Mary Frances White

Mary Frances White was baptized on October 14, 2009.  This sweet lady has been in our prayers and thoughts for a few months.  Many of you know that she approached Elder Elton and Elder Schwab in the grocery store, read their names tags and asked them to come and teach her.  She told them she had just left an abusive relationship and decided she wanted to join the church.

Here is the experience Brigham sent me in a written letter, some of the experience I have left  out because of sacredness.  I love this woman she is walking by faith, our family will continue to pray for her and her sweet children.

August 2, 2009
On thursday night in Shaw's ( like Smith's) I decided after a lesson that I might want some apples for the weekend.  So we walked through the fruit area and while I was picking out fruit this thirty year old lady comes and kind of leans over trying to see my name tag.  So I kind of got freaked out and turned to look at her.  She says " oh the missionaries I am so excited to see you, I want to be taught about the church.  I finally broke up with my abusive husband and I'm ready to join."
Right then I was shocked and so excited.  We talked for a while and then exchange information.


First lesson
So tonight, Sunday, we have our first lesson with her.  We walked into her little apartment sit down and she starts mentioning all of the bad things that have been happening to her over the past little while, and how she feels so overwhelmed. (you can totally see the vulnerability in her eyes).  Right then we opened with a prayer, right after the prayer my companion Elder Schwab opened to Matthew 11: 28-30, he testified that if she came to Christ he would lift her burdens, Mary then started to cry, overwhelmed by the spirit. 

 As she was overcome by the spirit she began to open up , telling us how her husband had abused her physically in front of her three children.  Finally in December she broke free of her husband and that relationship, the child services were housing her.  Just a couple of months ago she took her kids to see thier father, because he never abused them, just her in front of people.  The problem was this was a court order for her to never let him see the children.. so her children were taken away from her.  Obviously she was very torn up about this.

Right then the spirit spoke to me, I swear I could hear the words in my head.  Alma 7:11-13.  
after a little background, the water works started again.  The spirit hit the room and lit it up.  As I continued to testify I told her even though she thinks she is alone.  Jesus is there for her and knows what she is going through.  Then I committed her to pray tonight for comfort, as she said yes, she began to say that she knows by us being there now, that Christ cares for her and knows her personally.

From that point on, she would tell us something or some worry she had and Elder Schwab, Bother Scheuller  and I,  seemed to receive the same promptings, our teaching wasn't our teaching.  It was just  three of the Lord's tools telling of the gospel that would bless her life. 

 Mary then went on to say that she was so worried about her kids and her not being there to care for them.  Right then it was like the holy ghost was sitting in between us telling Elder Schwab and I of the scripture saying that "God will take care as ling as we are in his service."  Elder Schwab and I both at the same time looked at each other and knew right then what scripture to turn to.  1 Peter 5:7

Testifying that God will care for his children as she moved closer to God and put her trust in him he will care for her, she again began to cry, thanking us over and over, saying she feels like not only does she need to thank us, but God.

The rest of the lesson was amazing as we began to form a game plan to get her the gift of the Holy Ghost as quick as possible.  We are now going to visit her twice a week with daily contact to help her to progress to baptism.

She is so ready and it is amazing the Lord could trust us with her.  I feel so blessed to have this experience already in my mission.  She is working towards a baptism this month it is amazing, she has a huge desire to learn.


Wow what a testimony buider, I can't believe how much I have grown, and how much my love for the gospel and the work I am doing  has grown immensely.  I am so excited for the amazing miracles here in Augusta and in New England.


Lovin' the work


Elder Elton

Crazy Love

This is a photo of Samantha, she was baptized last month, her boyfriend is now taking the discussions


Brig's letter September 28th.  


We now have nine baptism's set for dates but they don't start till november so who knows if i will actually see them... One of the cool experiences this week was in church we had an non -member raise his hand in preisthood and ask how he could sign up for the church i turned around and set a baptism date with him right then and there.  The mission is going great it is getting a little colder and i am getting a hat and such today...  I am having a blast out here though...

Mary is doing well she is not getting baptized till the end of october but hey she is moving forward dang it had been a hard road for her... 


From his letter last week


Wow what a week we're still teaching Mary which is awesome she didin't wake up for church and if she misses again then we have to drop her so we went to her house and banged on her door to wake her up so that we can still keep her going . It is going to be tough  her problems run deep being in an abusive relationship.   We went to dinner with her parents and talked for about 30 min after getting the whole story and it is just nuts.   

Thanks i am glad the letters are coming it is amazing to hear from you guys i am sending a VHS hopefully today with my sim attached it has some movies of us playing guitar and on the sim card is the doorstep i told you abou a little while ago and some pic's but i need the sim back as quick as possible.  

The bright part of the week well actually there is a ton we taught 43 lessons this week which is a mission record and of course we beat the ZL's which was amazing uh the FRY FAMILY IS AWESOME we are teaching the dad and the two oldest boys which has been a blast. but oh well they are going to take a long time cause he is a cop and he can't make it to church all the time so that is makin it take a long time DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE TO WHAT GETS YOU THROUGH WITH NO CHURCH ya that may be a struggle but he gets to come this week which will be awesome... it is testimony meeting..  it is awesome the ward like loves us now and is doing all they can to help it is a total turn around from when i got here so that is awesome.

Uh i think that is about it, i am loving it and i think we planned well i can't belive how much my life experiences are helping me with the specific investigators  i have.......... it is CRAZY    LOVE you all and miss ya a ton and i am freakin jelous about the concert!!!!!!!!

Bekah went to a Brad Paisley concert this last week.

 and you shall go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, declaring my word like unto the angels of god. (D&C 42:6)

The Eyes Have It

Here is Brigham's letter for the week.  Last week he started to get low on money the packages from family and friends came just in time.  They only eat with members one night a week, so they appreciate anything extra they can get.  

Elder Elton

  This week was good not great. We have had a ton of new investigators and they are all shooting for the baptism on Oct. 10th If all goes as planned we will have over ten people baptized on that day, so that is nuts. I have been working on a new skill i want to develop, i am trying to look into people's eyes as i teach so that the spirit can touch them.  Then i can call it out and assist them in recognizing the spirit.   

Like this one time, with this gal Heidi, i was teaching her and as i covered the Joseph Smith story i saw it happen i don't know how to explain it but her eyes just change. So right then i stopped and explained to her what she is feeling, she looked at me like i was some magic dude it was nuts and i really think that her recognizing the spirit is going to help her move forward quickly.  It is amazing how in tune we are as missionaries.

I cannot believe how evil the world is. We have had everything this week to a guy coming up in my face slithering his tongue to apple cores to gals flashing us. I am not going to lie dad the tongue thing freaked me out. I was sitting down trying to teach someone else so not wanting this influence to seem like it overcame the power of God, which i know it could not.  I stood up knocking this guy back a few feet then proceeded to tell him that he doesn't understand the power he is dealing with, not only the power of God but the power of Satan he is calling on himself. Luckily, after this he left and we haven't seen him again. dang it was so crazy i couldn't believe it.

The power of God huh? The good thing is that after the darkest and hardest times for us the best thing's happen so ya it will all work out for the best for sure...

A Day in the Life

We received this letter from Brigham after asking him for a play-by-play of a typical mission day:

Alright i will try and and answer them but i think we are going to check back later so if i missed some just email me quick and today around five we are coming back.

Yes i get to exersise every morning and also on tuesday nights we have investagater backetball which is nice to mess around. There are two other missionaries that come for P -day,  so that is awesome

Well first thing we do is get up at six thirty and exersise about ten minutes of lifting then twenty of cardio usually running. After that we have breakfast and get ready for the day clean a little bit and by eight we are having personal study. Personal study is twenty min BOM (book of mormon) and the other time you study for the needs of your investegater. At nine we begin with a hymn then a prayer then share what we learned in our personal study and such.  We then do companion study in which we do roleplays discuss the needs of our investegators and do a ton from preach my gospel.

Then at ten we are out.  Usually in the mornings we don't have lessons so we do a bunch of street contacting and tracting. We talk to every one we see even if we have to nearly run them down.. and we don't take no for an answer, they have to say not interested three times before we let them go and we still give them a pass along card. If they will allow it we teach them a principle on the spot with a prayer and a scripture right there.  i think you would be suprised at how many lessons we just teach on a doorstep answering questions and such for about thrity minutes. At twelve we have lunch which is just usually something simple and head back out.

Now days we have daily contact with Mary White whom you guys will totally meet when you come out. she kinda reminds me of mom she is 39 but you would never guess it and i don't know a bunch reminds me of mom.  So we usually teach her for about forty minutes. She is being baptized on the 22 of august which will be awesome. i am kinda hoping i can get in the water with her but we won't know that until this friday. After her we visit the inactive families in the ward and teach them a lesson which is fun, it is nice to be around kids after the MTC with none of them but i think that makes me homesick the most. We do a bunch of drop by's until dinner dropping by referels recent converts and such, most of the time people aren't home but we continue to talk to everyone that is out on the street. Then we eat dinner which usually is pizza or something cheap and simple. so ya. After dinner is when we have our major appointments like almost everyday at 6:30 and 8 we have two. Members are present at this lesson and help us to form friendships in the church.  So like we would teach samantha she is also being baptized the 22nd and i get to confirm her on the 23rd which is awesome, i am pumped for that, then we have to be home at nine or nine-thirty even if we have an appointment. So some nights it is a sprint home so we aren't late. Once we get home we usually plan for about thirty minutes the next day sometimes up to an hour planning every little detail, we also create a focus to use while contacting whether on the street or on the doorstep like today is "our purpose in life" so we are trying to help people find their purpose as we teach many of the lessons.

After planing we get ready for bed and just kinda rest for a little bit, usually fall asleep as quick as we can. Right here durring the day is when i am missing home the most thinking and praying for you guys.  It is awesome though. then i am asleep till that dang alarm goes off again.

This week was great though. the work is moving forward so fast here. We are breaking number records left and right. it is awesome to have stuff to show for our obedience and hard work. The Lord is blessing us so much as long as we do those two things even when appointments fall though we are finding and moving the work forward just as quickly.

So like i said i think we are gettting on again tonight so ya,   if you have any questions let me know.   oh and i got a thing from FED EX today thanks a bunch that is awesome you guys are the best of the best    LOVE YOU SO MUCH

Elder Elton

The Family

The last few moments with brig before he left

Pray for the People of Augusta

This is Brig's first companion Elder Schwab. He has been assigned to Augusta, Maine.  Here is his new address.

Elder Brigham Elton
241 State Street, Apt A-1
Augusta, Maine 04330

We received a great email from him this week.  I leave you with a few of the highlights.

so wednesday we had a lesson with this gal named Samantha, sadly she was addicted to smoking and also she was a cutter i felt so bad for her seeing the scars all over her arm.  We were teaching the lesson the word of wisdom and the law of Chasity so i was nervous.  Yet the very first thing she told us was this story about how her boyfriend came over and she had him watch the restoration she then told us how she testified of the truth that she knows it is true.  the lesson went over way well i mean she is way nervous but she knows that she can overcome smoking that is her biggest fear.  It is crazy just seeing the change in these people.

We have had great succes trackting though throughout the rest of the week we are like breaking records we have these things called ITL's which are short for invite to learns the goal is each week to have a hundred we had around 150 this week it was awesome.  We also found like 5 new investegators which we have begun to teach, i mean this place is blooming.  So for fast sunday i bore my testimony trying to light a fire under the ward to get their help and dang it was nuts they all came up afterwards and had the glow just wanting to learn more and more importantly wanting to help.

This isn't even the half of it, The coolest story i wrote down for you right afer it happened and i will send it out tomorrow so you should get it friday   that was the best part far and away   pretty much the jist is we are going to have two baptisms this month.... dang i am loving this


I am not going to lie sometimes it is hard i have not been able to get enough sleep cause my bedding actually just got here today, so i have been kinda beddingless but hey whatever once i get outside it is gametime baby and we have been doing great well most inmportantly i love you all and can't wait to talk again,   i love getting your letters it just makes that whole day go better. Pray for the people of augusta,

Elder Elton