June 2010 - June 2012

Monday, August 30, 2010

Family and Friends

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing really well. I myself am doing really well out here. It was actually a crazy week because we spent half of the week here in Escanaba and then we spent the other half in Iron Mountain which is about an hour and ten minutes away from here. We did that because my companion and one of the Iron Mountain Elders comp went to Milwaukee for the week for meetings and so it was just Elder Carter and I all week. It was really interesting because we did a lot of finding by knocking on doors. We did that so much and because of that we now have three new investigators here in Escanaba and Iron Mountain also has a few more. While finding though we found a Born Again Christian who invited us in and really starting bashing on our church and what we believed. That's always an interesting experience to have.

Now that Elder Hofmeister and I are back together we have a lot of referrals to go to all week because of the fair. We have really been looking forward to visiting these people. We have been working very hard and been having such a blast. We work hard and play hard. Also to catch you all up on our recent convert Bonnie Kirschner. When we gave her a Priesthood Blessing a couple weeks before her baptism to help her quit coffee she was so amazed at how easily she quit drinking it. To this day she has told us that she has quit caffeine all together which really surprised me. She is such an amazing member and is really making great friends in the Branch here in Escanaba.

Well that's pretty much what we've been up to out here and I just want to continually thank everyone for all the support that you all give me. I pray for you all every single day. This mission has been a great experience and blessing so far. My Testimony has never been so strong before and is continually growing every day out here. Thanks again for everything you all do for me and I hope to hear from you!

Love,

Elder Patterson

Monday, August 23, 2010

Family and Friends

Hey everyone! All is well here in Escanaba. We've been doing really well and this past week we had the State fair here in town. That alone was a huge succes because we had a booth set up for people to order anything they wanted like church movies or a Bible or of course a Book Of Mormon. We got a lot of people that ordered stuff so we are going to be going through those and delivering them to everyone. We also did a lot of walking around at the fair and talking to everyone. Our goal with that was to make sure everyone saw us. It was a way fun week but a way exausting week. We did that every single day all day long all week. Now we are gonna be doing a lot of tracting the next few weeks since we made sure everyone see us and now we'll get recognized by a lot of people. We also ran into people that weren't so pleasant like usual but it's always interesting to hear the arguments people have.

We have been teaching a few investigators that have been progressing and now after this past week we are probably going to have a few more once we visit those people. The members here are so good to us Elders and take such good care of us. Especially Tommy Chicago who justr gave a talk yesterday in church. It was about going through the Temple and it was perfect because we have been helping him get to the Temple and he said in his talk that it's like the Wizzard Of Oz because he's trying to get to Oz and he's got Elder Hofmeister which he called the Tin Man and me which he said that I'm the Scarecrow and he said that the Tin Man and the Scarecrow are helping him get there. It was a really cool way to put it.

I am loving the work that I'm doing and I'm working really hard out here. I love the members here and also the investigators that we have been teaching. I also love and miss all of you and am very thankful for all the support that I receive from you. I'll let you all go and will update you guys next week so hang tight now for another week. Bye!

Love,
Elder Patterson

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

MTC Pictures

Scroll down to the end of June to see Jacob's pictures form the MTC.
Escanaba pictures coming soon...

Monday, August 16, 2010

Family and Friends

Hey everyone! I sure hope all is well back where everyone might be. From what I hear you all are doing great. I'm doing great. I'm actually going to be here in Escanaba for another transfer which is another six weeks. That's one of the reasons why I'm doing so great because Escanaba is the best area of the whole Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission. That's my opinion anyways. The members here are way supportive and way cool. More important though is that the investigators here are great and they are all progressing and doing well. Bonnie, who just got baptized a couple of weeks ago is doing great and is getting stronger and stronger every day. She is making lots of friends in the branch.

This week we actually have the fair in town and we have a booth that we'll be at all week. We will for sure need all of your prayers for that this week because we are really hoping that we have a good turnout.

People here complain about how hot it is when it's only like 90 degrees. They have no idea what hot is. The weather here is great though. It rains a lot but I love rain because I'm not used to seeing so much of it.

Well that is pretty much all that is going in Escanaba Michigan these days. Thank you all for all the support and prayers that I continually get every day. I feel those prayers every single day and they help me greatly. Thanks again and Bye!
Love, Elder Patterson

P.S. I can be written at ----5651 Broad St Ste 1
and I love to get mail. Greendale, WI 53129

Monday, August 9, 2010

Family and Friends,

Hey everyone! There is nothing new here in Escanaba except that we had a baptism on August 1 with Bonnie and it went great. On August 8 I got to confirm her. It was an amazing experience to watch her life change so much and bring some happiness into it. We are teaching a lot of other investigators, so we are keeping pretty busy luckily.
I'm really starting to adapt to the work I'm doing because before I came out I wouldn't talk about the gospel with everyone I come in contact with. It was weird at first but I now have gotten the hang of it and it doesn't even bother me now. What I am here for is more important than I have ever realized before. I knew what I was here for before but I have learned so much and now the gospel means so much more to me now than it ever has throughout my entire life. My testimony has grown so much and I'm happier than I have ever been too, and I know that it's going to continue to strengthen as I serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind, and strength.
Thank You so much for all the support and prayers that I continually get from all of you. I love and miss everyone. I am so glad for the decision I have made to serve the Lord for two years. It took me a while to get out here but right now is my time and I'm thankful for the patience you all have had for me. Goodbye everyone!
Love,
Elder Patterson

Monday, August 2, 2010

Tawni

Hey what's up? Thanks for emailing me back it was really good to hear from you. I still love it up here in Escanaba even though today it was 95% humidity. But it's like that pretty much every day so i'm getting used to it a little bit. Today though it was really bad because we went golfing right after a big rain storm so it was extremely muggy on the grass. I do love the weather here because i've never seen so much rain and clouds in my life being an Arizona boy. We've even had a few tornado's since i've been here. I haven't seen one yet but i told Dane that my goal is to get some sweet pictures of one to send you all. Bonnie's baptism went great yesterday and i get to refer upon her the Holy Ghost this next Sunday. My ties are starting to wear out and get pretty nasty because of the humidity. I need to get more ties or find some that do well in this weather haha. Going golfing every p-day has made me really dark that i almost look like a black guy. I love being in the U.P. I'm freaking out because i'm gonna be 21 on Wednesday and i don't know what i'm gonna do haha. I've been out for almost two months and it seems like i've been out for not even a week. It's crazy how fast time flies on your mission. The people here are still great and i've learned so much in the past two months. I've learned more about the gospel in the past two months than i have in my whole life and it's been a great blessing. I told Dane that i would never trade the memories that i've had so far for anything. I'll be sending some pictures probably today if i have time to run to the post office. I put them all on a disc at wal-mart so you can just take them off of that and i was gonna have you send the disc back to me after you do that because i'm gonna keep them all together. Thank you so much for all the support you and your family gives me. I love and miss you all but like i said earlier, i wouldn't trade it for anything. Bye!

Also i forgot to mention that you shouldn't give my Escanaba address out to people because i won't get what they send me if i get transfered. Everyone is supposed to mail me and send me stuff through the mission home and they foreward stuff to me wherever i am so i will always get it. Also if people send packages and stuff they need to do it through the post office and they need to send it as priority or over night so that when the mission home gets it, they can foreward that to me. If it's fed ex they can't foreward it to me. My mission home address is
Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission
5651 Broad St Ste 1
Greendale, WI 53129-1889
And like i said Make sure everything gets sent there to just be safe. But i'll still be here for a couple more weeks for sure so thanks Tawni!