Happy Birthday in Basingstoke

Hello beloved friends and family of mine!

 

As Dwight Shrute might say... it is my birthday.

 

I was delighted when my Bishop and his wife showed up at our flat singing happy birthday with a birthday cake and other goodies. It really made my morning! :) Today we will go up to Reading, I will probably have an extremely unhealthy lunch, and we will play some sports. We have a teaching appointment tonight, followed by a YSA activity that we have planned for two of our investigators (since the normal YSA is in Oxford and we can't get two people all the way up there.) McDonalds is being purchased for the activity and all signs point to a success. My birthday coinciding with this is just chance... :)

 

Also, the library here is in a mall and they have Baskin Robins and Auntie Annes pretzels... didn't know they existed in England but they are a little ridiculously expensive so I don't buy anything from there. It does, however, remind me of that wonderful song from How I Met Your Mother- "Let's Go To The Mall." Also we visited a less-active member this week and when we walked in she was watching this strange film. We saw like two seconds of it before we asked if we could say a prayer, but those two seconds involved Neil Patrick Harris piloting a airplane that was about to crash. It was weird.

 

What a wonderful morning it is! Although the spring weather certainly doesn't seem to have arrived yet, things are definitely going well in this amazing area!

I really love Basingstoke. The members are quite wonderful at missionary work. We have received some excellent member referrals as of late and we are teaching them as much as we can. Finding through and working with members really is the "higher way" (not sure where I got that from... perhaps from a district meeting or something- but for some reason, I wrote it in my Preach My Gospel!) As the members see that we mean business about things, that we are there to get work done, they will trust us with those that are close to them. I think that my strategy for working with members can be best summarized as follows-

1. Prayerfully prepare what you will share with the members when you visit them
2. Gain their trust by not wasting any minutes and beign exactly obedient
3. Be yourself. Don't be a robot. Don't be mechanical. Be yourself in every way possible and let people know who you are.
4. (And, at least for me, this is key!) "Be anxiously engaged in a good cause"... we need to be persistent! We need to continuously ask for referrals and schedule appointments with the members ourselves! We need to be proactive in this, we can't just sit around and wait for members to provide referrals! We need to show how much we want them, how precious they are to us. As we are diligent in seeking out the elect, the Lord will provide. He always has and He always will.

Proper synthesis of those four things will always bring blessings. It is the higher way. As we do not waste any minutes of the day and throw ourselves head first into the Lord's work, He will provide the rest. Above all, this is what I've been studying and working on lately.

A lot of our investigators flogged this week. That's okay though, we will keep trying! Our dinner appointment and two other investigators cancelled on Saturday. It was FREEZING and we could have just given up... but we didn't. We quickly arranged to meet with a part-member family. Luckily, they were available on such short notice and we were able to schedule a time for the non-member wife to go on a chapel tour. Furthermore, after that, we were able to receive a referral and introduce a YSA to the church. The member who referred her to us was also there (we think they are dating but we are unsure) as well as two other YSA. The experience was wonderful. We had a great time together and we were able to introduce the Book of Mormon and our church. The members bore powerful testimony.
 

Our other invesitgator is progressing wonderfully. We taught her last night. We REALLY wanted to extend a specific baptismal date but we felt the spirit telling us that now was not the time. We soft-committed her and invited her and her boyfriend to pray about a baptismal date, and that we would do the same. The member told us that he was relieved, thinking we would force a date on her. He said that he felt that praying about it is the absolute right thing. I am so grateful that we have the Holy Ghost. We'd really be helpless without it. We have an appointment on Thursday, where we will set a baptismal date.

We walked to one invesitgators home to pick him up for church. He was asleep. We told him that was alright, we'd wait for him while he showered and got ready. While we waited, his mum made us some breakfast. It was all quite nice. Then he walked to church with us. He (along with our other three investigators there) had a wonderful experience and they were superbly fellowshipped.

One of our investigators attended a youth convention yesterday. He told us that he bore his testimony and that is just wonderful! We are going to fast with him on fast sunday for him to gain permission to get baptized from his father. Once that happens, he will be baptized pretty much immediately!

As a whole, everything is just great. I am humbled daily, but such is the way that our Heavenly Father refines us. As we prayerfully consider the work that needs to be done in out areas, we can set goals that are both optimistic and realistic. We lay those goals before our Father in Heaven and humbly acknowledge that only through His power we can accomplish them. Then we put our trust in Him and GET TO WORK! :)

 

The work I do is the work of God. I can't do it (or anything, for that matter) without His help from on high. He loves me perfectly, but knows that without a great Mediator, there is not chance of returning to His presence. As such, He sacrificed His perfect son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ knows me perfectly. He has felt my joys, my pains, my temptations, everything. He's felt and experienced it all. Because of this, He can help me through anything. He is the means of attaining exaltation and I am eternally grateful for him. I invite everyone to take some time this Easter week and study the many scriptures pertaining to the Atonement in remembrance of that great sacrifice that was made for us a bit over 2000 years ago.

 

I love you all so much! I feel your prayers daily. You guys all take such good care of me :) I love reading the happy birthday wishes and getting these packages and letters. I really am the luckiest Elder in the field... no one can convince me otherwise!

 

With love,

Elder Frederickson

 Bishop and his wife surprised Matthew this morning with a cake and some goodies.  Such a happy missionary - such a happy mom!!!!

Beautiful Basingstoke

Good morning everybody! I have been moved to the beautiful city of Basingstoke! Yes dad, I am Basingstoked. Basingstoke ward is in the Reading Stake! Apparently it's an amazing place to serve. Oxford is in the stake as well, so I will probably go up there for my birthday which is a week from today! Exciting times. I think my favorite feature of the new flat is that there are two toilets. It is a huge blessing. Really.

 

With moves comes a new address! So here is my new address!

 

Elder Matthew Frederickson

10 Coppice Pale

Chineham

Basingstoke

RG24 8JU

 

Basingstoke is AMAZING! Seriously, I love this area so much. Church yesterday was wonderful. We were surprised to see an investigator, Barbara! She flogged our appointment and we hatily invited her to church over the phone. She came with her two children. One of them went to primary and loved it (according to the leaders, he was a little shy around us.) The other stayed with her. She LOVED church. She was singing the hymns and helping her son sing the hymns :) it was precious. The spirit in the sacrament meeting was incredibly strong. I felt an overwhelming sense of peace throughout the meeting, especially during the sacrament. I feel as if this is EXACTLY where I need to be right now. Barbara even took notes during the talks. She wrote down at least ten references. She is progressing so well.

I think my favorite thing about Basingstoke is that we are ALWAYS busy. I never get back to the flat feeling like we wasted time. Every minute is spent moving the Lord's work forward. It is a marvelous feeling. We are always teaching. I think one goal I have for myself this transfer is to be more diligent in regards to ALWAYS finding. Even if we have a five minute bus ride, or have somewhere to be. I want to take advantage of every single moment of the day.

I love serving with Elder Aichele. He is an amazing missionary. We are working so well together. I've learned tons from him already. There have been very few adjustments. We are going to get the flat all cleaned up. I now have it engraved in my head that things need to be clean for the spirit to dwell with us.

Basingstoke ward is amazing. The ward is pumped up about missionary work and are anxious to provide refferals! We have already taught one members girlfriend and she seems interested in baptism! If prompted by the spirit, we will extend a date this Wednesday. Another members friend will be coming to church next Sunday. She says that the friend has been taught before and is prepared for baptism. I stand in awe at how prepared the people of this city are.

 

I love you all and hope that this week brings miracles! Read the Book of Mormon. It contains the gospel of Jesus Christ in it's fulness. It brings a light into our lives that can and will shine eternally.

 

With love,

Elder Frederickson

BASINGSTOKE

So I am now emailing from my new area... Basingstoke! It isn't too far from where I was, so moves were REALLY simple. I got picked up at 9:30 and now I am here emailing in the library! I don't know the address yet but send everything to the mission home!

 

This is a five week transfer so moves are in just a month... crazy. 

 

I am serving with an Elder from Chile! He has been in the field six weeks longer than me!

 

I am really excited to be here. Apparently the work is going really well, so I'm pumped to be able to just dive in.

 

Love you guys!!!

 

 

Beautiful Day in Havant!

Good morning everyone!

 

It is a beautiful day in Havant, Hampshire! The sun is shining and P-Day should be very relaxing. It is the last P-Day of this transfer, which is incredibly hard to believe. The time has just FLOWN. It was so exciting to hear about a bunch of the mission calls this week! I might be biased, but I think I am the MOST excited for the people that got called to England London South :) so much fun.

 

In a way, the work slowed down here a bit last week. Not sure why, but it's fine! We are doing our best. The work will always rise and fall. I think it would be a tad dramatic to even say it "fell" this week. The work in this area is always on the rise! Mail seems to be coming a bit faster now BUT if you send something after today- send it to the Mission address! Just to be safe- since moves are next week :)

 

Sorry there is not much to report today. The last full week of the transfer always seems to be that way!

 

Love,

Elder Frederickson

 

Where is Havant???

 

Good Morning!

It has been a marvelous week here in Havant! Even though it is still chilly! This week should be good. Nothing particularily exciting. We went on exchange last week and I went to Portsmouth. I love going on exchange there, it is such a cool city.

 

Portsmouth!

Personally, I am continuing to focus on 100% exact obedience. This isn't always easy for me, but the blessings are endless! The fruits of obedience (as outlined in Chapter 6 of PMG) are an excellent motivation for me to continue to improve and grow. I have also learned that faith and obedience have a particularly strong impact on each other. This, too, has helped me in my quest to be more obedient.

Yesterday, we had an experience very similar to Elder Christensen's that he shared at Zone Conference the other week. We arrived at a families house for dinner and said dinner would be about 30 minutes. Elder Grachyov and I both looked at each other and without really thinking or speaking (I suppose that's what happens once you've served with someone for three months!) we knew what to do. We informed them that we would like to go knock some doors for the next thirty minutes and asked them if that would be alright. Not only did they tell us yes, but they directed us to a particular street AND told us about their neighbors. They told us they were not in, but that another day we should stop round them. They also provided a referral for us later on. Over all, we came out with three referrals! I am so grateful we made that decision. I hope to be able to again apply that principle when the opportunity arises.

While reading the Harvester the other day, I was particularily struck by one phrase that the APs said in their short (but enlightening) article. I can't remember the context or the exact use of words, but I do remember the specific wording of "driven to our knees." I pondered that a lot throughout the week. I came to understand what that meant on Sunday. As I mentioned before, we haven't had any investigators attend church over the last several weeks. This is a problem I've been blessed to not have thus far, so I didn't really know how to deal with it. I remember I said a prayer in the morning specifically asking that we have someone, just one person, come out to church. When Elder Grachyov and I prayed before we left for church, I again pleaded with the Lord for this. We arrived at the chapel and no one showed up. We passed the sacrament and afterwards, no one came in. I just couldn't believe it. What I did next might sound a bit strange. I leaned over and told Elder Grachyov and told him I needed the toilet. I went into the stall and got on my knees and silently pleaded to the Lord one more time. When we got back into the chapel, I saw no one. I then sat down. A minute or two later, I looked to my left. At the end of the row was someone who I had not seen before! He smiled at me, which I suppose was nice. After the meeting closed, we introduced ourselves and he told me a member friend had brought him. That member then approached us and asked if there was an investigator class that his friend could attend. I joyfully told him "There is now!" and grabbed one of the Ward Missionaries and we proceeded to teach him the first lesson right there in Gospel Principles. He is such an earnest seeker of truth and it was an amazing experience. I know that as we are "driven to our knees" and faithfully cry unto the Lord, He will provide answers and strengthen our testimonies.

I love all of you! I hope that everything is going well. Still not sure what the issue is with mail- the package that was sent three weeks ago still hasn't arrived? It seems to be taking one week exactly for letters, which is alright.

 

Have a wonderful week! :)

 

-Elder Frederickson

 

Portsmouth!

 

 

 

Good Morning!!!

Good morning everybody!

 

SO excited about all the mission calls I heard about today! It is so touching to me to see all of my friends getting called to serve around the world! :) It really is one of my favorite things about P-Day.

 

Not lots to report today. We have to do some teaching this afternoon, so our P-Day will be shorter than normal! We will be just cleaning and shopping.

 

The work is moving along wonderfully. It has certainly been a fantastic week! We set a goal of teaching 25 lessons this week and, despite being flogged thrice yesterday, we were able to achieve it- but only because we recognized that we could not do it without our Heavenly Father. This week we are again attempting to raise the bar and go for thirty. We know that it's possible, but we are going to have to stretch ourselves even more. It will be worth it. With assistance from our Father in Heaven, anything is possible.

 

Throughout my mission thus far, I've had several experiences which I like to call "turning points." For me, they've usually come once with every companion. I have had three so far. I had one of those turning points this week. I'm not sure what brought it on, but something changed after that Zone Conference on Wednesday. Although none of the quite firm rebukes directly applied to me, I still felt I needed to take things to another level. To lengthen my stride. To be EXACTLY obedient. To be obedient joyfully. Ever since that moment- things have yet again picked up. For one reason or another, that Zone Conference was a major turning point for me- possibly the most important one yet. Perhaps I've began crossing the bridge between the 3rd and 4th missionary (although this would be the second or third time that I've thought I've done that.) Regardless, I feel a deeper sense of consecration. I am happier. I am more dedicated. Things continue to change for the better.

I love this gospel. I love this area. I love this ward. I love my companion. I love my Savior. I suppose all of that is fitting, seeing as it was Valentines Day last week. My Valentine was my Preach My Gospel, if anyone was wondering.

 

It's so hard to believe that this transfer is almost half way done and that I've been out 8.5 months. That's just crazy. The time is absolutely FLYING. Weeks go by now and I don't notice!

 

Also, something else, I've noticed that it is taking a lot longer than normal for letters to get here for whatever reason... so yeah. That's a bummer. But not much can be done about that, I suppose.

 

Love you all so much!

Elder Frederickson

Good Morning!

Good morning everybody!

It has been another excellent week here in Chichester/Havant. The work is progressing along nicely.

We have a Zone Conference in Reading on Wednesday where we will be trained on opening new areas, training, and things of that nature. I am incredibly excited, it'll be tons of fun.

Today we are having a Zone P-Day in Portsmouth that is designed to increase Zone Unity. It should be tons of fun! I think one of my favorite things about being in Havant now is that we only need a 15 minute bus ride to get to Portsmouth. Awesome.

It is impossible to be perfect, though I am trying my best. I have learned that more often than not, improving Christ-like attributes is a matter of "one step back, two steps forward." Though struggles are guarenteed, we can also guarentee even more success by constantly putting our trust in the Lord. Our goals this week are quite bold, but through the Lord all things are possible. As we follow Ammon's example, speaking and serving with "much boldness", we will see miracles.

Oh by the way... IT'S SNOWING. Very few of you will understand this. Those that do, send me an email and let me know. I just thought about it and I laughed for like five minutes. But really, it's actually snowing.

Also- I think I have now replied to the majority of the letters that I have received! I sent off four before we got to the library! :) My apologies to everyone that I am so awful at writing letters in a timely manner.

Hope everyone is amazing! :)

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