source, the mansion is noteworthy not merely for its historic significance and famous tea room, but also because it's supposed to be haunted:

Over the years, numerous people have reported that John Bayless and other members of his family, however, still continue to "reside” in the beautiful old home. These allegations tell of unexplained noises, actual sightings of hazy figures, toilets that flush by themselves, hot and cold spots, and feelings of being touched by someone when no one is there. On several occasions paranormal groups have investigated the old mansion, seeming to find the most paranormal activity on the second floor. There, psychics have "seen” children playing, as well as "meeting” a distressed John Bayless, and a distraught young woman who  allegedly committed suicide when she lived in the building as a tenant in the 1940’s.

The Lynn Riggs Memorial in the old library building honors the great Claremore playwright who in 1931 penned "Green Grow the Lilacs," a play about settlers in Oklahoma's Indian Territory just outside Claremore. You may think you've never heard of it, but it was the play on which Richard Rodgers and Aaron Hammerstein based their 1943 huge musical Broadway success, "Oklahoma!" And here's the well-beloved title song from the 1955 film adaptation:



All in all, there's a lot of great reasons to visit Claremore!

Elliot's January 3 email

Here's the latest email from Elliot.

Hola!

Happy New Year! For New Year's Eve I went to bed at like 9:45. We had a normal proselyting day until 5 when we were told to be back at our apartments. So played some games in our apartment until we decided to go to bed early (its not too often you get to do that on the mission). We meant to get up at 11:58 to celebrate the new year for a few minutes but I think we all slept through the alarm. Oh well. And then we had church for 6 hours on New Year's Day after which we had dinner with the Lusks which was fun. We were told not to go door-to-door or just drop in on people that day but we had some appointments set up that went well.

The work is going well here. We have quite a bit of new investigators that we're working with, a few of whom came to church this past week. It'll be nice to have a full week to be working again for sure. So often I'm out of my own area working with other missionaries in their area. But that comes with the zone leader assignment and I'm okay with that. This past week I was able to go to my greenie area and meet up with one of the families that I had been teaching while I was there. The missionaries are gonna start working with them again.

I have a ton of pictures that I'm sending with this email. [We only got one!] Included are playing Santa's helpers to all of the missionaries in our zone, going to the temple with the Komers, making Christmas breakfast with Elder Karl, driving around with the Woods looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve and Jan's Baptism. Hope you enjoy them!

The Church is true!

Love ya,

Elder Elliot