May 28, 2014

Anyways this week was probably the hardest in a while. We just were having a lot of obstacles it seems. No one working with us, our ward mission leader moved away, and we were just so busy we couldn't get out to really work. It was hard in general! But.. Things are going good and we still had some good things happen. Our one progressing investigator who just showed up with his friend, Mar, He is doing so good. He is so smart, he understand everything, and even more is he accepts thing instantly. He is sooo determined become a member it is crazy! I love teaching people like that. Anyways I am happy about that! Anyways.. it is about rainy season and it has been pouring down! Holy Moly! It gets super hot than it just pours tons and tons of rain! It has been hard with that too. It is never easy to teach with the rain keeping us from getting places. Lately I have been trying to set good goals and really come through with them. Working out was a big one. I need to lose weight to come home looking good haha. But more of all I have seen how goals are important in our lives, as well as spiritually. How can we ever become like our Heavenly Father if we aren't becoming better. We need to be better today than we were yesterday. I believe that, and I know that Heavenly Father has sen us here to do that, to become better now than last time. Anyways, that is all I really have! It has just been a rough but good week. All I know is, this Church is True, and I am proud to be here as a representative of Jesus Christ!

May 18, 2014

This week was great! We had a lot of success. We got a referral and this kid name is Mar Angelo Sy. He just out of curiosity and with a help from a friend decided to come to church. Ever since then, he seems determined to become a member of this Church. It has been great teaching him. He has accepted a baptismal date and we are looking at some good things to happen in this area by next transfer. It is insane how the work can change with the right people and the right place. We did great with finding new people, and we are hoping to be finding a couple more through referrals. The more and more I go through this mission the more i receive a firm conviction that this church is true. The work is smooth and it is a time of peace and happiness. I am sure that whatever comes in my way though is nothing, I feel so happy to be here serving and I am excited to spend my last 6 months going hard! 

May 5, 2014

Anyways mom, this week was a good week. There were a lot of suprises. first of was I was called a District Leader, I thought because I was getting a little old in the mission, President would pass me up, I was wrong. We also had just a lot of success. The kid's we baptized, their family is not complete yet. We are now working on their step dad. He is the coolest investigator though. Ever since he started reading the Book of Mormon he has just converted himself. We have been talking to him more detailed and more carefully about the Gospel, he truly has been prepared by the Lord. The only problem now is getting him to commit to a baptismal date, he just wants to take it slow, but we are Missionaries, the souls that God needs to be prepared to receive eternal salvation must be ready .. immediately. I wonder if that is selfish of me .. I really want to see him get baptized though, and make sure he gets there step by step! He is great guy. I truly have a testimony in the power of the Book of Mormon though, it truly changes peoples lives and thoughts. It humbles even the most intelligent of people to believe that Jesus is the Christ. We also found another investigator who we are excited to teach. We decided to just go through the 1st lesson with this 15 year old, he is from a different province so he isn't perfect in Tagalog. Needless to say the Spirit was really in this lesson, after struggling through the lesson, my companion who one was not keeping up with the Tagalog, me who wasn't too sure if he was understanding my think american accent Tagalog, and our ward missionary leader. We weren't sure what he understood, he is a brother of a returning member, and he answered all our questions. In the end we invited immediately to be baptized, he was way excited and he accepted! That was a crazy day, it just seemed so fast! Besides that, we also had a very crazy lesson, we went to a house, and as we were teaching .. a swarm of crazy swarming flying bugs came into the house .. it was crazy they were flying in our ears, nose, hair, everything... needless to say.. i didn't finish the lesson. haha! We ran our of their, .. that is embarrassing! Needless to say, the Church is true and I am happy to be a missionary!

April 27, 2014

Anyways this week was awesome. We were able to get a lot done and we got a baptism. We baptized two of the most smart and well behaved kids I have ever met. Their names are Markhenzie and Christine. They are so fun to teach. Even better is that their Step-dad is our investigator and he is progressing super well. He used to not be super interested, but the Book of Mormon changed it all. Anyways, it has been so long since I have had a baptism it was a huge relief. Anyways, I was kind of thinking a lot about the early saints. I just finished the Doctrine and Covenants for the first time. It is really obvious to me more now than ever that our Church is truly led by Jesus Christ himself. He uses his prophets here on the Earth to keep us in the right path. This story has like a couple of sub plots so kind of try to keep up. We were led to these people and it is just peculiar of how it happened. We met a less active named Dexter, he owns a t-shirt store in our area. He was nice, but we didn't think much about it. A week later we meet him at the bus stop with his girlfriend. Nothing strange we thought she was a member. As we reviewed somethings in the teach record, we found that they were taught, and that the sister had needed to be baptized still. We went the next day! They explained their situation, they are really good people, she is so spiritually mature and he is a RM. They are dating, and they do interact in any way against the commandment, except for the fact that they live in the same house, different rooms everything, just same house. I found myself saying to myself.. what is wrong with that? But isn't that what the Apostles and Prophets gave us a great advice and guidance about that. God doesn't change his ways, and no matter what our opinion may be, our ways are not her ways. We were led to her, she saw us in a dream, which is kind of super creepy cool. She told us she saw two Americans, they told her she needed to come back to church and get baptized. We eventually showed up and did just that. I learned many things and also gained a greater faith in Christ. We cannot change his ways, no matter how innocent the situation, they need to find a way to fit the Lords way. They need to bring their lives into harmony with the commandments. In no other way can they recieve those blessings, and in no other way can they be saved, for the sister who is not baptized. I am happy we have living prophets who guide us and lead us in our lives. My thoughts were wrong and I found that out, but we must meet the requirements for salvation. I know this Church is True and we are led by the living Christ. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

April 21, 2014

 This week was super good though. We had a lot of finding opportunities. Since it was Easter too Happy Easter! I had the opportunity to speak at a funeral. It was a part member family and as I was thinking of what to say, I first thought of the Plan of Salvation. As my turn came up, I felt that I should change it completely into a talk on Jesus Christ. I realized why, sometimes when life has troubles and hardships it is easy to rely on the atonement. In times of death times of trial we can draw power from the atonement, knowing Christ suffered these things for us. But as I continued the talk I could not help but feel inspired to relate that we can't forget the rest of the story. Christ surely did conquer death and rose again. Though we can draw comfort and strength from the atonement, we must not forget that we can also rise triumphant as Christ did. We need not just suffer and endure, but overcome.  I know that Christ lives, this Easter holiday was great. It is a great time to be a missionary. I know this Church is true and I know that we are members of the true Church here on Earth. I leave this my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I have a baptism this week so hope you are excited for some pictures!

April 8, 2014

This week was a pretty fun week. We are getting slower with our work, because we decided we could spend more time finding more progressing people than the ones we were teaching. We especially are struggling in the investigator department because we are just teaching 2 kids whose parents were less active but now are coming back! So .. we want to find those really quality good investigators that will really just help the ward and make Heavenly Father so happy to have them back in the fold. Not that he isn't happy when everyone is in, but you know what I am saying. Anyways We have been tracting and opening our mouths and we haven't seen huge progress yet so that is yet to come. Anyways I had an interesting week. We were invited to a Family Home Evening, this family was great. They were so nice and it was fun. I had previously met the sister because I bought some pearls from her, and she LOVES Koreans because she is a English Teacher to Koreans. So yeah while we were at this Family Home Evening, she was working periodically to talk to these Koreans and she kept having me come talk to them. Most of them were kids, but there was one particular one who was a dentist I guess. I definitely called her "Uni" which was a term younger sisters use to their older sisters. I also definitely was very disrespectful to her because I don't know how to speak proper Korean and that is kind of offensive. But, I got out the bare details, I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I wanted her to know that she could meet with the missionaries and learn about English and more importantly about Jesus Christ. I was unable to get her address or even explain how the heck I could ever get her to the church.. which made me feel so weak! haha But it doesn't matter, hopefully her life was affected and how knows maybe the missionaries will show up at her dentist office. All I know was is 2 things, now matter where you are or how you can share the gospel. This member decided it was perfect that even though she was thousands of miles away she could talk about the Church to her students, and more importantly, get a missionary who could barely speak Korean to talk more about it. Which.. maybe didn't help. The second was that no matter what God has promised all that if we do all we can he will do the rest. I was made a promise that I would not know the effects of my mission on others, but many will come in the next life to thank me for having given my service. Maybe a Korean will come say Hi to me.... I probably still won't understand her haha. Anyways I know this Church is True and we gotta get the word out. This week was fun and I hope everyone had a great conference, I haven't watched it yet. 

March 30, 2014

My new companion, my new area, my new ward! They are sooo amazing. My new companion's name is Elder Crabb, he is pretty new in the mission, but he is so cool. We just talk and talk for days and it is definitely better! I don't really remember other peoples names, and I don't really know what is going on, but all I know is that we have a lot of good people who really have a desire to return. We are in the jungle area and we walk a ton it feels! I definitely came here at the right time though. I have so much energy and people seem to need some good energy. Lately as I have been here I am notice we are working with a lot of part members, and less active families. These people are such good people and lately Elder Crabb and I decided, we definitely need to get these families a good goal to really fuel their desires. Of course we are going to get these people an idea about the temple and mostly on Eternal families. Some of the most basic gospel truths have so much power. Imagine a life where we spend so much time with our families, we give all we have to them, we grow such close bonds, only to see it all go away. Even when I hear that I can't accept it, Families are forever and I know that is true. This Gospel can unite us for eternity and I don't ever want to or could I ever accept it any other way. I am happy I am part of an Eternal Family, and I am also happy that my family are all doing their part to keep that holy spirit of promise. I know these things are true and I leave them in the sacred name of Jesus Christ amen. I am so happy to serve in this new area and it has really been a great week can't wait for next week!

March 30, 2014

My new companion, my new area, my new ward! They are sooo amazing. My new companion's name is Elder Crabb, he is pretty new in the mission, but he is so cool. We just talk and talk for days and it is definitely better! I don't really remember other peoples names, and I don't really know what is going on, but all I know is that we have a lot of good people who really have a desire to return. We are in the jungle area and we walk a ton it feels! I definitely came here at the right time though. I have so much energy and people seem to need some good energy. Lately as I have been here I am notice we are working with a lot of part members, and less active families. These people are such good people and lately Elder Crabb and I decided, we definitely need to get these families a good goal to really fuel their desires. Of course we are going to get these people an idea about the temple and mostly on Eternal families. Some of the most basic gospel truths have so much power. Imagine a life where we spend so much time with our families, we give all we have to them, we grow such close bonds, only to see it all go away. Even when I hear that I can't accept it, Families are forever and I know that is true. This Gospel can unite us for eternity and I don't ever want to or could I ever accept it any other way. I am happy I am part of an Eternal Family, and I am also happy that my family are all doing their part to keep that holy spirit of promise. I know these things are true and I leave them in the sacred name of Jesus Christ amen. I am so happy to serve in this new area and it has really been a great week can't wait for next week!

March 25, 2014

Anyways This week was good. I am transferring to my 4th area. In San Jose Del Monte.. it is like the mountain area and I am so happy to get away from this pollution. But at the same time, I am kind of sad I am leaving this place. This past week I realized just how close I really am to this area. Even though it has been hard and the progression has been slow, I really came to love this place. It is hard saying bye and leaving now. I thought about just how great missionary work is. It makes you love people you barely even know. You get so close to those you share the gospel with, and the members who you have helped and that have helped you. The Church is so great and this is one of the things that help me to testify this Church is true. The people I know, whether faithful members, or investigators who learn something new from you, they all have helped me in one way another. I am sad to go, but it is also time. I am excited. I hope the saints in Caloocan 1st ward know I love them and will miss them! 

March 17, 2014

This week was good too. Last week, I thought I might just kind of try and coast, and as I was kind of getting into a comfort zone, we were reminded in a training meeting about the parable of the talents. Each servant was given their own talent from the master. This can be represented as my area, and the master gave them time to work and multiply their talents. There was one who didn't do anything with his talent and thus was titled the slothful servant. I thought to myself, "How many times have I been the slothful servant?" I began to think, maybe the Lord is not well pleased with me right now with my attitude. Kind of the same about how I feel about the attitude of my companion. My studies have really put me a little further too, especially in Doctrine and Covenants."For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;" This part in D&C 4 really hit me. I need to thrust in my sickle with all my might, which in turn helps me to gain my salvation. This week really gave me a new perspective on my mission. Time is precious, and not to be wasted. This area has been kicking my butt, my investigator who we were going to baptized, just kind of disapperaed, I haven't been able to get a hold of him or to really talk to him. He didn't come to church like he said either. We have gone through so many different investigators, and none are really making steps to progress. We don't really have many Less Actives who care, and our area just really doesn't have active members. It has been easy to get discouraged but this week I decided I am gonna give it a last kick maybe before I get transferred. I knew the Lord had given me the motivation and I hit the pavement hard. Talking to everyone trying to just find anyone who would listen and in the end we were able to find 4 new investigators. I don't know if they will progress, but it doesn't matter anymore, I am going to give it my all to not waste my time and proclaim this gospel to everyone. I can't get discouraged no matter how hard my circumstances, People need to know. This gospel is true, and this church is true, and without it they cannot live with God again. It is that important, and I cannot get into my comfort zone. It really was an inspiring week this week. I really want to carry it on too, for the rest of my mission.

March 10, 2014

Anyways our baptism wasn't able to go through. My investigator suddenly started working again, so we haven't been able to finish the lessons with him. Also he didn't come to Church, so now we have to restart the process until he comes to church 4 times out of 5 Sundays. It is frustrating! I won't get to see his baptism unless I stay here another transfer... I have been in caloocan for a while.. so that will probably not be happening. Oh well sometimes the harvest season is different, it doesn't matter as long as they all stay active that is my true desire for anyone I teach and gets baptized. Anyways, this week was slow we just had a lot of challeges, things just weren't working out. We had conflicts left and right. Our new investigators were reluctant to progress and now we are just on the search again. Man .. sometimes it seems I can just coast a little and teach more than walking around, but I guess the Lord has different plans. Hmm... Anyways.. it may sound way bad, but it has been worst. I can't just disregard the tender mercies of the Lord. It has been a great blessing serving in this area. I may not be able to have baptized anyone, but maybe there has been a different focus. We have been working really hard with the ward to gain their trust and to involve them in the work with the missionaries. The ward has main long strides with new plans and goals. We are actually seeing action and progression too! It is so great. Even though my area is struggling sometimes, our ward is growing, and we have 4 Elders in our ward. The other two have the majority of the ward in their areas, and they are so busy! It makes me kind of jealous, but I know that is how important Members can be in the work. Anyways, I am really going to give it my all these next couple weeks. If ever I transfer I want to make sure the area is the best it has ever been, I want to leave it telling myself even it I didn't get to harvest any, there will be fruits of my labors.

March 3, 2014

This week was really good. We just had a lot of blessings. I had been fasting and praying for my investigator Joaquin. He was progressing so well, than last week he kind of hit a obstacle. He told us to give him a week and he would decided if he really was gonna get baptized. I still don't know what his choice is we haven't been able to talk to him. But he texted us and said sorry he couldn't come to church, but he would be there next Sunday. So I take that as our answer! YES! Also, things just kind of worked out for us. We found two families to teach. One we tracted out through our own efforts! The other one was just a sweet blessing from the heavens. We had a little girl come up to us, so cute, she just asked if we were Elders. We of course said YES! She said Elders used to come teach them, but they stopped coming and she was sad. So we told her we would go to her house to teach right then and there. We got there and a whole family who seemed to have a desire to get baptized was there. They are way poor so this is going to be a tough one because we don't want them to be less active, but I am excited just because.. things are just going better. It just seems like my time here is getting so short in this area. I am probably going to be transferring at the end of this month, and things are getting better slowly. I have truly been blessed in this ward and this area. I am excited to see what else is going to happen in the coming weeks I have left!

February 24, 2014

Anyways this week was good! and kind of bad. We taught a lot of lessons this week. I am just pushing myself really hard this transfer to leave the area as good as possible. Because if my companion gets left here ... yeah ... it needs to be good. Anyways, we really have been searching for some better investigators. Most of the ones we have been teaching.. really never have time and never want to act on the message. So we have been tracting. We have a lot of follow-up appointments, but they always fall through and so I hope this week we find some good new investigators. Anyways, Our investigator Joaquin who is supposed to get baptized March 8 has hit his first real concern.H e is at a very critical point in his conversion. He kind of just got hit way hard with excitement about his Baptism from us and the ward and he kind of realized he needed to really commit. He cried in front of the Elders Quorum saying he is thankful for all of them, but he is not sure what he is going to do. He told us not to come see him for a week, this week he said he would pray and find out what God would have him do. Join our Church, or stay a Born Again Christian... I am nervous... i am so sad too. He cried telling me. I love this guy so much! I have only taught him for 3 weeks, but that is the Gospel. It makes you love the people no matter what! Anyways I am praying and fasting for this man, I have done many good things here in my 3rd area, but this is the one thing. I really want. It hasn't been a easy ride for me in Caloocan, and I just .. I have never felt so strongly that someone needed this Gospel more than Joaquin. I know he would be such a big help to the Ward and this would solidify his faith in Christ forever. I know this Church is true and I know he is going to make the right choice. Whether it be now or later, his testimony is there, but he just feels bad leaving his other friends in his old church, but a testimony is something he has. So this next week is going to be one of the craziest weeks of my life! 

February 19, 2014

Some things Change (companion), Somethings stay classy (Clss A Jazz Jersey), And some things don't change (My Love For Taylor Swift)

February 10, 2014

This week was really good. Despite the difficulties in my areas, and numbers wise we had a bad week. In terms of spiritual lessons and great progress in our 1 investigator it was the best. This week we have been just really focusing on our investigator because he has been truly prepared of God. I knew that God was waiting for me to earn this one and after 2 transfers of going through investigators and not seeing progress, this week was great. Bro. Joaquin is his name and he is just so willing to do what we ask him to and to keep his commitments. We had a special experience this week with him as our focus seemed to be in the Plan of Salvation. We taught him the Plan and he had so many questions. But the spirit always directed his thoughts and our answers. He worked out all of his concerns and we fixed so many doctrine points. Also when we explained how everyone gets a fair chance, and in the spirit world, those who didn't receive the gospel will receive a chance, he was way excited. He thought his friends and family were damned, but the spirt testified to him the God is just and the plan is perfect. I was so happy when he shared to us his hopes that he could see his family again. I just want to testify today that this week I saw the true value of the Plan of Salvation. It gives hope and comfort to all. I know that God has prepared a perfect plan for us and when we truly understand the plan and live by it, we do not need to worry about losing lost ones. We can be bound together as a family forever and enter into God's Kingdom. I know that the Saviors atonement is important, and vital to the plan. Without it we could never return to live with God clean, we would not receive the mercy we need to repent, we could not recieve a resurrection, and we would have no way of getting through this life without it. I know the Plan of Salvation is true. I leave this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. 

February 3, 2014

Anyways this week was super good. We have been just talking and talking to so many people and it seems like everytime we come back they just aren't interested or are really good at avoiding us cause when we show up at their door when they tell us to come back they aren't home! Crazy right? Anyways, Heavenly Father has really been preparing people for us. As we were following up with a person, who wasn't home.. hmm..., we decided to talk to two people. We had talked to this lady before, but her friend was new to us. As we were talking to her, I noticed that this guy seemed kind of interested. We were just asking her about the pamphlet we gave her and so we gave him one too. Than he just started hosing us with questions and we asked him if he had time at that moment so we could teach him. We taught him about how God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and how they help us and our lives. He was way excited to hear that we believed in Christ too and that he thought we didn't. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was even more excited to hear that there might be other scriptures. He is way cool. Our second lessons with him he accepted a baptismal date and I think at this rate he will be ready by next week! he is like a sponge just absorbing! We had many other experiences this week where we thought we might be able to teach one person and ended up finding someone else. This week we found 5 new investigators and out of all that the one I talked about earlier just seems so ready to accept our message. I am so blessed to be the instrument in God's hand this week. The work here has been hard, but I have seen so many blessings! Our Sacrament attendance was I think the highest since about 1 year. We had so many people come to church less actives and investigators. I have truly seen God's blessing poured out upon this area and in my ward in Caloocan. I pray these things continue and I hope all are praying for the missionaries and this work. I had a great week and I hope all goes better next week! 

January 26, 2014

This week was good. We have been just searching and searching and searching. All our less actives and investigators we are working with always just seem sooo busy that in 1 week we teach them maybe 2 times. So we are really looking for some new places to go. We have been looking through the ward records and finding people. Addresses in the Philippines is way unreliable they are either incomplete or inaccurate so we sometimes search for 1 house for hours. But the Lord has really strengthened us and we found a lot of the houses. Sadly, most of them are dead or have moved out. We were able to find through our searching a sister of one of the less actives. Her name is Sherna and she was really nice and hopefully we can rescue her! Besides that, we found other ones... who were ... a bit hard hearted. This was probably the 3rd time somebody yelled at me on my mission. I understood everything this inactive that we found told me and I hope she knows she is lucky I am trying to be more christlike! Haha Anyways are tracting efforts are slow. I came to know that all the big houses in our area that we thought are houses are actually factories and warehouses. But like sometimes they look like houses and people answer the door like its a house... so yeah ... that was a bit awkward! Anyways we had a fun experience this week to. Me and my comp were walking in a market! Some guy stopped us and asked us if we were Mormon. We said yes, than he asked us where our church was so we told him and than we introduced ourselves. Yep this guy ... was an active members but he just had the worst questions cause we totally thought he was some sort of golden investigator. So yeah whatever! but right after we took a right turn, and some lady called out to us. We almost ignored her because it happens all the time and we thought she was just trying to sell us stuff. Turns out though as she talked she said she remembers missionaries like us when she was a young girl. They gave her a pamphlet and she liked it. So she wants us to come teach her. Yep what a coincidence right? Crazy! The Lord is always helping and preparing people! Anyways it was good week, I guess in a way ... I lost sight of what I should really be thankful for. The little things. 

Just celebrating my 1 year in the field... Korean food! and Looking good! MOM! and my gross area!

January 22, 2014

Hmmm ... where to start.. This week was about the faith to find! So we decided that most of our investigators we have been working with are just not progressing and .. honestly most of them won't even give us the light of day. Also our less actives are just about the same way. So me and my companion are just DONE! We want new people who want to progress and we want them now. So we really thought about who we should teach, focus on, and who we should maybe give some time too. So that really hit our schedule hard. There were some days where all we did the whole day was tract and look for inactive members. To be honest, it was long and hard. Finding an address in the Philippines is like throwing a needle in a haystack. It is impossible! But we found some. They were either dead or moved out haha. Also all our tracting efforts had no outcome... yet. Overall we had a good week in the sense we worked and worked and worked. I think Heavenly Father is satisfied. We are tired and I have never felt like I couldn't walk one more step before, but we keep going! You know before I leave I am determined to make this a good area! Anyways, we had the chance to teach one of our investigators who, we thought just didn't care for us. It turns out that she has a testimony of the restored gospel but what is holding her back is church. She told us that people take church to lightly, kind of like a social gathering and not a time to worship God and remember him. It kind of touched me that what she said had some truth to it. I told her Sister you are right, and we want to fix that too. I remember a talk I read once about how we are losing our sense of sacred things. Too many times we really overlook how sacred scriptures are, church, prayer, all these things really are. I think every member can one way or another say they may overlook these things. I realized this week that I am truly lucky to have gained a testimony in the restored gospel. I am truly lucky that I know my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. I am truly lucky to have scriptures from prophets that teach me truth. Because I am truly lucky, maybe I can show it more too. I hope for a greater love for these things and I hope that all members will also show it too, especially in this case because we have no idea who is watching. I just want to leave this thought in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

January 12, 2014

We had a good week. A week for building faith, but a good week. We decided that we need to do more, we need to find new people, we need to stop teaching these people who aren't progressing. So we set out with good plans. We decided to stop focusing so much on people who were always busy and we were going to go find new people. We talked to everyone... Everyone I swear! Door to Door, people on the streets! Everyone! Man ... times have changed...people really don't care. But God is preparing and we had some success talking to people. We decided to find New Less Actives to teach.. yep they are all dead or gone. But God is preparing... In the end... we looked at the numbers and it was a little sad to see how we probably had the worst numbers. But I know that God is preparing. My point to all this is God comes in his own time. I think I had to learn this lesson this week that Faith sometimes takes a little bit of trials. But I feel like I have never worked this hard. Also I look back and think, God really is working with us. I looked back, we had our Less Actives starting to come to church... they missed sadly but that is just a funny story because why, but they really were like at the gates! The guard wouldn't let them in and they got in a fight with him... haha Also another one woke up late and went to another ward! So that was good. We found new investigators and opend up our teaching pool some more. We saw the Ward who seemed to be uninterested in helping us now giving us an hour after church to coordinate with us and help us. This truly was a good week and I am excited for next week. This church is true and this work is important. It takes time and patience and really in its not easy. But we all need to do our part. I am happy to be a missionary and this year is off to a good start!

January 5, 2014

Things are going better. We got 4 missionaries in the house and in the ward. We saw a lot of good things happen this week within the ward. We switched back over to 9 o'clock in the morning. I had a feeling our attendance was going to be low and when sacrament started and yep... there was like 20 of us. I remember giving a sigh and thinking.... man. Ten minutes passed and man everyone was late! We had a way high attendance and we even saw some of our less actives show up to church. That was good. We continued just feeling the energy of the new year. I asked Bishop if we could have a meeting earlier this week and so he gathered the whole ward council together and we set so many good goals! I am excited to just get going and go. We have been struggling but now is the time. I am feeling the call for a higher standard. I hope as the weeks go I can grab it! I am really excited to get going. I have been really thinking about it and yep my faith is coming back, for the first time in my mission I think I am going to tract for reals! Door to door. person to person, until I find that miracle I need. I know this Church is true and I know that Jesus Christ is at the head. I feel inspired and ready to follow. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

December 31, 2013

This week we had a fun time. People were so busy with the holidays, it was hard to get things done. But we went out and we tried our best. We actually didn't get many lessons in. But, I kind of had a good experience just thinking about myself in my mission. I feel like lately I have been in such a rut. Things aren't going right and I just felt like .. I was done I didn't want to go on anymore. But, I have been praying and it seems the Lord would do the opposite of what I asked. We couldn't get any investigators to Church, and we nobody we were working with were responding. I thought to myself as I reflected on the year saying what is making the difference why is it that right now is different the rest of my mission. I came to realize .. it's not, I have been going through the trials and hardships with my head held high and my faith as my strength. I guess my attitude changed and I kind of felt like maybe it is time for me to reflect change and adjust. I think Heavenly Father loves us, but as much as we pray and we try, we can't always see the blessings immediately. I don't know what is going to happen this next transfer, but I still have a good comp who is going to stay with me one more transfer. I also have a renewed attitude and I am going to do what I set out to do which is to bring souls unto Christ. To rescue the lost and to strengthen the church. I love the Gospel and I hope this year is just as good as last year! So here is to the new year with a new transfer! Also .. not be trunkie, but .. I come home this year... WOO HOO! haha!