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.
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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!!!
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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
THE END
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... :)
227 Elder N also trying to be sassy...not as successfully though ;)
234 Victory stance!!!!!
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
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