Elder Urban - 2009-05-18 1:38 PM EDT

Tell mom thanks for the email. Its cool you were able to teach Sam how to dance with girls, now help him learn to talk with them. That will be tough.

This transfer is going to be lots more busy. Like i told Sam, Elder Pierce was raised in Mexico City and moved to Houston Texas in a little town named Humble. He can speak Spanish. We don't teach in Spanish because of the Spanish missionaries and for the Korean investigators we are finding Korean fellowshippers.

There are not active members here! And i am finding that the main reason they don't go to church is that they do NOT read the Book of Mormon. This is a serious matter. Read it with the family Daily!! And STUDY it together. That means asking questions. That means discussions. You may need to think of a way to make it fun for everyone. You a smart man, you can think of something. I don't care how it happens, it just needs to happen. It will bless our family, we will be united, we will become one with the lord, one in purpose.

I have a testimony about reading the scriptures daily. Especially the Book of Mormon. It is the basis of every testimony we have of the church. Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, the truthfulness of the church, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the blessings of keeping the commandments are all based on that book. It brings the spirit EVERY time it is read.

Thank you,

Elder William C. Urban

Elder Urban Letter - 5/11/09 - 2:26 PM

I called you guys yesterday so there is not much more i can tell you...

I forgot to mention that i will need a couple pairs of dress pants, ones that are not meant to be worn with a suit. I think i should get them next week. About the bike, I don't need it because we can get repairs cheep. I will only need one if it was stolen or completely destroyed.

I will not be transfered this time but Elder Kim will and I will have a new companion named Elder Pierce. He is an experienced missionary who has 4 more months left on his mission. I will meet him tomorrow.

I never was able to hear your mission story. I do enjoy mission stories, especially from my family. I never was able to hear them from you or from Mary. The only thing I really know is where you guys went.

I would like to suggest that for the next family home evening you can get out a Preach My Gospel and go over chapter 8. It has helped me become more like Christ. Challenge everyone to choose a Christlike attribute to study and work on for the month. If you decide to do it tell me how it went.

Thanks for everything and for helping with the things at home that I cant take care of right now.

Elder William C. Urban

Star Trek Movie Review

****SPOILER ALERT****

I saw the latest Star Trek movie last night. I like the Star Trek series, so I liked the movie. Having said that, I was disappointed with the music and the story. As for the music, there was nothing memorable about the music except the famous original strains from the original TV series. Now, the story has the premise that Spock made a serious mistake among a few other mistakes Spock made in the movie. To any Star Trek fan, that is unbelievable, the most unbelievable idea among other unbelievable happenings in the movie. Somehow, I missed the story. My wife filled me in on some important details as we were driving home. There was a key monologue in the movie that revealed the key foundation for the story line. And, I missed it. I must have been distracted by something else in the scene; maybe a ship rat or those bugs that we learned about in the Wrath of Khan movie. I suppose the movie was too cheap to reveal this information in another way other than a monologue. I thought the scene of a 13-year-old Kirk crashing a Corvette over a cliff was extraneous(Mary tells me it was a Mustang). After the movie, I am wondering where Iowa has a cliff like the Grand Canyon. Maybe, I have the location wrong. I did not like the young Spock Character. I guess he grew up in this movie. (I must admit, I was biased against the actor who played Spock because he plays a real-mean emotionless character in the TV series Heroes.) Spock was my favorite when I was a boy watching the original series; so, tainting his character bothered me. I liked the scene where Kirk is running away from an angry crab-like creature. I like how Scotty saved the day by doing the impossible. I especially liked how Bones said the sayings we expected him to say. One point to make about the storyline that my daughter Mary told me, because of the way the story ended, the crew of the Enterprise can boldly go where they want to go unencumbered with past storyline restrictions. So, I look forward for the next movie.

Elder Urban Email 4:35 PM 5/4/2009

Thanks for the email. About mothers day, i will probably call in the morning before 9am, because that is when I start going to church. About baptisms, we had a baptism in the first week i was here and we are planning to have another at the end of the week. Next transfer we are planning 4 baptisms. I have no clue if I will be transfered this week. If Elder Kim gets transfered then i will need to find a translator for all the Korean investigators. Or learn Korean in the next week.

Thanks for the update about the family, its good to know what is going on. Make sure to tell Sam to jump higher next time. Tell Mary good luck for me. Tell the rest of the family that i love them.

I wish to tell you about the way missionaries receive the power to teach and have the spirit with them at all times. It is because of our study of the scriptures, are constant prayers, and strict obedience. With these three things we can qualify for the strength the priesthood can give us. I challenge you to sit down with your companion and make some gospel goals. Start with how you can be more obedient so you can qualify for specific blessings, like peace and confidence. It is some of the things we missionaries are told to do and i have personally experienced the difference.

Thanks again for the Urban Update. Ill keep on sending my memoirs.

Elder Kim's email 5/4/2009 4:09 PM

Sorry brother I could send e-mail last time.
Anyway Thank you so much for you e-mail.
I think I can't send e-mail any more because of mission rule.
Our mission president gave permission to all trainers to
send e-mail to our companion's family.
It's amazing to hear your story.
There are so many good church buildings here in Provo.
On the other hand, Any other church buildings are small and old.
We go to a lot of different church buildinds.
I will teack korean to my companion.
He knows little bit.
He works really hard right now.
I feel like i have to do better because of him.
You don't need to worry about your son.
Thank you again brother.
Have a good day.
sincerely.
Elder kim.

Urban news: May 4, 2009

Uncle Lee had back surgery last Wednesday and will be recovering for a couple of weeks. Mary is progressing with her job at Anne Taylor. Her work gave her good praise on a day when she received a rejection from a job interview. We spent a lot of money to fix her car this week. Sarah Jane continues with her condition. Emily is moving to another apartment, that will pretty much break her connection with Dave because she was roommates with Dave’s sister. Carolyn stays busy, somehow without a car she can maintain her job and go to play practice. Last week Samuel nicked the first two hurdles and tripped on the third hurdle such that he fell and caught himself with his left hand. He sprained his hand. The doctor gave him pain medicine and a hand brace. Sam and I went camping on Friday. It rained a little. He and I got to throw a dart with an atlatl. On my second throw, the dart hit the target. I will post the atlatl picture later.

Elder Urban email - Apr 27, 2009

Yesterday I met a 24 year old guy from Tahiti, he went to france to teach the Chinese. Did you know a man named Brother or President Carlson? He said he was a stake president.

Just Wondering. Say thanks to the whole family for me because of all the letters they send, and a Happy Easter, and Earth Day.

Thanks,

Note Charles Urban answering Elder Urban's question: 5/4/2009
About your question about Tahiti, I do not remember President Carlson. I was at Tahiti when the first stake was organized. President Cave is who I remember. President Childers was my original mission president; President Boudan replaced him. I was President Boudan’s assistant for the missionaries. Our mission had about 40 missionaries.