Pages

Monday, September 30, 2013

Mission Letter Week 11 - 30 September 2013

HELLO ALL!!! :D  So, hi.

MAMA!!!! I'm sorry I didn't send anything for your birthday!!!  I have been a tad BROKE since I'm not used to budgeting with so little money... but I know what I'm doing now, so I'll get something and send it out ASAP. :D And it will be good, and loverly, and amazing, and more loverly. :D ‘Cuz, yeah. So I'm super duper sorry for not getting anything to you yet... and as lovely as you'll be about and saying "Oh don't worry about it -" NO. I WILL WORRY. AND I WILL DELIVER! BOOM BABY!

And we move on...

Daddy, I see you are still practicing the whole "Don't camp on Mama's birthday" thing. ;) Make sure you plan that out next time. Yes, I'm telling you what to do. And I love you. :D I am glad that it worked out though and that you have the opportunity to share your pure awesomeness and attractiveness with all the other leaders...with no charge. ;) You are an amazing teacher, both of you are, and I love you both a ton, and I am so glad that I was smart enough to pick you two.

BTW, I'll start picking out my beating stick now so I'll have the perfect one to get ‘em with....... (in reference to keeping the boys off little sister Emily when she gets to be dating age.)

EMILY!! Nice haircut!! Superbly cute :) I like the look! I'm also glad you found the key to the guitar case. :D I believe that I loosened the strings all the way so if you need help tuning it, talk to DC , or maybe Mama and Daddy can, and they can tune it up. :) Hope you have fun with it. :) And how's the violin coming along?!?!?! I gotta keep it short for all the writing I have to do. :P LOVE YOU!!

Dearest, dearest mother dear. :) I love you way too much. But I think you might have me beat...at least you know where I'm coming from. And because of that love... you are now going to forgive me for forgetting to bring my camera with me to the computer. :D <3


And moving on again! The money thing is totally fine. Haha! Don't even worry about it. I try not to use it unless I really need to anyways... also, I bought a brown belt at Walmart to match some nice shoes that a missionary gave me. That was only $12. THANK YOU though for the money that you guys sacrifice for me... I only now realize how much food I freaking eat! Hahaha...but I've been eating a ton of salads and healthy stuff lately...and it has been working OUT for me.

The Family Values Meeting thingy was way cool, but our Bishop gave us a ride and said we needed to leave right after so we didn't get a chance to talk to any non-members there so it felt like we wasted and hour and a half. :(

K IS GOING TO JAPAN on his mission?!!! I totally called that like a year ago! He's gonna be great over there and baptize a million people!!

GENERAL CONFERENCE !!! :D Time for some good ol' edification baby!! WOOP! Elder Norton and I are SO EXCITED!!! And it's SICK (that means GREAT) that Priesthood Session is being done live now. :D But DADDY! Go to the Stake Center. DO IT. Don't sit at home. Our Bishop reminded us that one of the biggest things about Priesthood is SHOWING UP. ;) But you are a smart man and have taught me that all my life so you probably already knew that. ;) Plus the fellowshipping is a good thing too!

Honestly for shirts right now I’m doing OK. I'll be totally honest, the one that I want right now, is the Joseph Aboud shirt that I got from men’s Wearhouse...is that OK?? There is a Men’s Wearhouse close enough for me to go to if you are OK with that...let me know through DearElder. :D

As for the gift cards, I think I might actually pass now...I've talked with a Brother in our ward and I have taken a very different look on the Word of Wisdom as of late so I'll just be buying my own food from Walmart and then maybe the occasional stop once in a little while when we all go to eat somewhere...thanks though!!

I love obedience so much! :) That's really all I have to say about that haha. Just be obedient. If there is a tiny doubt in your mind about something, DON'T EVEN DO IT. That simple. Once we make the dedication and commitment to our Lord and God, it ceases to be a temptation altogether. Just like that Ezra Taft Benson quote you shared with me (“When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power.”) ...I never knew how important that little thing on our fridge was!! It was right there...but I take comfort in that, because it is IN MY HOME. The fact that it is there means something; and I love it. :)

MUSIC...so yeah. I made some really bad calls at that time. I didn't think it was too bad...but Brother C always has a burn-pile going on his property soooo... that was a fun evening activity! I now only have music that is uplifting, in the spirit of my sacred calling and directs my thoughts and feelings to Christ...and if you wanted to send more of that kind of stuff, that'd be swell. :D It's okay if it's upbeat and happy, because the calm stuff is sometimes...........sleepyish.....and that's bad in the morning. lol! Just nothing that is "distracting in it's tempo, beat, loudness, or intensity"...that’s an approximate quote. :P

LC MY BOY, DOIN' WORK!  Hahaha! That's awesome to hear about him getting civilly married! :) Glad things are going well there!

Answer-The-Questions Time... :)

The bike is more than OK. haha! I had to buy a new stem for it, just to raise the handle bars, that’s why I spent 60 bucks plus labor and a quick tune up; so that was actually an awesome deal. lol. And I’m almost all healed so that happened quick. :)

R GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!  Elder N did the baptism and I did the confirmation. :D We didn't get a picture in the whites, but I'll get a pic to you asap from that event. :)

And as for B, he is SO CLOSE!!! He has overcome all of his concerns, has had his spiritual experience and I think that General Conference will be the last straw! :D So that's super exciting!!!!! We can't seem to get in contact any of our other investigators, so that’s been a bit rough. We are working on reaching out to them though. :)

OK so bashing...my favorite one so far. Here it is: We were just knocking doors on this one street in the middle of a neighborhood, and we knock on another door...we wait...then right as we ring the door bell the garage door opens and this grumpy, hairy, tubby guy in his "beefy Hanes" (to use an Olan Rodgers reference) and started yelling at us telling us we made him forget to get dressed and thanks for waking him up and got after us for letting our dogs poop on his lawn and all that good jazz....... I almost busted out laughing right there! So I just waited till I had gone two steps away until I started laughing... I’m sure he loved that!! But as we walked away, we saw that he had taken all the dog poop and lined it up on the side walk... The guy was messed up! It was SO FUNNY!!!!!!! I was on exchanges with Elder D, our newest Zone Leader at the time. :D

We had transfers two weeks ago BTW. Elder N and I are still in R.V. though. :) Those Texans stick together! OH! IDK if I told you this but N is from HOUSTON!!! :D And we both know SM.!!! WUDDUP?!!!!! So, yeah. Sister P lost Sisters T and M in the last transfer but we have Sister A with her now.  Elder F got transferred and A has M now. M is a newbie.  But a way-good guy and a lot of fun. :) Since Elder "X" left, Elder J got transferred and the S. Ward has four Elders now not just two.P  and G in area 1, and F and S in area 2. S is a big Samoan boy and it is FUN playing basketball and singing with a ukulele with him!! He has a great singing voice!

I have so many things to talk about but I can't remember them all!!! GAAH!!!!!

The open house was good but we didn't get as many referrals as we had hoped...though we have quite a few more than before. :D So we will be working closely with the members to follow up with their friends. :)

That's a good pic of Emily! :D And an awesome haircut! Tell Tiffany “HI BACK!”

This week has been slower than normal so there's not much else to talk about. I'm sorry I forgot my camera!! I like sending pics almost as much as you like to see them! :) It's easier to explain things as well, haha. I'll get them next week though. :D

I love you guys!! Godspeed! (my new favorite word to use :) )

Elder Nine

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Mission Letter Week 10 - 23 September 2013

EMILY!!!!

THE KEY FOR THE GUITAR CASE IS TAPED TO THE BACK OF THE GUITAR CASE. :D So you can play it now, and you can have all those knives....... Except for maybe the Winchester one if that’s one of them... I can't remember if I packed that or not. The lantern lights for your bedroom sound like they are really pretty. :) I wish I had nice lights! hahaha. Sorry my reply is so short.  Wish I could go longer.

BRAAAK! (aka: Dear Daddy,)
You can keep the tops.  I didn’t like the way they fit me. Glad they work for you.  I’m good on everything for now...... although I may need 2 more shirts...we shall see. Gotta keep it short for the details. :) Love you!

MAMA,
I love you! :) I did get your letter before Monday...I got it on the 20th I believe.

Everyone now...

I’m pretty sure I already replied about the Stake Conference thing that happened. That was crazy to the extreme! But ours over here was way nicer.  It was the Sunday before last and all the missionaries in the Stake got up to recite The Standard of Truth in the middle of President C's talk! :D Totally AWESOME.

I need a ton more stamps! I can just buy them here, but I need more than 50 cents in my account, as that is something I have to use the home card for...why DO I only have 50 cents by the way? I was sure I had more... Sorry it seems like I'm spending a lot of money from home by the way. There have been a lot of things going on. Like needing to get an adjustable stem for my bike because, as it turns out, the handle bars are a bit low for me... plus a quick tune and some labor cost it was about $66. We found a really nice bike shop with good service here so I am happy. Also, speaking of the bike, I took a spill last Tuesday.  It was hilariously dumb. I’m OK, the bike is OK (though that’s why I had a tune up, so I made sure it was OK,) but I totally ruined my light gray slacks. :( That was the worst of it. I am healing from some sweet looking abrasions. hahaha! I'll attach a couple pics. :P

So far this journal I have is OK for now (not full yet)...I'll let you know if I need another one, but I'll probably just buy one out here. :)

I feel dumb... there are a number of things it would seem that I didn’t pack up before I left. Yes I’d like to keep the Lindsey Stirling shirt. lol!

T IS GOING TO RENO FOR HIS MISSION?!!  That's actually hilarious, I think! Hahaha! Good to hear though! :D Tell him congrats for me and someone hug the guy for me, for pete's sake. :)

I am good for towels and sheets but thank you for asking. :D

No health problems except for not being able to stay on my silly bike. But I don't think that one is “helpable”. Haha!

As for recipes, I'd love some!! Sooo, yeah totally send those please.......with Nutella! :D


Enro shirts. :D 3 would be epic. THANK YOU!!!! or 2.....or even 1 would be awesome.  If you can and if it isn’t too much hassle try to make as "normal" fitting around the middle as possible because the ones I have are a bit baggy and it’s kind of inconvenient. (I’m good with them but if we can help it in the future that’d be swell.) :D

Gift cards?!?! WOOOOHHOOOOOOO!!!!! So Carl's Jr....and.....Tom's if you can find any.....and Primos....... So yeah. :D Sweet!!!

That was an awesome note at the end that Emily wrote on the board. :D I love you guys!

Okay my turn. So this week I am going to focus on what I have learned as the week itself has been rather........slow. Except for the "Sabbath Day Open House" that brought over 30 non-members to church! :D More details on that later as we see more results in the future.

Alrighty. OBEDIENCE IS EVERYTHING. Those three words, in that order will lead you right. EXACT OBEDIENCE. By living those two words, we will live happily with our Heavenly Father.

D&C 132:12 - “I am the Lord they God; and I give unto you this commandment - that no man shall come unto the Father but by me or by my word, which is my law, saith the Lord.”
God, Christ, and their Word, is Law

Moroni 10:32-33 - “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. / And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of this blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.”
We are saved by grace and we are perfected and sanctified in Christ

D&C 88:34 - “And again, verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same.”  We are perfected and sanctified by law.

As we see in these scriptures, Christ is Law, we are sanctified through Christ and saved by grace....Christ embodies grace and so He IS grace. We also see that we are sanctified by Law...or rather obedience TO the Law. If you are adding all this together yet, you see now that through Obedience to the Law, which is God and His Son, we are saved by their grace.....it sounds simple over email but it is so much deeper than what it seems...study those scriptures and add them together. Take these simple truths and add them together...then take Moses 6:5-7...read it now before continuing.

( “And a book of remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration; And by them their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled. Now this same Priesthood, which was in the beginning, shall be in the end of the world also.”)

The word “Priesthood” in there is the first time it appears in the Pearl of Great Price scripture. If you pay close attention you see that LANGUAGE IS PRIESTHOOD. Priesthood is essentially the language of Adam. It says it was undefiled. What that means is they were OBEDIENT and were so aligned with the will of God and Christ that their Word was the same as the Word of God and so there was power in their words. That's why Priesthood is used by SPEAKING or OBEYING. (And that is why we “lose” the Priesthood, it’s power,  if we are ever unrepentant and/or defiling the Priesthood in any way by using it unrighteously.) Blessings are an example of a speaking-use of Priesthood and an example of just obeying is when Moses was commanded to part the Red Sea by putting his staff in the water.....it is by OBEDIENCE that there is power in the Priesthood. Yes, you still have to receive the Priesthood, giving you the AUTHORITY to use that Priesthood, but it is through our Obedience that gives us that POWER of the Priesthood.
My. Mind. Was. BLOWN. And it is so much deeper than all this makes it sound. I wish I could share it in person....GAH! Read those scriptures over again and study them. Find out for yourselves. OBEDIENCE IS EVERYTHING. It is literally EVERYTHING. Like, you just don't even get it!!!!! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!! OBEEYYYYY.  Exact obedience WILL bring miracles. I promise you all that.

I PROMISE YOU BY THE POWER AND AUTHORITY OF GOD THAT AS YOU ARE EXACTLY OBEDIENT, YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER WILL BLESS YOU AND BRING MIRACLES INTO YOUR LIFE.

I am more serious now than ever before in my life. EVER. And that is a very serious promise. Be exactly obedient. And not just in the things you know of. Look for more things to obedient about. And those things you think you are obedient about, double and triple check to make sure. If there is even the TINIEST doubt in your mind about something you are doing in relation to Obedience, CHANGE NOW. Don't wait. LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES to be obedient, so you can receive those blessings, miracles, and power!!!! DO IT.

I love you guys, the above is my testimony. I am out of time so sadly no pictures. :( Next week I'll make sure to send some though!

Lots of LOVE,

Elder Nine

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Misson Letter Week 9 - 16 September 2013

Braky Brak! (translation: Dear Dad)

Sooo, first off, I sadly cannot send any pics of me "doing missionary work" as it is VERY strongly discouraged to take pictures while in "proz" (proselyting clothes) and actually doing the work, so most of my pics will be on P-day...and a few maybe throughout the week that are not while we are finding or something.

It's awesome to hear about Lawry's project though and that it's going well. :D I REALLY miss that chainsaw!  But, I may have an opportunity to do some service with a chainsaw out here at one point.....we shall see. :)

Brak, Love you, love the work, and having a GREAT time out here.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emily, HOW'S THE VIOLIN!?!?!?!?!? Send pictures! :D  I know you'll do well with it if you just stick to it. :) And it would be WAY COOL if you could play Lindsey songs! And even add your own style to them! Let me know how you're doing with that as time goes by. :)

I'd forgotten that President C had sent that pic (of the turtle).  It's a desert tortoise. :D And he LOVES lettuce! Hahaha! And he's heavy too!! And pretty fast, considering.

I love "How To Train Your Dragon"! :D I miss watching movies with you and spending time with you. Even though we bumped heads a bit, it was always fun and happy. :))

And it's good to hear you are learning how to take good care of your violin. :D It's SUPER  important to take care of your instrument, and as you do, it'll take care of you. ;)

That's way funny about the hair dye! Those are fun to play with. :)

CONVERSE! WOOP! Best shoes ever! :D

Hahaha! I DID forget to box up my guitar up didn’t I!!? Well, after you practice the violin you play around with the guitar too if you want! But make sure you work hard on the violin first, it helps to have priorities and work hard on one and focus on it. Then when you are good at it you can move to the next one. :))

LOVE YOU EMI!!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marmy,

OK I’ll wait to hear from you about when and where to write Dunkan :) Thank you.

I LOVE the C's SO MUCH! :D They are easily my favorite family....... don't spread that too much, I'm not supposed to play favorites.  But there are a lot of good families here. :) That's funny about JKs comment btw (TURTLE!!!!!) Hahaha! And I don't remember what tie I was wearing but I've gotten a few from a younger almost-married guy in my ward, R (happens to be B's best friend.) And they are way nice. :)

NOT THE Cs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :(
I'm glad they’re happy to be moving where they are going but I will miss them VERY much.  I will keep them in my payers and especially Bro. C for his job.

Dinner with the W family! :D That sounds like a good time! I've been emailing a little with J and it sounds like he's doing alright. I really do pray for him a lot that he can feel this is the right thing to do with his life...I think he does, too.

That's awesome to hear about J and J and the newest addition. :D I have a cute new cousin!

You might kill me here......but I didn’t try the shirt on again. :D
I honestly cannot remember my thought from 3 weeks ago “Faith. Hope. Charity. Humility.”  Again, super busy. I'll add that to my to-do list as well though.

As far as eating out goes, only on P-days, like when I went to an Inn (yes that was me...... I thought I used the church card though.... I was supposed to..... oops! ) And when members take us out so it's pretty limited.

The bike is a beauty!! Don't feel sorry for anything, I AM keeping up with the maintenance as it clearly needs to be tightened for now and taken good care of. I LOVE IT. As for the tune up, I just had a little trouble with lining the front wheel up so the disc breaks stop squeaking and the back break was just a tad loose. No biggy and all good now. I did buy a bit of chain lube with my home card (I think the home card) and all's well now. :)

My first Companion ever, and my very, very dear brother, Elder "X" (if you share this please remove his name) has gone home. :'(  He had some things he has had to fix back home and has made the hard but right choice of going home to fix it and come back when he is ready. I have come to love him with all my heart and soul and I was so sad to see him leave but at the same time so happy to see him begin the great healing process. It is so worth it to get it done BEFORE finishing the mission. And so important.

I move on.

I would love it if you guys could do something for me. Read two specific articles in this month's Ensign. The first is the one that Elder X read and that helped him make his decision to go home and clean up. It is called "THE JUSTICE AND MERCY OF GOD".  It is by Elder Holland. The MAN. I love the message of repentance that it shares. It is so important that we do what we can on this earth to repent of all our sins as much as possible, and we must do it through the Atonement, as that is the one and only way to truly do it.

The other article is called "HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT" (by Brad Wilcox).  I love the lesson in that one as well. To help you see what role it has played in my life in just the last couple days I'll share an experience I had:

Elder N and I are walking down the street to our next appointment at around 2pm-ish and he (the guy we were going to see) was standing in the driveway. We talked on the driveway a little before going in and before we went in, two gentlemen stopped by. They were either born again Christians or "L. Baptists"...not sure which and it doesn't really matter. They asked us if we were "the Mormons" and we said yes, we are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The first guy asks "Do you believe in the Bible?" and we say, "Yes, we believe it is the word of God as well as the Book of Mormon." So he says OK and starts talking about a scripture in the Bible where it talks about how we are saved by the Grace of God and Christ only, not by our works. Now, up to this point I didn't really know much about the topic, I'll admit, but I had read the article just a day before and had felt I needed to study it out rather extensively. So I did. It paid off. So I say "You're right. It is only by the Grace of our Heavenly Father, our Savior Jesus Christ and the ENABLING power of His Atonement that we are saved." So he takes a step back. He expected and wanted a Bible bash. These and many other people seem to believe that the members of the LDS church think that we save ourselves through our own good works, and that that is one reason why serve our missions. How wrong can a person be, right? So I go on. " We are saved through Grace and Christ's Atonement...but Christ has asked of us to show our love and faith by following His example. By repenting, making and keeping covenants such as baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, Enduring to the end. These simple, basic, fundamental principles and ordinances of His gospel are what He asks of us. He does not ask us to save ourselves or to repay the debt He payed. That would negate the entire Atonement and his whole Gospel. He asks that we live His gospel, enrich our lives through these simple things, and love each other." He couldn't stand the Power of the Spirit that so VERY present there. His buddies face went from "Yeah yeah, bash him, bash him, BIBLE BASH BIBLE BASH!!!!" to "Wow dude. Way to go. Now you look like an idiot." They both just looked dumbly at Elder N and me, then just walked away....BOMBSAUCE. Not boasting of myself of course, but rather just as Ammon says "I boast in the Lord, not of myself". So righteous boasting right???.....Ehhhh......Whatever. It felt really good though. I love teaching by the Spirit...because it's really a "Sit back and enjoy the fireworks!" type of thing. There's so little that we have to do when the Spirit is involved.

I know that the Spirit is the great teacher of simple truths. I know that the Book of Mormon and the bible are both the word of God. I know that Joseph was a Prophet called of God and that really did restore the Church under the Lord's direction. He also translated the Book of Mormon through the Power of the Lord. I know that this is Heavenly Father's plan for our happiness. I know that the two most important works on this earth are parenting and missionary work, and in that order. I love my God and my Savior. I love this work. I love you guys. And...

I love sending pictures... :)

254 is L.V. Elders A and F,  N and me, Sister P and Sister T and Sister M is taking the picture. :P They are the Q. H. Sisters and WAY cool...BTW Elder N is our new District Leader...that means I have the BEST job ever. Because I don't have the responsibilities but I get to go on all the exchanges. teehee!!!





252 is a pic of the Sisters. :P Left to right are Sisters T, M, and P






217 look what we found on P-day while driving around in L. V.'s area!  Little ruins!!! SICK!




219 naturally this is what follows...  :)






224 Elder A trying to be sassy ;)




227 Elder N also trying to be sassy...not as successfully though ;)




234 Victory stance!!!!!







248 a random metal moose..  :D





 All of those are from last P-day. :D

Lots of fun. Since the L.V. Elders' truck is getting swapped out soon, we had permission to go "off-roading" on some light trails. Super light, but super fun. :)



THE END

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Mission Letter Week 8 - 09 September 2013

Hey guys!... I got here late, so I'll have to abbreviate some things. :P

First off, this week I learned that I can talk to birds; a grasshopper in the middle of the sidewalk decided to hitch a ride and then 10 min later jumped onto another cyclist going the other way, (skilled jumping); and a bunch of other WEIRD things have happened. O.o I only have one or two goofy pics to send but those will have to wait due to time plus the computer I'm using doesn't have an SD card slot and I forgot my cable.

Onto better things now :) DA BIKE IZ AWESOMENESS! It needs a bit of a tune up but I expected as much. IT'S A BEAST though! I love it so much! :D THANK YOU! And yes, I lock it up the way I'm supposed to when I can. Most of the time we have to use a cable lock though because we lock 'em up in neighborhoods on light poles. Haha! But then I still lock the front wheel to my bike at least.  So good stuff. :D Daddy, thank you for the willingness to get it to me!


Speaking of Elder C in P, could you please get me his email, as well as Elder L's?? That'd be super duper. Thanks! :D

Okay, skipping to the ?'s and stuff...

I did get the D letter and I replied to it in the snail-mail.  It is very sad to hear. I will let my letter say the rest about it.

Sadly due to my superior wisdom I still have not tried on the baptismal clothing.  Sowwy! You got 3 Enro shirts for me though. So, so far I'm doing OK, but when I transfer out either in 7 weeks or 13 (or more depending) I'll need more because I won't have free reign on a washer and dryer like I do here at the C's. BTW Bro C reminds me a lot of Brother M back home. 

I'll ask my beloved District Leader if he knows B or I. We shall see!

I would love to have D's address when you get it. That is also in the letter I wrote back. 


I see HERMANA W (they have a thing about making that clarification haha) quite often actually. 2-3 times a week for a few hours each time! So coolio. She did go on the hike but her comp, Hermana M had to go back down soon after starting because of her hip (previous injury). :(  But yeah, the hike was almost our whole Zone! Elder A's idea. We have 27 missionaries in our Zone B T DUBS. It's an odd number because our District has a trio of Sisters...and they are the COOLEST SISTERS EVER! :D

A and F are in my District and they are the missionaries we call when we need a car ride and can't get a member....so we're pretty close actually for not being companions and for not living at the same place. COOL GUYS.

It is actually quite nice to have paragraph headings. (Answering mom's question.)

Transfers are a week from tomorrow but I will very likely be staying for a few more months. Trainees and their trainers generally stay at least 3 months to finish the 12 week training program, and it's okay because I LOVE RV 1st. :D Except for the biking on these HUGE hills.  It's actually the hardest biking area or very close to it in the whole mission I found out.... the Lord is laughing so hard right now....  I've lost the 15 MTC pounds though!!! WOOP! IDK if I told you guys but I gained 15 lbs. in the MTC....but I just finished biking it all off.

Okay, so this week has kinda been uneventful. But we strongly believe that next week it'll pick up again. :D This week we got no new investigators and only got to see a few of our not-new investigators as a lot of them have had things come up...of course. And then of course all our finding time (called tracting in the old days) is taken up by an assignment from the Bishop (Bishop A is WAY COOL by the way! :D) And the assignment is passing out invitations to less actives, and members who weren't there on a specific Sunday when they handed them out. The invites are for the members to give to their non member friends and peers to invite them to a "Sabbath day open house", which is church, but specialized to introduce non members to how we do things. :D Might be something you could recommend to Bishop L .... from me. :) So that takes a lot of time but we are finishing up with handing those out.

So this week there wasn't anything super special....except DISTRICT MEETING!!!!! DOOPPEE! :D I love District Meetings. We have them every Friday late morning. Elder J leads it. We also had a SWEET ZTM (Zone Training Meeting). Both meetings focused on one thing. OBEDIENCE. after hearing Elder J, as well as Elders W and M talk, I'm like "Yo fools! Be obedient! You goofin', or what!??!?!?! DUHHH!!"

I like this quote on obedience, "Obedience brings blessings...but EXACT obedience brings MIRACLES."...I want miracles...and as I've been obedient, to the Mission rules, to my leaders, and to my God I HAVE seen miracles. Everyday I see little ones at least. It blows my mind why people want to disobey and be dumb like that. In D&C 130:20-21 it talks about how when we obey the rules and commandments given to us by Heavenly Father and our leaders, the Lord Himself is also COMMANDED and OBLIGATED to give us blessings. It's so easy. We obey. We get blessed. BOMBSAUCE. Give me logic that says otherwise. I dare you.

One other thought I've had this week is, as Elder N and I were reading in Alma (more missionary studying of Ammon and Aaron and the sons of Mosiah, whom I continue to regard as complete BOSSES) and we came across two verses early on. Alma 17:9 and 11 it talks about being an instrument in the hands of God. Here's the short version of the message we share with our lovely members here:


Imagine you are playing the piano, or any other instrument, and as you play you can only use one note at a time. The song will sound simple, even plain, yes? Now imagine if you could play with two notes at a time. Still plain but a little harmony in there right? Now, Imagine you were playing with as many notes as you want. Imagine you are playing Beethoven with some others next to you playing along. That would sound BEAUTIFUL wouldn't it? Same applies to missionary work. Elder N and I are only two notes for the Lord to play. He needs more than that. He needs everyone of them at His disposal...think if you were playing something cool and all of a sudden you got a dead note. that would stink. you'd be really not cool with that right? SAME WITH THE LORD. Missionary work is for everyone. we have been commanded to take the gospel to all the ends of the earth. the lord didn't say put in two years or 18 months and you're good... psshhh HE SAID EVERYONE GET TO WORK. Get off your sorry butts and open your mouths!!! THAT is what the Lord asks of us. In two years I will NOT, I say will NOT be saying I have gone and done, but rather I will CONTINUE to say I WILL GO AND DO. And the Lord WILL provide away. I have come to realization that missionary work is a life time endeavor...and not in the way I used to think about it. But rather that we must always be a FULL TIME servant of the Lord. Yes, right now I have the Mantle. Yes, I have a calling and no school or other responsibilities to get in the way. Yes, it's easier now... but it's only the beginning and we CANNOT STOP. We MUST not STOP. And I WILL NOT STOP.


I love you all sooooo much!! I am so excited to see missionary work EXPLODE as these next 22.3 months go by and I hope it goes by slower than it has been, because its already WAY too fast!!! I have to run now! KTHXBAI!

Elder Nine

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Mission Letter Week 7 - 03 September 2013

WOOHOO! He (Colin) IS an Eagle!!! AWESOME!! :D Good to hear. :)

This week has been INSANE. We found SEVEN new investigators!! WOOP! As they progress I'll start giving more details, but until then all that's really happened is we met these people while they are walking, as we knock doors, and so forth, and we have taught them the first lesson and set a return appointment. :D SEVEN! Cray-Cray. So yeah. Elder N and I are super happy about that! R has not been baptized yet ( I believe that was a question?) His date is Sep. 28th...A day after a very special birthday. :)) B on the other hand, while he doesn't have a date set yet, he HAS had a few "spiritual experiences" now! As he reads the Book of Mormon and listens to the lessons when we teach him he says it just keeps making more and more sense to him and he's been praying a lot lately and he now knows that the Gospel is true and the Book of Mormon is the Word of God!! YES. His only remaining concern is the reaction of his family. He has a good strong relationship with them and doesn't want to hurt that. We understand and actually encourage keeping strong family ties, sooooo we'll be working with him as he works with them to overcome that. Beyond that, he's super ready for this. :D

Here's a fun fact. We were getting a ride home after a dinner and message with a member family, and as we were driving down the dirt road to get home, I saw a speed limit sign that said 23.5 MPH .......YEP.

Elder N  and I have decided to do the coolest study "Idea/Program/Thingy" EVER. We started reading in Alma chapter 17 where Ammon and the sons of Mosiah pick up. In verses 9 and 11 it talks about being "an instrument in the hands of the Lord" and we have actually been using that as a "member message" for dinners and such in preparation for this SWEET event that is coming up. It's an open house....for church on Sunday. OH YEAH. All the members are getting involved and we should have like a buhjillion people to talk to and hopefully teach :D

ANYWAYS, so we have been reading in Alma about Ammon and his brothers and here's how we decided to do it: Elder N and I were talking about some of our favorite book series...naturally I brought "Tennis Shoes Among The Nephites"... then I remembered what Garth Plimpton said while there, when he saw Ammon. Something like "He's the greatest missionary that ever lived" and we got to thinking, why not study the greatest missionary of all time to be better missionaries? And so it began. It's amazing how great a teacher the scriptures can be if you HAVE A SPECIFIC QUESTION or TOPIC in mind. Just like with prayer, if you go into it with something specific, the Lord will reply VERY specifically. We just have to give Him the SPECIFIC material to work with...is that...specific enough? ;) 

And PICTURE TIME!

1.) This is Me with Elder J, our lovely District leader...this is us after our exchange we had been on.




2.) This is the back of Elder N, my comp...both our bikes had gotten flats and one of them the gears stopped working.......walking day!! There are several dirt roads to walk on....... This was the short one..... And that's just to get into our area because we live outside of our area.




More to come in a follow up email in a few min after this one :)

I love hearing from you guys. It's so cool. 

That is AWESOME to hear about the Hs!! Someone give 'em both a huge hug from me... Daddy you give a massive one to him from me. BIG HUG. Seriously though. Like RIDICULOUSLY BIG. Do it. I can't even say how important it is that we are endowed and that eventually we get sealed. I hope they get the chance for that as well. :) SO COOL!

As for that bit about Brother J. B. being comps with President C's brother..... I LOST IT. THAT'S AWESOME. Speaking of Brother B, will someone please tell that man how amazing he is?!?! I was just thinking about all the learning and teaching and experiencating (that's a word) that I was able to do with him and because of him, as I talked with the Young Men's Pres here, Bro P. Please let him know how grateful I am to him for all he did for me. kthx. 

STEAK IS GOOD. (Pres C asked them what they wanted for dinner one night, and they said steak. Bob laughed so hard.)

About the compliments we shared with him from Pres C:  President C said all that?? Yowza. That's nice to hear... Crazy nice. :)  He's such a cool guy and he's a great Stake President... Imagine President W...but as a jokester as well.

BISHOP L!! That's gonna be good. He's also an incredible man. It amazes me how much I was surrounded by good people who love and live the Gospel. Do the same for him as Brother B  please. I love Broth-Bishop L a ton. Just...so many good things to say about him. And Brothers E and D.B. will be awesome counselors... It's very sad to see Bishop H leaving the stand though. He's a wonderful man and has done an incredible job as Bishop. I'm glad he got to be Bishop while I was there. :)

That's also wonderful to hear about Emily. :D Brave girl! ;) (That she shared a bit about the Gospel and missionary work with a completely stranger while she and Bob were in a store, and they got to talking about her brother serving a mission).  About Emily sleeping alone now (she’s been afraid since birth to sleep alone) and turning to God through faith, hymns, and prayer:  Heavenly Father will take care of us all the time. Even in bed! :)  

I did splurge a bit on a tie from Ross. A super nice paisley! But everything else I've had to buy with my home card was needed stuff haha. Speaking of that type of stuff, my bike comes to mind. I am 99% sure it's at the mission office now, it just has to get picked up by the Zone Leaders (Wednesday) and I should have it by Thursday-ish. 

Sad to hear about the drill (it gave up the ghost). :( But happy to hear about the pure essential oils for my first aid kit! :D

And having A write me letters would be totally Awesomeness! :D I love mail so much.

I must say, in reply to the weather question, it is very dry here. I get cotton mouth just from walking to the mailbox ._. at least I'll never get dehydrated...but at least the heat isn't too bad. It's funny though ‘cuz people here think it's crazy hot and them offering us water is a great way to get in the door haha. 

My foot is fine too, B T DUBS (By The Way). 

I don't know about Skyping yet. I've heard it's been done and it's OK... so I'll find out.

In all honesty, the Eddie Bauer shirts feel less and less comfortable every time..I don't even. But the Enro's are great...except for the relaxed fit...that part is not cool. My slacks are a tad baggy too so with both of them being big it looks a LITTLE bit sloppy. I'll be trying to look for a tailor this P-day for my slacks though. Soooo yeah. And of course, me being smart, I haven't tried my baptismal clothes on yet. haha! I'll let you know next week.

I may need kitcheny stuff once I transfer to a different area, but I can just buy that stuff here with the home card if that's OK with you guys? 

I love you guys a ton. I'm having a great time here in this ward and there are lots of good people to take care of us. The work is moving forward VERY fast here. Elder N and I have already begun to break "records" in this area as far as the work is concerned. President C was telling us at dinner one time that we are the lowest producing ward in baptisms/conversions...we looked him square in the face and DECLARED we would be changing that well before we transfer out. It's already begun to happen. It is INSANELY INCREDIBLE to see the kinds of miracles that happen. One of my favorites so far was this Sunday we were looking for at least one more investigator (we had 6 new at the time) and we had 15-20 min till our last appointment and then we'd go home. Well we prayed for inspiration and to be able to find someone. Not even 10 seconds later, a lady drove into her driveway, we taught her about the restoration and set a return appointment. Seven. BOMBSAUCE. I love my job. And I love you guys. Time to wrap up now. I'll send a another email with some more pic (I can only send so many per email.)

I love you guys! Keep the work moving forward, always!

BYE!

3.) This is a sign we saw on a random persons door that didn't answer the door.




 4.) This is a nice view on a hike we had on Monday! our Zone (Zion Zone, double Z) is pretty cool like this. We do all kinds of fun stuffz. It started when Elder N and I thought it'd be good to cook breakfast for everyone on a P-day. So started our zone activities. :D The hike was one of them. 





5.) One more pic........... Here is the same spot but...a better view ;) that's N & N right there!






That's all I have this time around! I'll try to get a normal pic of Elder J  (DL) and a pic of our Zone Leaders, Elders W and M :)

OK, BYE AGAIN!

BOB:
We love you son, and pray for you a lot. As well as your Investigators. 

If they don't get you your bike soon, I will fly down there and drive it to you myself. Dadgummit. Get my boy his bike. 


ELDER NINE:
Hahaha! That would be.......interesting for sure! I'm pretty pumped to try it out. haha.

Oh and a note for Mama, I am going to write JK snail mail so that should get to her OK. 

I love you guys! (cause I haven't said that enough)

bye bye!

BOB:
LOL, I see your camel back hydration hose in your P-Day pic. 

BTW, that scenery pic is now my iPhone background. Excellent imagery, love getting a feel for your area. 

ELDER NINE:
The Camelback is SOOOOO NICE. Everyone's like "three liters? that's too much to hauling around," then they see who they are talking to.... and then they ask for some from me. It's a good pic :) 

BOB:
ROFLOLPMGO

ELDER NINE:
roflshmsfo (so hard my sombrero falls off)

whats pmgo??

BOB:
puking my guts out

It was easier than typing 'peeing in my chair at work'. 

ELDER NINE:
...mature.  haha! I have to go now. Time for the other missionaries to write home. :) Love you!


~ Elder 9 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -