This past week was an amazing one AND to put the cherry on top, I'm updated AND writing in my journal so 20 years from now, I'll actually be able to remember these experiences! Haha! We had a roller coaster ride with one of our investigator. Her mom came to church this past Sunday and on Monday granted her the permission to be baptized. We set it up for this past Saturday and things were looking great for about a day and then her mom, got a hold of some anti-mormon material on the internet and went downhill VERY VERY fast. In the end, she completely withdrew permission and we were left standing there, dumbstruck to be honest. The only thing left to do is pray and seek the Lord's help and that is most definitely what we are doing. :) Other than that, we have started teaching a new family. They are so great! They were a referrel from a couple in one of our wards. We were able to teach them twice this past week and the ENTIRE family came to church! During one of our apts, the 8 year old girl, came up to us holding her Book of Mormon telling us that she wanted to go to church! It was so heart warming! Also, we had a zone fast for miracles this past Friday and as a result of the fast, 13 return appointments were set with new people/families, 2 baptismal dates were set with investigators and 13 or so lessons were taught. It was a miracle! :)
This past week was such a blur as well. Everything seems to be going by so fast. I pray that I am doing what the Lord wants me to do and I will be able to look back on these past couple months free of regrets. :) Oh! I was also able to give a talk on Sunday! I talked about the Atonement and specifically, the blessings that Christ's grace brings us. I identified 3 blessings, one of them being the opportunity we ALL will eventually have to stand before God, the second being that we can be forgiven of our sins and the third being that we can overcome our weaknesses. As we combine our efforts with Christ's miracles can and will happen. :) My invitation is for everyone to try and share Christ's grace with someone! Help someone come to know their Savior a little better by serving them, sharing the gospel with them or praying for them! Do your best and you will see the hand of the Lord working in your life and the lives of those around you! :) I love you all! Have a great week!
Sunday, May 17, 2015
5/4/2015..Working and playing hard!!!
5/4/2015..Miracles abound!!!
Miracle #1- Xielyr was baptized!! It was such an amazing service! I had the wonderful privilege of performing his baptism! It was an experience that I'll carry with me forever! :) Also, 3 children, Harvey, Seraphine, and Joseph came! We are praying SO hard for them! Please pray for them as well! :) After the baptism, we got to go get ice cream and I got to pet a baby cow! It was awesome! ;)
Miracle #2- I got to go on an amazing exchange with Elder Bradfield! It was very hot and we walked ALL DAY! Whoo! We did get to have a Cafe Rio style dinner though and THAT was awesome! We also found a new girl for them to start teaching! on the doorstep she told us that she wanted to be baptized when she was 8 but her dad wouldn't let her. She then told us that since then, he has changed his mind! Elder Bradfield asked her, "how old are you?" She said, "17." He then asked her if she still wanted to be baptized to which she responded, "Yes!" We asked her what would be holding her back and she said school is pretty busy. Of all the reasons in the book, that is not a hard one to overcome! Haha! She is going to be baptized on May 16th! :)
Miracle #3- We got to attend a baptism of a family in our zone! There were 4 individuals getting baptized, a mom and her three daughters. We were asked to teach the Restoration while they were all getting changed after they were baptized! There was a LA member in the audience, and 2 non-members that we knew of! It was SO powerful! While we recited the First Vision, the pianist played, "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" lightly. Oh man.... the spirit was so strong. While I was reciting His vision, I felt like I was having an out of body experience! I was entirely unaware of what I was saying! All I knew was that my mouth was moving and that the spirit was engulfing all of us! Man..... what an experience. :) I know with all my SOUL that Joseph Smith really was a prophet! Every fiber of my being and every cell in my body proclaims that testimony loud and proud! I believe it! :) The joy and happiness that that knowledge brings me is something I will treasure forever. :)
Miracle #4- I'm a missionary! It is such a privilege to serve the Lord! :) I pray that I can magnify this next month and a half and give it EVERYTHING THAT I'VE GOT! I know that the Lord will provide a way! There are a couple more miracles out there that I want to squeeze out of my mission! ;) I love you all! Have a fantastic week!!! :) INVITATION: Please go and serve someone this week! Make someone smile and take a minute to leap of your "road" and care for someone who has fallen off of theirs. :)
Miracle #2- I got to go on an amazing exchange with Elder Bradfield! It was very hot and we walked ALL DAY! Whoo! We did get to have a Cafe Rio style dinner though and THAT was awesome! We also found a new girl for them to start teaching! on the doorstep she told us that she wanted to be baptized when she was 8 but her dad wouldn't let her. She then told us that since then, he has changed his mind! Elder Bradfield asked her, "how old are you?" She said, "17." He then asked her if she still wanted to be baptized to which she responded, "Yes!" We asked her what would be holding her back and she said school is pretty busy. Of all the reasons in the book, that is not a hard one to overcome! Haha! She is going to be baptized on May 16th! :)
Miracle #3- We got to attend a baptism of a family in our zone! There were 4 individuals getting baptized, a mom and her three daughters. We were asked to teach the Restoration while they were all getting changed after they were baptized! There was a LA member in the audience, and 2 non-members that we knew of! It was SO powerful! While we recited the First Vision, the pianist played, "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" lightly. Oh man.... the spirit was so strong. While I was reciting His vision, I felt like I was having an out of body experience! I was entirely unaware of what I was saying! All I knew was that my mouth was moving and that the spirit was engulfing all of us! Man..... what an experience. :) I know with all my SOUL that Joseph Smith really was a prophet! Every fiber of my being and every cell in my body proclaims that testimony loud and proud! I believe it! :) The joy and happiness that that knowledge brings me is something I will treasure forever. :)
Miracle #4- I'm a missionary! It is such a privilege to serve the Lord! :) I pray that I can magnify this next month and a half and give it EVERYTHING THAT I'VE GOT! I know that the Lord will provide a way! There are a couple more miracles out there that I want to squeeze out of my mission! ;) I love you all! Have a fantastic week!!! :) INVITATION: Please go and serve someone this week! Make someone smile and take a minute to leap of your "road" and care for someone who has fallen off of theirs. :)
Thursday, April 30, 2015
4/27/2015..Killer bee, service and green jello!!!
This past week was incredible!! :) I got attacked by a bee! Explanation: We were on the way to this guy's house to have dinner with him. Elder Fontes and him were in the front seat and I was in the back seat. I start to hear this weird sound and look around to find the source. Well, I found it! It was a bee about as big as a baseball!! Well, maybe not that bit but, it was BIG! He was trying to get out of the truck by flying against a closed window! After my not so gracious spaz attack, we pulled into a parking lot and let him out. I value my life more as a result of that experience! To be super dramatic, I'd say that that experience was given to me so that I could learn how to find more joy everyday realizing that being alive is a joy in and of itself. ;)
Aside from that, the week was AMAZING! I got to go on exchanges with Elder Hales! Aside from the proselyting success we had, it was such a great learning experience. He taught me a lot about maintaining a healthy state of mind. I learned, more fully, that other's disobedience and wrongful actions don't directly affect me unless I let them. We are all individuals and have our own agency. :)
Also, there is a little girl in one of the wards that we cover . She is 10 and wants to be baptized so bad! The only thing, is that her dad won't let her. :( BUT, we got word this past week that there is a potential date set for May 29th or May 31st! The parents are talking about it! Everyone! Please pray that his heart will soften and that all will go well for that wonderful family! :)
Also, there is an AWESOME buffet in Idaho Falls and I FINALLY got to go to it! It's called Chuck-a-rama and it is a little piece of heaven on earth! One of our investigator families took us there too! :) I got to have some sort of dish that can only be described as jello and whipped cream coming together in a beautiful creamy, green combination with a kiwi on top. It was great! Also, we got to share a lesson with them in the middle of the restaurant. It was fantastic!
Elder Fontes and I got to give talks in one of our wards on Sunday too! I talked about "receiving greater fulfillment and joy through Jesus Christ." I identified 3 things that we as Children of God can do to accomplish just that. I talked about prayer, scripture study and service. As I was pondering as to how prayer can enable us to find greater joy and fulfillment I discovered that prayer is literally a channel through which the Lord can bless us! We know from the Plan of Salvation that He TREASURES our agency! When we pray, we righteously us our agency in such a way that He can help us. :) Also, there are SO many fantastic ways to study the gospel effectively. We can study our Patriarichal blessings, listen to the hymns, study by topic, use the resources available on Mormonchannel.org and even memorize scriptures so as to help them enter into our heart more fully! The Lord has a wealth of knowledge that He is wiling to give us! We need to be willing to pray in faith and study diligently and we will see Him in the details of our lives. :) Also, service is the bottom line I've decided! When I think of service, I always think of Gail Halverson from Meet the Mormons. In the movie he talks about how the Dead Sea is dead because it wraps it's arms around all the fresh water, takes in everything, gives out nothing! May we ever be found NOT being dead sea servants! We need to be out on the front lines helping those around! Aside from the blessings that will come into other's lives, we are promised so much joy and fulfillment. I know that there is joy reserved for the faithful servant. :) My invitation is for EVERYONE to try to pray with more strength, study with more diligence and serve with more willingness this week! :)
To close, we also had MLC this past week. :) It was amazing! It was also 8 hours long! Phew! Overall though, it was a spiritual explosion. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn about miracles, loving others and going the extra mile for the Lord. :)
It was an amazing week! I hope everyone has a good one and finds lots of happiness! Keep praying, reading and serving!! Love you all! :)
Aside from that, the week was AMAZING! I got to go on exchanges with Elder Hales! Aside from the proselyting success we had, it was such a great learning experience. He taught me a lot about maintaining a healthy state of mind. I learned, more fully, that other's disobedience and wrongful actions don't directly affect me unless I let them. We are all individuals and have our own agency. :)
Also, there is a little girl in one of the wards that we cover . She is 10 and wants to be baptized so bad! The only thing, is that her dad won't let her. :( BUT, we got word this past week that there is a potential date set for May 29th or May 31st! The parents are talking about it! Everyone! Please pray that his heart will soften and that all will go well for that wonderful family! :)
Also, there is an AWESOME buffet in Idaho Falls and I FINALLY got to go to it! It's called Chuck-a-rama and it is a little piece of heaven on earth! One of our investigator families took us there too! :) I got to have some sort of dish that can only be described as jello and whipped cream coming together in a beautiful creamy, green combination with a kiwi on top. It was great! Also, we got to share a lesson with them in the middle of the restaurant. It was fantastic!
Elder Fontes and I got to give talks in one of our wards on Sunday too! I talked about "receiving greater fulfillment and joy through Jesus Christ." I identified 3 things that we as Children of God can do to accomplish just that. I talked about prayer, scripture study and service. As I was pondering as to how prayer can enable us to find greater joy and fulfillment I discovered that prayer is literally a channel through which the Lord can bless us! We know from the Plan of Salvation that He TREASURES our agency! When we pray, we righteously us our agency in such a way that He can help us. :) Also, there are SO many fantastic ways to study the gospel effectively. We can study our Patriarichal blessings, listen to the hymns, study by topic, use the resources available on Mormonchannel.org and even memorize scriptures so as to help them enter into our heart more fully! The Lord has a wealth of knowledge that He is wiling to give us! We need to be willing to pray in faith and study diligently and we will see Him in the details of our lives. :) Also, service is the bottom line I've decided! When I think of service, I always think of Gail Halverson from Meet the Mormons. In the movie he talks about how the Dead Sea is dead because it wraps it's arms around all the fresh water, takes in everything, gives out nothing! May we ever be found NOT being dead sea servants! We need to be out on the front lines helping those around! Aside from the blessings that will come into other's lives, we are promised so much joy and fulfillment. I know that there is joy reserved for the faithful servant. :) My invitation is for EVERYONE to try to pray with more strength, study with more diligence and serve with more willingness this week! :)
To close, we also had MLC this past week. :) It was amazing! It was also 8 hours long! Phew! Overall though, it was a spiritual explosion. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn about miracles, loving others and going the extra mile for the Lord. :)
It was an amazing week! I hope everyone has a good one and finds lots of happiness! Keep praying, reading and serving!! Love you all! :)
Sunday, April 26, 2015
4/20/2015..THE RIGHTEOUS ARE BOLD AS A LION!!
THE RIGHTEOUS ARE BOLD AS A LION!!  |
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
4/13/2015..BUSY BUSY
This past week was incredible. :) Proselyting wise, we had a lot of success. :) One of our investigators is still looking good for baptism on April 29th @ 7. :) Also, we met a new guy, Kevin that said he would most definitely be baptized if he knew that it was true. Whoo! Also, we just received a new YSA branch and we got to meet one of our "new" investigators. They have 10 siblings and there mom is the most interesting lady ever! She wants to get baptized so bad but her mom won't let her. It breaks my heart to witness something like that. :( On a happier note, transfers went very well! We received two new missionaries who were visa waiters for about 2 days and then they both got their visas for Taiwan. Lucky elders.................... ;) I am so excited for them! The excitement in the zone is amazing as well! We are gearing up for a HUGE Aprill and an INCREDIBLY HUGE May! The goal is for every single companionship in the mission to help 2 of our Father's children enter the waters of baptism! We are investing LOTS of effort into preparing for it right now. It's going really well! It's very obvious that the hand of the Lord is with us and moving us forward. Miracles are happening everyday. :) It is so exciting to live during a time where the hastening of the work is so prominent and strong! May we ALL ever be found CATCHING THE WAVE and obeying the call to action that the Lord himself has given us! Mmm..... what else happened...... the weather has been really nice! Haha! Also, I got to go running around the green belt one morning! Man.... SO refreshing and beautiful! Exercise is THE BEST!
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
4/6/2015...Easter, Birthday and General Conference..all in one weekend!!!
We had a zone companionship study and this is the whole group!! It has been SO amazing to serve with all of these elders and sisters! A couple of them will be leaving us to go home and several of them will be getting transferred this upcoming Wednesday. They have done some marvelous work though!!!
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