Testify of Christ!

     Yesterday we had a historical stake conference. Parkwood (our Ward) and a couple other wards got put into the brand new stake. They also called a new the stake presidency who were all very young. This change won't do anything to our area but next transfer we will be having new zone leaders as the zone leaders are usually assigned to each stake. We had Elder Eduardo Gaverrat who is from the first quorum of the seventy come and speak to us as well. He was pretty hilarious and had a very great talk and testimony. Also president and sister slaughter came and they also had the chance to bear their testimony which was great. It was a two hour meeting and we had five stakes in our church building and it was being broadcasted to other buildings as well. 

    We finally had an investigator at church this Sunday even though it was a very different Sunday than others. His name is Jay and he is Mexican. We talked with him about 3 weeks ago and gave him a Book of Mormon. He didn't seem to interested then but when we ran into him again earlier this week he grabbed his Book of Mormon and started flipping pages. As he was doing so I saw many scriptures highlighted. He went on and turned to ether 12 and 13 in which he started to read many of these scriptures to us. It was so great. Almost the whole chapter was highlighted in bright yellow. After we meet with him on Wednesday we set an appointment at church on Saturday but it didn't

happen. We luckily ran into him again Saturday night and invited him to church. Sunday morning he came and picked us up in his car that smelled like smoke but we were very glad he came.

This week we had many people yelling at us while riding our bikes and we also got a water bottle thrown at us but they missed us (girls threw it). We also did service again with Brother Auble in which we did some electrical work mostly just switching out old plugs and plug covers with new ones and I also put up a fan. I have put up so many fans on my mission so far. Learning many things through doing service.

This week on Wednesday we had a world wide missionary conference it's the first time they have done one in a decade or more. We heard from Elder Neil L. Anderson, David A. Bednar, Bishop W. Christpherson Waddell, Elder L. Whitney Clayton, and Elder Dallin H. Oaks. The main focus of it was to learn how to better TEACHING REPENTANCE AND BAPTIZING CONVERTS. They really emphasized on this short 5 word phrase. I took many notes and learned many things that I need to change and work on. One of the things that Elder Neil L. Anderson talked about is how we always need to have Jesus Christ on our lips and always testify of how we know him and his teachings. This week we had a couple people think that we don't believe in Jesus Christ and that is because other missionaries have never brought up Jesus Christ when they talk with others. I have been trying to testify of Christ now more than I ever have before. It has been such a great blessing as I have been able to tell others that I know Jesus Christ lives and that we can know him more than ever by reading the bible and Book of Mormon, going to his restored church, and also praying to our father in Christ name. 

"I have found that the questions of life are far more important than the answers. We can be satisfied with different answers at different points in our life.  But it is the questions which keep us searching and growing."

Hope for a miracle!

This was a pretty fast week. We had service with brother Auble on Wednesday in which we stacked a bunch of logs and also cleaned out some of the very old stuff he had in his backyard. We had the Spanish Elders come with us as well to do service. The spanish Ward is no longer existing so our Ward got a little bit bigger. Also this Sunday coming up we have a conference with 5 other wards and I think that we will be moving to a different stake and that they are making two new ones but we will see. A lot has been changing with wards and also stakes lately. There will also be a 70 who is going to speak with us.

We weren't able to meet with Brother West but we meet with his sister and Mother the Rollins. They said that he has been struggling a lot these last couple days and they really appreciate us coming over.

Funny because we first started knocking on there door to visit them and then we happened to run into Bro. West. So we talked with them for a little on Saturday night and invited them back to church as they are also less active. On Sunday Monique Rollins Brother West sister came to church with her 8 soon to be 9 in a couple weeks daughter. They both loved church all tho they only stayed for sacrament meeting. It was so great to finally have someone we have been working with come to church. We have a lesson with them in a couple days and hopefully they will be able to come back to church next week as well.

We didn't meet with the Rodriguez this week because we weren't ever able to get a hold of them. Maybe they will call us back sometime or when we are in the area and stop by them they will be home. They seemed so excited to come back but nothing changed. Other than that we still haven't had any new investigators yet. We are still working hard and hope for a miracle soon.

We didn't have exchanges this week but we did have zone meeting which was good. We had interviews with President Slaughter also but other people took to long so There wasn't enough time to have my interview. That was a dagger. I learned a lot from the zone leaders and also from Presidents training. Lots of things that I need to work on and change.

"We truly need Him every hour, whether they be hours of sunshine or of rain."

We will find the one!

We got five referrals this week from online and also members and they were all over are area. We had to bike back and forth several times a day to try and contact each of them as soon as possible. It was a pretty good work out. Non of them were interested and either were their neighbors but that's okay because we will soon find the one that God has been preparing. We didn't have the chance to do service this week or over the holidays but we have service planned for Wednesday which will be nice.

This week we started working with a couple less actives but neither of them came to church. Brother West who is trying to flip his life around met with us last Sunday and Monday night but other than that we haven't been able to get a hold of him. We invited him to church but he didn't show up. We also met with another less active the Rodriguez family who we had a short lesson with the parents. They said they would also come to church but didn't show up. We have another lesson with them on Wednesday in which we are hoping to also met their other less active 19 year old son.

We had district meeting and also exchanges on Wednesday. I went with Elder Tiongson again who is in his second transfer. He is a pretty funny Elder but also very hard working. I stayed in my area here in Parkwood. This week we ran into someone who tried to bash with us which was a referral from an investigator up the street. We went over and he had us open up to John 1:1. He was trying to say that God isn't higher than Christ. It was pretty frustrating.

Also the Book of Mormon play has been going on these last couple weeks and we have ran into some people that saw the play. They kinda made fun of us but it was good. We were able to hand out a couple book of Mormons because of it.

Powerful and real!

New Year's Eve was just another day. No one wanted to wake up at midnight to celebrate so I set an alarm but I didn't hear it go off. It wasn't as fun as new years at bear lake but I still enjoyed it. We still haven't had a lot of success knocking around this last week but we finally got a hold of a less active member who has had a rough past but wants to flip his life around. We talked with him last night and we are going to be going back tonight. As my companion and I shared our testimony of the atonement it reminded me of how powerful and real Jesus Christ sacrifice for each of us is. Hopefully he will continue to feel the spirit in his life and let it change his actions and thoughts for the better.

This week on Tuesday and Wednesday my companion was sick so I just sat at home studying all day which was boring. Luckily it was only two days. Their has been no flooding but on Friday and Saturday it rained all day and was very cold. It's starting to warm up a little bit again and hopefully it doesn't get cold any time soon.

Church was great now that it starts at 11 we don't have to wake up even earlier than usual for meetings. We didn't have any investigators at church again or less actives come. We are working hard trying to find new investigators and get the less actives back to church so that they can feel the spirit.

Other than that stuff it was a pretty normal week with nothing to exciting. But I'm still loving it out here and I'm having a great time.


"Being HUMBLE means recognizing we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE WE CAN MAKE in the lives of others."                                                                                Gordan B. Hinkley

Christmas call!

It was great to hear from the family on Christmas. I hope y'all are
now having a fun time at bear lake. Yesterday it got very very cold
and I had to pull out the thick jacket and gloves. We didn't have any
investigators at church again but we are working on it. This week we
had a crazy experience. On Tuesday while knocking in an apartment
complex an old over weight man opened the door in his wheel chair with
only a shirt on and nothing else. Luckily his fat was covering
everything else but in his one hand he had a gun and started getting
mad at us. He was waving the gun around and said that he was going to
call the cops on us. After he said that he lifted up his fat and
flashed us saying that there are many handicap people that live here.
It was quite the experience.

Christmas Eve we had dinner with the a Chilean family who made SO much
food. We and two Spanish speaking elders left that house feeling like
we were all going to throw up because we ate so much. Then Christmas
morning still trying to recover from last nights dinner we had a huge
breakfast with a member of our Ward and then later that day we
finished off with a great Christmas dinner with the DeWitts (hyrums
old little league football coach).

We knocked and knocked many doors this week and I'm hoping to try and
figure out other finding events for this week. We will be stopping by
less active/Part Member/Prospective Elders/ and also active members to
try and get referrals. Hopefully we will be able to clear the blind
spots and find the elect that God is preparing for us.