Wed 3/26/2014 10:19 AM

Hmmmm, where to begin.  Well, first off, I just want you all to know that this last week was pretty dang awesome!  We will start with transfers.  We are currently down to a 3 Elder apartment and are in a trio.  It is Elder Wenner, Hunter and I.  Elder Bastida got transferred to Greenfield, MA to die on his mission in 6 more weeks.  Sister Kemp got transferred to Gardner, MA and we are getting Sister Romans, who I hear is a lot of fun and a great missionary.  She was in Elder Lefthand's district before this, so I have information coming from a good source.  So, now we have a lot more work to do since we are down a companionship, so it will be awesome!

This last week we got a baptismal date with Rosario for April 20th and are currently working, trying to get a date for her children, but there are some issues we have to handle with her ex-husband.

We got Jessica Boyd to church with her boyfriend and two daughters, which was awesome and she told us that she has some friends that want to come to church as well, to change their lives around.  So, it looks like we have some good potentials coming our way!

We did a lot of prepping people for General Conference coming and there has been such a sweet and powerful Spirit assisting us as we have sought to prepare them for this amazing time of year when we can listen to a prophet of God and all the other men and women he has called to lead his church.  "We Watched Conference," has something for you, by Jeffrey R. Holland, which is a little 3 min. excerpt from a previous conference talk of his that is packed with such a powerful spirit of love.  I invite you all to watch it and then seek to prepare yourselves for conference so that you to can receive that little prophetic epistle just for you. 

Elder Jones, our Zone Leader (who is awesome) got transferred to btw., but, before he left he gave me some very valuable advice on how to finger pick the guitar which was awesome! =D.

I met Jose this week for the first time and he is really a pretty cool guy.  He got out of prison and we are helping him to find God in his life and come to feel the power of the Atonement as well.  I am really looking forward to hearing from him.

Since Sister Jacobson is a Sister Training Leader, she was on exchanges with Sister Hileman in our area.  Sister Kemp was with Sister Brown, also working here as well.  A lot of awesome stuff happened in that exchange.  Sister Hileman and Jacobson met with Juan, an investigator whose wife is a member.  All of us have been having a hard time with him when it comes to the gospel.  Well, let's just say it was one of those powerful lessons where there were tears involved.  I wish I could have been there.  I do not feel how everything happened was a coincidence.  I believe that lesson was very well needed and that Sister Hileman needed to be there for it. She had already established a great love for that family and relationship with them that I believe only she was able to connect that way with them.  It is amazing to see how the Lord works.  As time goes by and after the many experiences I have had on exchanges I have felt more and more that truly there are  opportunities for us to find and connect with those that we are suppose to find.  For example, Sister Sullivan and her family.  Even though I was on exchanges that day, it opened up so many doors.  I have grown to love that family so much as a result even though I haven't had the chance to get to know them as much as the missionaries working with them.

Well, I am running out of time.  I just want you all to know how grateful I am to be able to be here on my mission.  I know that this truly is the work of the Lord.   I have had so many experiences that have humbled me greatly to where I know even more now, than I did before, that truly the Lord giveth and he taketh away.  I have been coming to realize my powerlessness without the Lord.  Truly, everything that I am, all of the talents, gifts, abilities and attributes I have are the Lord's.  I have been realizing that more and more as time goes on.  I remember before my mission I thought that I had come to know the Atonement pretty dang well and had come to know my Savior pretty well also because of the experiences I had. Well, I was wrong.  I have been experiencing the power of his Atonement in ways I have never before thought of and He seems to never cease to amaze me with His perfect love and willingness to forgive and forming us into who we need to be.  Truly He is the Master Gardener here and I am grateful that He loves me enough to have cut me down so that I can be who He intends me to be.

I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father and Redeemer who is Jesus Christ.  They want the very best for us and see us not as we are now, but rather as what we can become.  I invite you all to look to them, pray and ask them to help you see who you truly are and your potential as sons and daughters of God and to watch General Conference.  I promise you that those of you who accept this challenge and prepare for it now will come to feel the great love that God has for you and receive a personal little prophetic epistle just for you and the things you are going through in your life at this time.  I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

3/17/2014 11:37 AM

Well, once again another week just flew by!  Starting with a fantastic P-day!  We ended up going to the Science Musuem in Cambridge which was pretty dang sweet.  Our ward mission leader who owns a bunch of panadarias- hispanic bakery, was able to get us in for free, so that was a nice little treat.  I unfortianately was not thinking that day, so I did not get any pictures.  I hope you all will forgive me.  If I go back (which I probably will) I will make sure to take some.

 

We were able to get contact Jessica who is an inactive member who loves the missionaries.  She is pretty awesome and has two little girls named Kaylee and Daniel.  She and her little daughters sure are characters.  We also were able to meet with Rosario and had a great lesson on forgiveness; one on forgiving others and one on receiving forgiveness from the Lord.  It was an awesome lesson. Later that night we were able to meet with Juan and Evalynne. Evalynne is a member, her husband isn't and they have three little sons.  Juan isn't actually very interested and so the missionaries weren't able to meet with him for a while but, they are an awesome family.  We were there for 3 hours because we were waiting for Evalynne to get home, so we talked a lot with Juan and his friend Manny who is actually a former investigator as well.  We were just able to get to know them better and we talked about life and death and how the Lord has a plan for each and everyone of us. It was a great time.  Then finally Evalynne got home with her friend Jasmine, so we had 3 non-members there!  Now, normally we wouldn't be at someone's home for 3 hours, but it ended up turning out that way.  We found out later that Evalynne actually planned to be gone that long so that her husband would be forced to meet with us and interact since she wasn't there haha.  But, it was great and a good bonding time with Juan, so we'll see how things turn out.

 

We had an awesome lesson with a youth as well about missionary work.  He hasn't read the Book of Mormon and never wanted to serve a mission, but now he is pumped to serve one.  It was a great lttile lesson.

 

We were finally able to get the Lapops to open their door for us. They are a less active family I was working with when I was here last and after I left they stopped meeting with the missionaries.  So, hopefully we will be able to start meeting with them again.  I love them so much.  They are great people.

 

Also Jack, our Detective friend, came for mutual to talk to the youth about being a detective.  It was a great turnout.  We had 28 people there.  Twenty five were from our ward.  And for the cherry on top, we had 14 non members at church on Sunday; including Juan and Jasmine.  Then after church, got spoiled at Jessica's house as we ate ribs and very good steak.  So, we had a fantastic week and even though a lot of it fell through we were able to keep busy and have a lot of successes.

As time goes by, I am reminded more and more of how powerless I am to do this work alone.  It is amazing to me that God who is perfect, works through us, imperfect beings.  It truly is a great blessing to be a part of this wonderful work.  To share these things with others so that perhaps they too will put it to the test and come to realize who they, sons and daughters of God, and the great potential they have and to start seeing them change their lives is truly a joy that I cannot even come close to express. 

 

Where there is so much good to be done there will also be opposition. The wonderful thing though is that as long as we strive our very best to do what the Lord would have us do, and allow him to change us and help us, we cannot lose.

 

I know this is Christ's true church restored on the earth today; that He lives, and that truly all things that we are afflicted by, will turn out to be for our good.  I know these things are true and leave with my testimony that they are, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Mon 3/10/2014 9:08 AM

We met with Rosario and her family again and had an terrific experience with them.  We found out some of her concerns and were able to address them right then and there.  We had another confirmation with her where the Spirit confirmed that this is what she needs to do.  We then had her and her daughter pray and then look at a calendar and see what dates stood out to them.  It was a very powerful experience.  We left them with the commitment to talk to each other and pray and come to a conclusion to when they should be baptized.  I am looking forward to seeing what happens.

We were able to meet with someone we haven't been able to see since I got here.  His name is Jose and he has come to he point where he wants to change, so he is meeting with us, but at the same time he doesn't want to do anything.  We will see how it turns out. We will just love him and try to help him progress and change. 

We also met with an inactive youth who is 19.  He called us and wanted us to come by.  It was a nice little visit.  His name is Kevin. As we were sitting with him, listening I remember looking at him and not seeing him as he was dressed then, but rather as a missionary.  It was weird.  The thought came to share it with him. At first I was a bit hesitant, but then I decided to go ahead and share it anyway.  I did and a very sweet spirit entered the room in more force.  It was a great visit and he is a great kid.

We have had some fun times with Jack, our Police friend.  He takes really good care of us.  He is a self declared dry Mormon.  He is one of the most charitable guys I know and he loves us.  He is awesome.

It truly is a great blessing to be a part of this wonderful work.  To invite people as a representative of Jesus Christ to come unto Him is truly a miraculous thing to witness and be a part of.

I know that truly we have a loving, merciful Savior, who wants us to come unto him.  He wants to forgive us of our sins and shortcomings and wants us to feel his love and the peace that comes from trusting him.  I know that this is his church, that all who truly desire to follow him will come closer to him through his church and his teachings than by any other way.  I leave these things with all of you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Mon 3/3/2014 11:20 AM

I cannot believe that it is already March!  Where is all the time going?  It is going way to fast, that is for sure!

This past week has been amazing with a lot of great experiences. On Tuesday we went to meet with la familia Flores.  It is Rosario and her two children, Stephanie who is 12 and John who is 9.  We had our friend Alfredo come with us as well.  It was a bit of an interesting lesson because we ended up actually splitting them for the lesson.  Elder Wennar taught the kids while I taught Rosario. They have had all the lessons and are just an amazing family. She has been struggling with getting an answer whether or not this is what the Lord wants her to do, but she does believe the church is true.   We watched the "Patterns of Light" Mormon messages by David A. Bednar with them and I shared with her the story of Enos and expounded it to help her understand - what we need to do to get an answer, how we need to do it and how we can understand we are receiving the answer.  It was very spiritual and at the end we all knelt down together and we invited her to say a pray asking the Lord and then afterwards we knelt in silence to listen/feel the Spirit and what it was telling us.  Well it worked out a little different than we intended because she and her kids ended up just saying quiet personal prayers :-), but the result was the same.  The Spirit that entered the room during that time was immense.  I remember looking at her as she raised her head and she had tears rolling down here cheeks and to then be able to help her self discover what the Spirit felt like was a remarkable experience.  Elder Wennar and I testified boldy, lovingly and powerfully to them and helped her realize that she had gotten the answer to her prayers.  We then extended a baptismal date to her, but she didn't accept.  She expressed why to us and also that she wanted to pray about it some more.  To be honest, we were a little bit bummed, but they are a terrific family and I feel that everything will work out.  I am so excited for when it does! 

We had our Zone Conference this week as well.  It was pretty dang amazing!  In the beginning, President Packard went in depth about the King Benjamin Speech and how poetic it is.  It was very interesting and it is amazing how educated King Benjamin was, the symbolism in everything he said, how he said it.  I wish I could remember a lot of the words he used and what everything was called, but it was just remarkable to see and learn.  Even if Joseph Smith did make up the Book of Mormon (which he didn't) there is no way a uneducated man like himself could have used the ancient art of poetry that had been lost for so long.  It truly is remarkable! Then to hear President Hait speek at the end was amazing.  I don't even really remember what he said and wasn't able to take notes because I was being his scribe on the white board up front, but I just remember being overwhelmed by the Spirit as he spoke.  He is amazing.

We hung out with Jack this past week as well, gave him some service.  Then he took us out for yogurt and to the Police Station so we could write a letter to a 6 year old kid who has Leukemia right now.  That was a nice little experience, to try and give some comfort to him and his family.

We have also been working with a lot of the youth, trying to help them gain a desire to serve a mission and everything else. This last Fast Sunday one of them got up and bore his testimony how now he wants to go on one and then he pointed us out and thanked us.  It was a bit awkward to be acknowledged, but I am so happy that he wants to go on one now. 

It truly is amazing to see the Lord's hands in this work.  To feel him working through me as His representative.  Words cannot come close to express the joy and love I feel!  As I continue to strive to give the Lord my all, striving to help those around me come to Him, Jesus Christ, miracles happen.  It is amazing to me to see all of the opposition that seems to come, but oh how grateful I am for the grace of Jesus Christ, or in other words, that enabling power to do what I myself alone would not be able to do without Him.  He has been blessing the lives of those around me.

 

People say that the mission is a great opportunity to forget yourself and help those around you.  It seems no matter how much I try to forget myself and help others, it is me that is receiving so many blessings that there is no room to receive them.

 

I encourage all of you who are reading this to forget yourselves and look for someone you can help in whatever way it may be.  Serve them, help them, love them, or even just listen to them.  You will find that all the troubles in life will be calmed by these small and simple things.  When we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in service of our God!  How amazing is that?  It doesn't matter whatever it is that we struggle with.  Whether it be depression, loneliness, sadness, being stressed, overwhelmed, angry or whatever it is.  Service is such a great cure to many of the illnesses and things in the world that are bad.

 

I invite you to look for an opportunity to serve someone this week. Whoever, and whatever it may be that you do for them. I want you yo come to feel and know what I have been experiencing with all my heart. I know that this Church is truly the Church of Jesus Christ, that He loves each and everyone of us and that one of the greatest ways to truly turn a frown upside down is to forget yourself and help someone else who stands in need. I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

 

 

Mon 2/24/2014 10:49 AM

This last week has been very spiritual, but a very draining week for me.  It is awesome to be back in Revere.  There truly is something very special about this area.  I have a great companion and the work is great.  What more can one ask for?  I finally got to meet our investigator family. Rosario, the mother; Stephanie-12 year old daughter and Johnny-year old son.  They are so special and are currently just seeking an answer.  They have been keeping commitments and have progressed so much!  We currently have 11 investigators and are striving to find more.  The Lord truly is hastening his work.  As of right now we are doing our best to find out what the Lord wants for this area and what we need to do to make it happen.  We have 6 missionaries, so we are trying our best to make sure we are unified in the work and recording everything effectively.  It is amazing how I still feel like I know nothing lol. You would think after being out a year everything would just be so much easier.  I am starting to finally get why all the departing missionaries say that they were finally just starting to get it.

 

This last week we were blessed to be able to go to the temple twice. Once on p-day and the other day on Wednesday with our ward.  It was all in Spanish and there were parts that were a bit hard because of the lang., but nonetheless a very great experience. 

 

Friday night we had a Family Home Evening at our investigators house and this is how awesome she is.......she is already sharing the gospel!  She invited her friend over, and it was a great lesson.  She accepted a Book of Mormon and accepted the invitation to read. She will be there again this Friday.  We went "less active hunting" with the Sisters since they were our ride.  It was a lot of fun.  In the car ride before we started the thought came to mind, " Hey you should practice out those contacting tricks that President Packard's cousin taught you."  Well, sure enough, there were plenty of opportunities and now we will be returning to a lady's house to leave a blessing on it and teach her the 1st lesson! 

 

The members here are amazing and so hard working.  We have one member that makes 4 trips in the morning just to bring people to church, and then to take them home.  Many others like that as well. We just need to help get everyone unified in the work so we can get even more done.

 

I have to get going now, but before I leave I wanted to leave you all with my testimony that I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ and it has been restored to the earth today.  I have felt him guiding me along in His work and know that He has a plan for each and every one of us.  One that at times may not make sense, but one that will help us to become who it is He wants us to be and knows we can become.  I leave these things with you and also an invitation to seek out what plan it is the Lord has for you and to follow that plan.  For truly your life will be blessed along with those of them that you come in contact with.  I leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Mon 2/17/2014 11:21 AM

Leaving New London was bitter sweet. I am so sad to have left everyone I had come so close to there, especially Ramona and her family.  I love that family so much, especially the little girl Ambar. She was so awesome.  Before I left we jam packed our days visiting everyone.  It was a great blessing for me to be able to give the people I love Priesthood blessings before I left.  The very last day in the morning Elder Meservy and I were blessed with the opportunity to give a woman a blessing who is pregnant and was in the hospital with a really bad gall blatter infection.  She was in a lot of pain and was scared.  She asked me what my favorite scripture was to help with fear.  I remembered Doctrine and Covenants section 6 towards the end. 

34 Therefore, fear not, little ^aflock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are ^bbuilt upon my rock, they cannot prevail.

 36 ^aLook unto me in every ^bthought; ^cdoubt not, fear not.

 37 ^aBehold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the ^bnails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall ^cinherit the ^dkingdom of heaven. Amen.

I was then blessed with the opportunity to bear my testimony about our Savior and his Atonement and some of my experiences.  I can't come close to express the love I felt as I felt the Spirit enter in that room so strongly and saw tears run down this lady's face.  I remember testifying to her that He - Jesus Christ was there and would be by her side throughout it all.  Well last night Elder Meservy called me and let me know what happened.  The pain had stopped, and all these crazy things happened which left the doctors and staff speechless.  She should be in a ton of pain still and shouldn't be able to eat or drink.  After thinking about all the possibilities they then asked her if she was Mormon, to which she replied, "yes, yes I am." 

Being back in Revere again sure is different.  Everyone from my last district left and so it is all new faces.  Elder Somppi, my old companion, finished his mission.  I sure am gonna miss him.  I wish I could have served with him longer than that transfer.  He truly is such a special guy.  He bore such a powerful testimony before he left.  One of the most loving people I know. 

Now I am with his son - in the mission, Elder Wennar.  He is great!  He is one of the 18 year old missionaries and has been out for 4 months.  His spanish is already better than mine.  It is crazy.  The Lord truly is hastening his work along with those he has called.  I love him so much and it is funny he has bits and pieces of Elder Somppi and Freeman in him.  Mostly Somppi.  He has that wonderful Somppi laugh lol.  As for the work, there are so many new investigators and I haven't had the opportunity to meet them yet, but will this week.  Jack, our cop friend, is now investigating.  It was awesome to see him and the others I knew get excited for my return. Christian, one of the investigators we were working with last time I was here got confirmed at church this last Sunday, which was a nice little treat.

There sure is so much work to do.  That is great though.  I am going to do my best to work Elder Wennar to death. lol.  I am so excited to be back again. There seems to be something about this place that just draws me in, helping me realize on an even greater level how powerless I truly am without the Savior.

I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Savior and even more so grateful for the relationship I have developed with Him and continuing to develop with Him.  This knowledge brings such great comfort to my soul.  For truly He is the Great Physician, who's hands are perfectly steady and experienced as He himself suffered all of our pains, sicknesses, infirmities, and injustices of every kind, both spiritual and temporal.  He allows us to feel the sorrow and pain so we can much more enjoy the peace and joy that He brings.  My trust in Him grows each and every day. Yes there are dark days where everything seems so overwhelming and where I may feel completely lost, but truly as we move forward with faith, no matter how small and insignificant that faith may seem to us, He grants us his guiding light one step at a time after we take that initial step into the unknown.

There are so many miracles around us if we but look for them.  I leave you with my testimony that I know with everything that I possess that Jesus Christ,is the Son of God. He is our Great Physician, our Savior and Redeemer.  He lives and truly what joy and comfort that sentence gives.  I leave these things with you all in His sacred name, even the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Mon 2/3/2014 11:13 AM

I do not have time today since we are currently in the Maximus storm, which we are red dotted for, so we will need to head out soon to get back home. 

This last week has been good!  On tuesday we were able to figure out the MAIN concern Ramona had for being baptized, which was awesome.  She said that she does want to be baptized though and her son Brandon is running around telling everyone he wants to be baptized and become a Deacon!  So things have been going pretty good. 

 

Also this last week we had our highest numbers for member lessons for a week since I have been here and I think even before I got here, so that was a nice accomplishment as well, which we are grateful for the Lord's help.  So it was a great week.

I know that this is the Lord's work and that if we all strive to turn to him, put our trust in him and do as he would have us do, miracles will happen.  I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Mon 1/27/2014 10:28 AM

This past week has been pretty dang good!  We had a great turn out on Sunday of 39, where people are coming more consistently and for those that are returning, they are doing the things they need to do and as a result it has been a great blessing to see the light in their eyes grow brighter and brighter!  Repentance truly is a beautiful, remarkable thing!  Especially to see people come and taste of it's fruits and come to know what true joy, peace and happiness is like.

I had a pretty interesting experience.  We were over at Ramona's house and I got attacked furiously by a little 6 year old girl... She jumped out of no where and.... well... needless to say, I had received 3 big kisses on my face by her before I knew what in the world happened lol!  They are an amazing family whom I have come to love and care about so much.  I cannot wait to see them enter the waters of baptism when they are ready and make that amazing step preparatory to receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, one of the greatest blessings and gifts we have in this life.  A gift where we have the wonderful companionship of a member of the Godhead always with us, to guide us in our lives, provide comfort when we stand in need of comfort and to help us increase in knowledge and truth of all things.  It truly is amazing and a gift that I am very grateful for in my life.

On Tuesday we got red-dotted.. again.  We were doing service and the Chester rolled in and dumped a descent amount of snow on the ground making it a bit difficult to head out and work.

During studies this last week I learned a lot which I am grateful for and I wish I could share it all with you.  During my studies I felt impressed on how we can go about inviting Ramona to be baptized and as well as some other things to help her have more Spiritual experiences confirming the truth to her so we can point out the Spirit to her.  I am looking forward to meeting with them this week.

Oh how lucky we are to have a loving Father in Heaven who has given us wonderful families on this earth!  Even more so as members of the Church to not only know that death has no victory over us - meaning death is not the end.  Also that we can live for ALL TIME AND ETERNITY with those we love and cherish the most, our families.  What a wonderful plan and example of the love that our Heavenly Father has for us!  We will experience times of sorrow, loneliness, heartache and many other not so fun emotions and events in life, but we have the enabling power of our Savior Jesus Christ to carry us through, allowing us to do those things that we ourselves are not able to do without him.  We do not need to wait to feel his warm, loving arms engulf us, but rather if we turn to him and pour out our heats to him and express our innermost feelings, doubts, fears, thoughts, He WILL be there for us.  I Know this to be true, as I have felt him literally lift me up and wrap me in his arms and I have seen that happen in the lives of others.  Trials will come, but only for a short season leaving us stronger, more compassionate and loving towards others as a result.  In essence, these trials are what shapes us to become more like our Heavenly Father.

I leave you all with my love, my support and my testimony.  That I know Jesus Christ is the literal Son of God, that He lives, and that through him we can have peace, joy and the strength to continue on and be shaped into who it is our Heavenly Father wants us to be.  I say these things in his name, the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Mon 1/20/2014 10:54 AM

This past week has been incredible!  So much awesome stuff has happened I don't know where to begin.

W had our interviews with our Mission President, which was awesome.  Then we had a lot of great visits with members, less actives and our investigators.  On Thursday we went out with our Branch President to meet with a part member family (the man I described as the "not yet Paul.")  We weren't sure what to share, but then the thought came to mind to share the BYU Devotional by Tad R. Callister with him and his family.  That talk is very bold in the way where it uses the Bible to point out the organization of Christ's Church from the bible and how there is only ONE church today that fits that blueprint perfectly, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It addressed a lot of his concerns and questions as well, with some of the greatest questions and points I have ever heard.  The best part is that he was actually listening to it!  It was a very wonderful visit.  I hope that the things in that video are playing over in his mind and helping prepare a place in his heart to finally progress.

 

We had a great family home evening with a less active family who invited their sister who is less active and who's husband is not a member and their 3 kids are also not members and they are 8, 9 and 11 years old.  Also, Ramona, our investigator, was at it with her kids as well.  We watched the "Patterns of Light" videos for part of the message and Ramona wanted to watch the second one again!  It was a great opportunity.

 

There are so many more wonderful things that happened this last week as well that has been causing my heart to fill with such sweet joy and desire to sing the song of redeeming love with even more gusto than before (Alma 5:26).

 

This last week as well I felt I needed to start looking up ways to recognize and develop the gifts and talents that I have been given from our Heavenly Father to help those around me.  I am not close to being done yet but as I have found them and written them down  my soul has been expounding and it has been helping me to have yet another way I can exercise my faith in the Lord and better be able to help others come to him.  That is something that I would encourage each and every one of you to do, to start looking for the unique gifts and talents that you have and strive to develop them and share them with others.  I promise that you will find it will yield wonderful results, filling you life with more meaning, joy and happiness, for truly as we strive to magnify the talents and gifts the Lord has blessed us with, we will gain more and find more fulfillment in life.  It is important as well to remember that since we all have different talents that we should not compare ourselves to others when they seem to have another talent or gift that we do not. Rather, we should strive to develop the ones we have and strive to develop others as well.  For example, one of my wonderful sisters has the divine and great gift and talent of handling children, loving them and teaching them in very creative ways.  My other sister has a wonderful and great gift and talent of making people feel welcome and loved and is aware of how others may be feeling. These are two magnificent things, but cannot be compared to each other, for each is as important as the other because they are gifts and talents that are used to enrich the lives of others. WOW. I do not know where all that came from.  I am suppose to be giving an update and seem to be giving a discourse instead!

 

Well everyone just know that I love you all very much and am grateful for all that you do.  I do strongly encourage you to strive to come to know yourself better and our loving Heavenly Father as well by coming to recognize, develop and be faithful to those wonderful and beautiful gifts that each and every one of you has.

 

I encourage you to take time to remember daily all of your many blessings from the Lord and as you do these things you will find that your life will be enriched, that you will be filled with the Love of God, a love that will not fail you and will cause you to rejoice even in the most difficult of times as you strive to turn outward.

 

I leave you with these things and with my testimony that I know that these things are true, that we are all unique children of a Loving Heavenly Father, having our own special gifts to bless our lives more abundantly as we use them to bless the lives of others.  In the very sacred name of our Lord and Savior, even Jesus Christ, amen. 

Mon 1/13/2014 4:12 PM

I do not have much time this week to write so hopefully I will be able to get some of the stuff in that transpired.

 

This last week has been pretty dang amazing!  At church on Sunday we had 35 people there and 9 women in Relief Society and 8 youth at church, 6 being from our branch.

 

We have been working like crazy and Ramona, one of our investigators, has finally been reading the Book of Moromon on her own and asking good questions!

 

We have been able to go out with our Branch President quite a bit which has been awesome.  He sure is dedicated in helping us.  He would be working in New Hampshire or Massachusetts, get off, drive home and come to help us visit with investigators and less actives.

 

The weather has been warming up here a bit which has been a little weird, but good.  We have been having good success coming our way and have picked up some of our previous investigators that we had before and then fell off the earth!  It's ok because they are back!

 

Today for P-day we went bowling which was fun.  Next to us was a small family and there was a very young, little girl who could hardly pick up the ball with both her hands so it was sure funny to watch her bend over to put it on the ground and push it.... She was actually doing pretty good and it was even more precious to see her do a little dance when she knocked down the pens... lol.

 

This last week as we were meeting with a part member family.  The husband is a non-member and is an awesome guy who is very committed already to the Lord and knows the Bible like the back of his hand.  Once he is able to give the truth a place in his heart I feel that he will decide to be baptized and be a powerhouse.

 

This past Sunday morning I had a rather important and beautiful experience as I was praying.  In the Lord's goodness and love He brought back to my mind an experience I had before my mission. An experience that was very powerful for me and one that I haven't thought about for a while.  As a result, the Holy Ghost taught me and increased my understanding of that experience and helped me to apply it to my life even more.  I have come to realize that so often in our lives we seem to ask to have some sort of new remarkable experience without really giving thought of one that we have already had; learning all we can from it.  It seems to me that the Lord has been teaching me lately the importance of REMEMBERING, something, that for me is very hard to do at times, but oh what marvelous things we can learn from these experiences if we but just take time to remember them! I have felt the power from remembering, and would like for those of you reading this do as I have and to remember those experiences you have already had.  There is always something that you can learn more from them and you will find as I have been that they will fill your soul with a new abundance of Spirit and with the ability to remember all that the Lord has done for you in your life.

 

I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ who love us beyond measure.  They have given us certain gifts, talents, abilities and experiences for us to share with others and as we seek to remember these things and do our best to learn from them, we will be strengthened in all areas of our lives.  We will have the peace of God even in the most trying of times.  I leave you all with this testimony and my love, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Mon 1/6/2014 11:00 AM

Well, things have been a bit hectic and different lately.  I am sorry that I have not been able to write for the blog recently.

Christmas came, I was able to skype with the family.  That was a great experience for me.  It meant a lot to be able to see the people I love for once and not be limited only to typing or writing.  However, it was very weird at the same time.

The weather out here has been up and down, trying to decide if it wants to cool down or heat up.  I still don't think that it knows what it wants yet.  We had a "red dot" day last week since there was suppose to be a bad storm coming in.  The day we were red dotted nothing happened.  It came that night, so we had a total of 9 missionaries staying over since some of them didn't have heat at their apartments.  It was fun.  The next day it was a steady 5 degrees and at night got in the negatives around -15 F, from what we heard.

Elder Mortenson, our Zone Leader, left us last week as well since he just finished his mission.  It was sad to see him leave, but now he is off to the next step in life; looking for that special some one and going to college.  So, it turned out pretty good.

We went to where one of Taylor Swift's houses is last P-day since one of the Elders here has had a huge crush on her. There were a whole lot of guards there... so we were thinking about maybe, just maybe doing a blitz with all of our zone, to see who the lucky one would be that got past the guards, since we outnumbered them. Don't worry though.  We used our heads and didn't do it =D.

The work is finally starting to pick up again as it is getting back to normal.  Our investigator family is doing good.  The grandmother is not really interested in being baptized since she is content with her religion right now.  But, Ramona has a good strong desire to be, but doesn't want to be somebody who joins the church and then later leaves it to go to another.  Her son Brandon wants to be baptized as well.  He actually brought up baptism that night as we were there.

We are having a family home evening tonight at a less active members house, who invited her less active family over and we will also have Ramona and her family there as well.   It should be a lot of fun.

After Christmas we had yet another musical fireside.  It was great! We got the members pumped for it and so they brought friends from work and we had Ramona and her family come as well.  It was a great turn out.  The Spirit was so strong as well.  It is amazing to me to see more and more in my life, as time goes by, that truly, before and after great spiritual experiences, Satan will try to do everything in his power to hinder that experience from happening.  It seemed like everything was coming at us.  The weather that day was horrible, so if it got just a little bit worse we probably would have had to cancel it again like last time.  But, the Lord was merciful and blessed us with a great turn out and a great night.

I know that this truly is the work of God.  That this is His true church restored on the earth today and that Jesus Christ is truly at the head of it.  There may be times in our lives where we might think everything seems to be dumping on us and hitting us with everything its got; making our knees feel weak and soon to collapse.  But, I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and that truly his grace, his enabling power, will enable us to do what we otherwise could not do if left to our own strength.

 

For those of you who may be feeling weighed down, beaten and battered from the many things life has to throw at you, I invite you to turn to your Savior Jesus Christ and pray.  You can always pray and talk to a loving Father in Heaven who wants to hear from you and help you.  For those of you whose knees gave way at the heavy burden placed upon you, I invite you as well to turn to Jesus Christ, that he may help you up, and embrace you with his loving arms.

 

I leave you with my testimony that I do know that Jesus Christ lives, that he is a merciful, loving, understanding and forgiving God.  He loves each and every one of us more than we can ever come close to comprehend.  Repent, or in other words, turn back to Him or to Him for the first time.  He is waiting to embrace you with a love and support you will not forget.  I leave you with these things in His name, even the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Monday, December 23, 2013 10:49 AM

This last week has been pretty dang eventful!  It has been very weird and different though because the missionary work we were doing was a different type.  We had the Missionary Musical Fireside a couple more times, so that means days were kinda shot by having to drive everywhere for it.  It was a hit so they are also going to be having it again this Sunday in Groton since the day we were suppose to perform there originally got canceled because of the winter storm.  Seeing that ALL the snow has melted and the temperature is now around 60 degrees I doubt it will get canceled again.

On Tuesday we headed up to Massachusetts to go to the Boston Temple in the morning.  It was an amazing experience!  Before we started the session, the Temple President spoke to us, and let's just say it opened my eyes a whole lot more and prepped me for going through the temple on a whole new level.  We also had pictures given to us from our mission president, of Peter and John as they first found out that the Savior was resurrected.  It was a very moving picture to see their facial expressions and to have President Packard expound on it by telling us about the background and bringing to remembrance the story.  As we went through the temple after this my eyes were opened to a whole lot more symbolism that there is.  It was a wonderful experience.

After the temple we had a few hours before the rest of the Christmas party started.  Instead of going to eat lunch with the rest of our zone, Elder Meservy and I had to go to the Longfellow chapel to hop on a computer to edit our video skit and also because President Packard asked us to pick up a slide show from the digital missionaries there.  Once we got back to the chapel, we then did the Musical fireside we had done previously in other areas.  After that we all went down to the basketball court area and had food, watched the skits, and just had a nice little party.  It was a blast!  We got all of our presents that were sent to the mission home, which was really nice, and then as it came time to leave, It was announced that they did not want us to drive home because of the storm that had come in.  So, the Elders stayed at the mission home and the Sisters went to the traveling sisters' house.  As we headed out to the cars, they were covered in snow, and so Elder Meservy and I started going to work cleaning off sisters' cars and everyone elses.  It was actually a blast and it is amazing even though we were the last ones to take off following President, we didn't get that cold. Truly the Lord blessed us with many tender blessings as we were in 5 degree weather and our burdens were made light in a sense.  I remember even stepping in a huge pile of snow and it getting in my shoes and afterwards how everyone's socks and shoes were wet except mine and Elder Meservy's.  So, we stayed at the mission home and then drove home in the morning.  It was a blast!

It seemed like the rest of the week was a very weird and hard week though.  Since people are getting ready for Christmas, and people leaving town it has been a bit difficult to meet with people.  That is OK, however, since we were able to get a little bit more planning in for the area.

What a wonderful time of year it is, and a great opportunity we have to turn our thought to the true meaning of CHRISTmas and so I would urge all of you to think about what gift it is that you could give your Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that Jesus Christ came into the world to save it, and all those in it if they but turn to him. 

I know that He is the literal Son of God and that He lives, for I felt his presence and love lifting me up giving me hope when I felt all was lost.  He is my Savior, my Redeemer and Lord.  I leave these things with you in His name, even the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Mon 12/16/2013 10:11 AM

Where to begin?  There has been a lot that has transpired these past two weeks.  I hope that I can remember it all.  Last week the reason why I was not able to write was because our zone was filming a video for the Christmas party coming up tomorrow.  We had a lot of missionaries in a chapel with only 4 computers. so we had to be very brief so everyone had some time to email a little and finish what we needed to.

 

What we decided to do for the video was a movie trailer kind of theme about the infamous "T-Texts."  For those of you that do not know what that is, every six weeks all the missionaries in our mission receive texts Saturday night and we find out if people are getting transferred to another area and where they will be at sent. So, it can get pretty intense at times.  It sure was a lot of fun to film, that's for sure.

 

We had a great first lesson with our Branch Missionary Leader and his two friends from work.  They are twin sisters and their names are Isanety and Michelle.  They are Dominican and are in their 20's. We taught them the Restoration and it was a great visit.  They for sure felt the Spirit very strongly.  I am so excited to meet with them again, but a little sad at the same time since we found out they will be moving to Seattle, Washington the beginning of January, otherwise known as the "Boston West Mission," since it seems like we loose a lot of investigators to the west coast.  But, we will do what we can to continue to help their desire grow and keep it going as they move and pass them along to the missionaries and Ward over there.

 

So, after having a great, jam packed week of visits, the week before we had 55 people at church!  It was fantastic!  We were a little bummed though that one of the less active members we had a pretty intense spiritual lesson with ended up not coming after she promised she would. 

 

Since we have been getting snow, one of our days we gave service. We were at the other missionaries' apartment because we had to finish our studies to finish planning for the day. The Zone Leaders  dropped by to grab their laundry and let's just say some how it turned into a little snow fight.... =D.  It was a well needed break though to enliven our bodies and help our minds wake up a little more.  Later that day, we were meeting with a youth and as we were leaving, had another little snow ball fight with him.  Then later that night, the zone leaders picked us up from our apartment to go to the Waterford missionaries apartment because we all had to meet together and exchange things since somehow it seemed like we all ended up with each others stuff and since they were taking a while we ended up making some hot chocolate and waiting outside with a mass supply of snowballs!  So, that day was a ton of fun packed with a lot of work as well. Nothing better than that.

 

Now, this last week we had so much planned and it ALL seemed to fall through... But, that is how it goes some times.  We can't always expect everything to go smoothly and the way we plan, but we were still able to stay busy.  Plus I got a call Wed. asking me to give a 2-3 min talk/experience in a missionary musical fireside about how I came to know that Christ is the literal Son of God.  The fireside was fantastic!  It was a great blessing to be able to listen to such beautiful music.  All involved played and sang some of the most beautiful music I have heard.  There was one Sister in particular named Sister Hyoung who really knew how to play the piano. I do not think I have ever heard anyone play the piano as she did.  It was a great experience.

 

Saturday we sort of had a red dot day, which means the mission doesn't want us to go out.  But, it was more of a, "only if you think it is too bad to go out," kind of red dot day.  This was because we had our first winter storm!  It was really pretty tight!  It had been around 13 to 15 degrees all day and that morning we were helping members move.  Then later that night it picked up more and I was driving very slowly since it seemed like I would just slide to a stop.... Don't worry we were being safe... =D.  It was really cool, because EVERYTHING was just white.  There were some streets where you couldn't tell the street from the sidewalk, if the snow plows hadn't gone through yet.

 

So, in short, everything is going great.  I love it, I love the the work, the people, the weather and just everything. Tomorrow we will be having a Christmas party and so we get to start the day by leaving at 5am to get up to the temple by 8 and just have a wonderful day up in Boston until the Party later that afternoon.  So, I might be able to get to stop by some people's homes up there in Revere.

 

I would just like you all to know that I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that He truly is the Literal Son of God.  I know this because I have experienced his love in my life and felt his transforming power helping me to become who it is He would have me become.  I have literally felt him picking me up when I had nothing left to give, when all hope seemed to have diminished. Truly He is the Son of God, The Light, Life and Truth, our Savior and Redeemer.  I invite all of you to look for his hand more abundantly in your lives, and promise you that as you do so you will find it.  As we look for others in need and strive to give an aiding hand to lift one another's burdens, we will more abundantly be able to feel of his love.  What better present can we give to Him than this?  He who suffered so much that it caused himself "even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore."  I leave you with my testimony that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world as a babe in a manger.  That He did come to take upon himself all of our sins, infirmities, sicknesses, pains and everything that we go through in life that just isn't right.  Truly He did come to free us from all bondage so that we can be happy.  I leave this with you, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Mon 12/2/2013 9:46 AM

This last week was Thanksgiving and it was fantastic!  We actually ended up having an American style Thanksgiving, which was a surprise, but it was delicious.  We ate at a member's house whose husband is not a member and has kind of been dodging missionaries before.  He is a really great guy though.  We shared a nice little message about gratitude and the importance of it.  It fit with the day pretty well.  After dinner and when people were leaving, he came up to us and thanked us for our message and we started talking.  He brought up a bunch of stories in the bible and it was a nice little discussion we had for about 15 minutes.  Now as a result we are going to start having a little bible study with him every week with our Branch President.  We will be trying to strengthen our relationship with him and try to start bringing the Book of Mormon into it here and there.  Also on Sunday the branch had a special fast for him.

 

After their house we went to Pops and Sweeties for dessert and ended up playing some games for a little bit.  So, after a long day of planning for the week and eating a ton it was nice to play a few games to keep us awake after all that turkey we ate!

We were able to find a few people that were lost before as well.  We have an appointment with 2 previous investigators this week and our finding pool has been growing a whole lot too with referrals from members and everything.

 

On Tuesday we were able to go out with our newly appointed Branch Mission Leader to meet Ramona and her family.  It turned out to be a good little visit.  They haven't been keeping their commitments to read the Book of Mormon so we were able to focus on it and address their concerns as well.  As a result they now are starting to read by themselves =). 

 

As for everything else there has just been a whole lot of planning and organizing, getting things that we need in order to get things going here.  We have been able to get our foot in the door with a lot of less active members who no one has been able to meet with for a while.

 

On Sunday we had a less active/part member family come to church for their baby son to be blessed and I was able to participate in that.  What a tender experience it was.  To stand around that newborn and the Spirit and love that was there.  It was incredible! 

 

Needless to say, this next week we have jammed pack and it seems a lot of good things are starting to come our way, so I am excited! The Lord truly has been blessing us with so many miracles daily and it has been great working with Elder Meservy.

I know that this church is true, that Jesus Christ is at the head of it and it is his church.  I know that he knows us perfectly and is filled with love, compassion and mercy toward us.  I know that He lives and truly the only better thing than knowing about him is coming to know him better than we do now.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Mon 11/25/2013 9:38 AM

This last week was busy meeting with people before Elder Pope took off.  Transfers were amazing!  I was able to see so many of the people I have become so close to and my heart has been swelling with great gratitude for the opportunity I have had to meet and become friends with so many wonderful people.  My heart rejoices, like Alma the Younger when he saw his friends again, the Son's of Mosiah, in seeing how far they have come and that they are still his brothers in the gospel. 

 

As I previously said, it was transfers! Elder Meservy and I are having a great time together and are honestly feeling a little bit overwhelmed with the amount of work that needs to get done here, along with a great excitement because of the potential this area has.

 

This Sunday we also finally have a Branch Mission Leader!  He is a member in the Branch Presidency and his name is Moises (Moses in English).  He is a return missionary and an awesome guy, so we are stoked to work with him.

 

This last week we had a Thanksgiving Talent Show which was a lot of fun.  It sure was interesting having Hispanic style turkey!  It was actually pretty dang good!  There were also a whole lot of non-members there; it was a nice little turn out.  We weren't able to stay for the show though.  It got started too late.  I was going to sing in it, but we had to get back home.  As we went out to the car it was SNOWING!  Unfortunately none of it stuck.  It has been getting a bit chilly over here.  It was 19 degrees this morning without the windchill and it was pretty dang windy.

 

Yesterday was Pop's birthday and that was a lot of fun with a great beef stew and Reese's ice cream cake.  We have been having a whole lot of fun and good time working hard as well.  Also, we have stumbled across a pretty fun game which I would encourage those who love to laugh and act out ridiculous things, to look for.  It is called Hilarium and is an awesome game.

I do not know what more to say other than, I LOVE and am GRATEFUL for this wonderful gospel!  I LOVE and am GRATEFUL for all of the wonderful people the Lord has placed in my life, especially my wonderful family!  I LOVE and am GRATEFUL for the opportunity to be on a mission, to share the wonderful message of the gospel with others!  I LOVE and am so GRATEFUL for the LOVE that our Savior has for each and everyone of us and that he gave his life willingly, that we may once again return to live with him!  I LOVE and am GRATEFUL for the Book of Mormon!  Every time I pick it up to study it and squeeze the juice out of it, my understanding INCREASES; the LOVE, EXCITEMENT and GRATITUDE I have for this gospel and desire to share it with others INCREASES! 

For all of you reading this, I want you to know that I know this gospel is true.  I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church fully restored on the earth today and that we are guided by The Good Shepard who is Jesus Christ, through the loving Prophet Thomas S. Monson.  I am so GRATEFUL for the LOVE, PEACE, added strength and Spirit the Spirit of GRATITUDE brings into our lives.  I know that as we seek to see the Lord's hand in our lives and our many blessings from him and our loved ones, our GRATITUDE and LOVE will INCREASE as a result.

 

There is so much power in GRATITUDE, brothers and sisters and I hope with all my heart and with all my soul that we will search for the Lord in our lives and therefore find him and all the many things He has done for us.  I know this is true. I leave these things with you in the name of our LOVING Savior and Redeemer, even Jesus Christ, amen.