Happy New Year!

This week was crazy busy. I honestly cannot believe that it is already Monday again. We spent a lot of time preparing for a project that we ran during the third hour of church yesterday. We helped all of the members ages 12 and up create tabbed Books of Mormon. In doing so we also invited each of the members that were present during that 3rd hour activity to hand these Books of Mormon out to someone that they know. We are hoping that this will provide us with opportunities to teach some more people, specifically people that the members know. It is a lot easier for someone to come to church when they have friends there. We only had one of the friends that we are teaching attend sacrament this week, which was a pretty big bummer. But what made up for it was the fact that the one who did attend church went up and bore her testimony during Sacrament meeting!! That was really cool. It was only her second time at church, so it was awesome to see. She is on date to be baptized on January 22nd, so we are looking forward to helping her continue to live the gospel and see the change that it can have. 

This morning I was studying in Ether and reading about the Brother of Jared. I was in chapter 2 and reading about how the Lord had guided the Brother of Jared and the Jaredites to his valley where they camped. This guidance and direction was all because the Brother of Jared continued to pray and seek direction from the Lord. Unfortunately, when they got to this valley, they ended up staying there for four years! Four years of no progression. All of this was because he had stopped continually seeking guidance from the Lord! He had stopped praying and because of that, they were just hanging out there for four years. It made me think of how easy it is to get complacent. To miss days of scripture study, or prayers, or attending church, or living the commandments. It's easy to kind of just relax, get comfortable, and not progress. But that isn't the purpose of life! We are here to improve each day. To try and become more like Christ and our Heavenly Father. There's no time for being complacent or relaxing! I have come to firmly believe that you can only be going in one of two directions. You are either moving closer to Christ, closer to Heavenly Father, and closer to eternal happiness, or you are going in the wrong direction. The beauty is that it is up to us to choose which way we are going and to choose not to get complacent! 

It was awesome to get to see you guys yesterday! 

Church yesterday was awesome! It was super hectic and crazy because there were so many people there. We had five of our friends show up to Sacrament. It was awesome! We even had one girl that were teaching who is nine and her whole family came. The reason why that was so cool is because they are less active family and the mom is a single mom and there are four kids. The amazing part, however, is that she was working until 7:30 in the morning on Christmas Day all the way over in Corvallis. She texted us in the morning and said that she was going to try and make it but that the roads were icy. Five minutes before the Sacrament, their whole family walked in to the chapel. It was really cool to see how she made it a priority to be there. We have been teaching her daughter for a couple of weeks now and she is preparing to be baptized on January 14! It is been awesome to see how the Gospel has been changing the lives of their entire family. Other than that, we had a few other people at church which is super cool. Another lady that we are teaching came with her two-year-old son for the first time. It was amazing because one of the sisters in the ward basically watched her son so that she could pay attention to the sacrament meeting. It has been amazing to see how awesome the ward has been in helping us out. We had an organ/piano duet as well,  so it made me think of you, Mom

and Staci!

By the way, grandma's book about her history is awesome. I had no clue about some of the stories that she wrote down in there. Especially the story about her and the talent show. That is really cool. I love family history work! It is awesome to be able to see the history of th

ose in our family, especially when you keep an eternal perspective and know that through the temple we can be together forever.

This past week was super crazy. We were flying around teaching a bunch of lessons. We also had a talent show for the zone which was fun. We definitely saw a lot of miracles this week. For example we came home from the talent show which was in Salem, and headed straight to the church because we had some business to take care of. As we pulled up to the church there was a man in the parking lot with his little brother teaching him how to ride a bike. We were able to teach him about the plan of salvation and about how families can be together forever. It was super cool because Heavenly Father literally put him in our path. How often can you say that you found someone to teach that was literally waiting for you in the church parking lot?? That was really sweet. We also had a couple really good lessons. It has been awesome to see how some of our friends have been keeping their commitments and have been reading the Book of Mormon and praying. You can definitely tell the impact that reading the Book of Mormon has on people's lives. I also was reading a talk by President Hinckley the other day, and he mentions how Christ was his friend. I think that that is something that we all need to strive for. Being able to know Jesus Christ well enough so that we can truly feel like He is our best friend. And even when we get to that point, there is always more to learn about His love for us.

I can't believe that it is already the day after Christmas. It seems like just yesterday I reported to the MTC. Time is truly flying. 

Miracles Happening

I really can't believe that next Sunday is Christmas. It has really flown by since August. I can't believe that I have been out for four months already. Time flies!  It has been super cold up here! We even got snow, which never happens out here apparently! We got probably 4 inches of snow where we live. For about three days our cars were grounded so we couldn't drive at all! It was pretty crazy. There is still snow and ice in some places, but it is starting to warm up (warm is about 37.. ) but I am doing good. 

  

This week here was crazy. Between the snow and not having our cars and some other stuff, it has been a weird week. But the best part of it all has been that we have seen a ton of miracles. On one night, we went through all of our plans with about 30 minutes to spare. The crazy thing is that it gets soooo dark out here so early, so it isn't always easy to talk to people on the streets at night. We decided to say a prayer to know where we should go. We prayed and felt prompted to go in one direction. After about 20 minutes of no luck, we decided it would be best to head back towards the church where the car was parked. We felt prompted to go down one more street and then take the back way to the church. We started to walk past some apartment complex, when we saw some big scary looking dude come out of nowhere. I have learned that you should talk to everyone, so we just started talking to him and were able to talk a little bit about the Plan of Salvation and the Book of Mormon! It was really cool. We definitely didn't need to be in that part of town at that specific time right as this man walked outside of his apartment, but we know that we were guided there by the Spirit and that Heavenly Father truly placed that man in our path. 

The entire week has been full of miracles like that. It has been really amazing to see. We had some really good lessons yesterday as well. The work is definitely picking up here in Stayton. I know that obedience and diligence are the only ways in which we can truly see those tender mercies in our lives! The ward here is awesome too. We are really starting to work well with the members. Brother Graham, our ward mission leader, is an amazing man. He is really motivated to help out. I think he appreciates that we are excited about doing the work here as well. We even set up a combined third hour on the first Sunday of the New Year in which we will help all of the members, age 12 and up, make tabbed Books of Mormon that answer the questions of the soul and then challenge them to each hand the one that they made out within two or three weeks! It should be awesome. 

It is amazing to think of the faith throughout the stories of the Book of Mormon and then that faith that continued with the early saints, as well as those who faithfully follow Christ and His restored Gospel today, even when it is not in line with natural man mindset that most of the world has today. I think that it is cool that faith is really a central theme from the very beginning of the Book of Mormon. Nephi wanted to know if what his father was saying was true, so he had the faith to pray and ask God and the faith that he would get an answer, which of course he did! And then the faith of Lehi and Sariah and taking their family into the wilderness to follow where the Lord wanted them to go and leaving all of their personal stuff and worldly riches to follow in faith! Faith is such a huge part of the Book of Mormon and really everything that we know to be true at all. I think that there is a reason that the first principle in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is faith, because when our faith increases, then we are willing to repent, follow Christ's example and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority and continue on the path on following Him! During an exchange in my last area I remember talking with Elder Christensen about faith for a really long time. We talked about how our faith doesn't ever stop growing, as long as we are continuing to try and allow it to grow. Once we become complacent with our faith, then we start going backwards. There is no such thing as having "enough" faith! As we continue to follow Christ and are obedient to His commandments, our faith will ALWAYS grow, which allows us to bear those trials with patience and hope, and also allows us to help others through their trials. 

It's Cold!

We actually had a blue sky this week!

It has definitely been pretty cold this week! It was so cold that it even snowed last week! It never really snows here in the Valley, but on Thursday as I was up in Newberg for a conference that I was invited to, we got some snow! It was pretty crazy.

The week here has been pretty good. there have definitely been some slow days. We are trying to work hard and press forward. We know that if we do our part, then the Lord will do the rest. Our ward mission leader came up with a way that we can get the ward involved in the work though. We are inviting each member of the ward, ages 8 and older, to hand out 5 of the Light the World pass along cards! We are going around challenging families in the ward to do this and providing them with the cards. We really believe that this will lead to more people to teach, so we can't wait to see how it works out. Brother Graham, the WML, is awesome. He is really fired up about the work. I have been blessed with two really good Ward Mission Leaders. Definitely different personalities, but both focused on the same thing. Helping others find the happiness that comes from accepting Jesus Christ and living His gospel. On a side note, he handles the sale/shipping of Christmas trees all over the country, so he said that the Fry's Christmas trees down in AZ are the ones that he is sending down there. I thought that was pretty cool!

I read a scripture today, I think it is Acts 17:27, which talks about the Lord not being too far from us. Because we all have the Light of Christ, He truly isn't *that* far from us! It is just a matter of helping people to understand that! Regardless of where we are at in our lives, Christ isn't that far away. He is ready and waiting to pick us up and help us to move forward and do better, but it all comes down to recognizing that He is there and turning ourselves towards Him! I think distraction and deception are the two biggest ways that the adversary tries to not allow us to find joy through the divine nature of Christ. There is so much out there that keeps us from focusing on what truly matters in this life. The way that I have truly come to recognize us here in this Earthly life is that fact that we can only be going one of two ways. We are either making progress towards Christ, and moving towards His love and towards our Heavenly Father, or we are moving away from them. Complacency, or just moving through life with no real worries or cares, is really just moving further away from Christ. Luckily for us, His nature is one of eternal love and compassion. Regardless of where we are at, He is there to help us because He loves us, and His Heavenly Father, more than we can imagine. It is cool to think that no matter what, He will be there for us. He just wants us to be happy. It is cool to see that as people put Him more at the forefront of their lives, it increases their happiness and their entire lives.

I was able to go to a conference in Newberg this week, which was awesome. I really try and listen every time that President Tateoka speaks. He said some really cool things this week that helped a ton. We also had Brother Donaldson from the missionary department there training us. It was really cool. We have some really cool opportunities that are arising in ways that we can use technology to further the work! For example, we can now use Skype! It will be cool because it gives us an opportunity to make daily contact with the people that we are teaching. It is going to be interesting to see how it goes, but I am excited.

Our District

This week has been extremely long. After I got transferred, I had to stay with another missionary for a couple of days until we both got our trainees. It was actually Elder Fisk that I was a companion with in the MTC. And he is serving in the Salem 2nd ward, which is where Chris' companion Sam Bybee grew up. I had a chance to go to their home and meet them! 

With the Bybees

 Since then, it has been a very long week. Training and coming into a new area at the same time has provided some unique challenges. This week we spent a lot of time trying to meet the members, build relationships with them, and gain their trust. This upcoming week we will hopefully be able to start finding some people to teach. There weren't many people being taught in the area when we got out here, but we know that there are people that are ready to hear, it is just our responsibility to find them.

Elder Pinkston is from Draper, Ut. He grew up in Seattle for most of his life though, so he is pretty used to this type of weather. He is excited to be serving so I am looking forward to serving with him. I am grateful that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to train. Hopefully I will be able to do all that He needs from me. 

With Elder Pinkston

The area is very nice. It is definitely more rural, but I like that. We actually inherited a car that was over 50,000 miles, so we get to get a new Chevy Malibu 2016 this week! I was invited to go to Newburg for a Missionary Leadership Council on Thursday, so I am going to switch out our Chevy Cruze for a new Malibu, which will be sweet. 

Elder Hala'eua is still in madras as the District Leader there. It is weird, because I definitely miss him, but I think that he and I both grew as missionaries and disciples of Christ as we were together, so I am glad that we had the opportunity to serve together. 

With Elder Hala'eua

The First Counselor in our ward who we ate with last night lived with his wife and family in Phoenix for three years right around the building and dedication of the temple. They actually went to that church building right there. Its crazy how it is such a small world. 

My studying is going well. The chapters in Mosiah that King Benjamin is talking are some of my favorites because there is so much in there that is helpful to us today. I am in Helaman chapter 2. I just read about the Lamanites attacking the Nephites and taking over the city of Zarahemla and it was because all of the chaos in the lives of the Nephites were distracting them from protecting and securing their city. That is so true for us today. The adversary won't wait to attack when times are most convenient to us and we are most prepared. We must constantly be preparing ourselves to face that opposition and press forward. Distraction is one of the adversaries biggest tools because it pulls us away from staying focused on Christ. We have to make sure that we are always putting Christ first so that those distractions don't lead us astray or vulnerable to opposition. 

Getting Transferred

 I am getting transferred to Stayton. My new companion will be Elder Pinkston. I will meet him on Thursday at the New Missionary meeting. I am definitely a little anxious. I am excited to be training and to be going into a new area at the same, but the situation will definitely present some challenges that I didn't have as a trainee missionary in Madras. I know that the Lord will qualify me as I work to do my best and to help Elder Pinkston the best I can. I think it is going to help me continue to grow as a leader and speak up, because I am going to have to take charge more in correlating with the ward and starting the work up. I will leave tomorrow and go to Stayton and then I will have a temporary companion for the two days. It will actually be one of my MTC companions, Elder Fisk because he is going to be training too! It will be a lot different going back over the mountains into the valley. The zones are a lot bigger out there in terms of the amount of missionaries, but it should be exciting. I am still trying to find my address and then I will let you know. Like I said earlier, Elder Hala will be staying here in Madras. Everyone was kind of shocked that I was leaving instead of him. I'm definitely going to miss Madras and the people here. 

We had a good weekend after thanksgiving. We had a couple of cool experiences. One was with the man that I met on the second day of my mission, who rode up on his bike and told us that he knew the Book of Mormon was true. He had been struggling with some word of wisdom problems, so he disappeared for about 10 weeks and we had no clue what happened to him. Well, on Friday we were walking to go contact some people. We were going to cross the street to go talk to some lady, but she changed directions so we continued to walk down the street that we were on. A minute later, we saw a guy walking toward us.. And it was that same man! He had been going through some classes out of town to help him with his struggles. He looked like a totally different person! It was amazing. He said that he was going to start meeting wit us again and start going to a class that the stake has at the church every week that helps people with that stuff. It was really cool. Definitely another testimony builder that Heavenly Father is watching over us and guiding us and others into each other's paths so that we can all have the chance to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our talks on Sunday went well! Shane talked as the youth speaker before us as his first time speaking in church after his baptism. He did awesome. 

  

It is so essential to gain that testimony of Christ from a young age, especially during today's times with all of the distractions and deceptions that have been placed before us in all different forms.  We need to all ask God first. In the missionary handbook it says a few times, your loyalty is first to Heavenly Father, second your Mission President, and third your companion. That is true about all of us. Our loyalty should always be first to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. With any questions we have or challenges we are facing or temptations that we are faced with, we need to put our Heavenly Father and our Savior at the front of our minds. Prayer is something that is so important and truly is essential for us finding happiness and guidance. 

The church came out with a media campaign called "Light the World" on Mormon.org. It's 25 days of service in 25 ways that Christ provided service to others. There are 25 videos, one for each day in December leading up to Christmas. I'd invite you guys to watch the videos each day for that specific day and find a way to serve in the way that it suggest! I know that it will make the Christmas season even more meaningful because you'll be serving like Christ did! I know that you already do a ton, but there can never be too much service! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! For dinner we are going over to a family in the wards around 2. They invited us and the Spanish Elders over to eat, so it should be pretty fun. They're having a lot of people over so it will definitely be interesting, but I am excited. As I have gotten older I have come to more fully appreciate the times when everyone gets together for dinners and family things. It is a blessing that we have everyone so close and the opportunities to have everyone get together. We truly are blessed with so much. Today is a great day to reflect on all of those things. The list is truly never ending. I know that the most important and the reason that we have all of these blessings is because of Jesus Christ and His gospel. There really is no other way to find true joy! 

This week has flown by! I can't believe that it is already Thursday and that we haven't had a p-day for 10 days because it feels like we just had one. It has been a pretty good week. Yesterday, we went on exchanges with the Spanish elders because Elder Hala is the district leader and he's supposed to go on exchanges with older elders in the district once a transfer. I was with Elder Kersten. We had a really good day. It was weird because he has language study and we both have new missionary training (this is the last week of that), so we had studies until 12! After that, we ate lunch for a few minutes until we met Bishop up at the church at 12:30. After that, we delivered some thanksgiving meals to some families in the ward and some of the friends of ours that we are teaching. It was really cool to see how appreciative all of these people were! It was cool to be able to see their humility and thankfulness to Heavenly Father for those blessings. After that, we had an appointment at 2:15 with a friend of ours that we have been teaching off and on since the time I have been here. One of the members in our ward took us, so we went to his house and as we were driving out of the neighborhood I saw a man working in his backyard. This guy is someone that we met on Sunday night when all of our plans fell through and we prayed to know where to walk and we eventually ran into him at 8:45! He told us to come to his house the next day, but when we got to the neighborhood, his address didn't exist, so we weren't able to find him. It kind of stunk because we thought he was interested but now we had no clue where he lived! Then yesterday I saw him working in his backyard! I asked brother Barnett to pull over and then hopped out and talked to him and set up an appointment with him Friday! He lived in the neighborhood that he told us, but just at a different address. It was a miracle that we ran into him! I know that Heavenly Father put us and him in each other's paths. 

Now back to that appointment that we were heading to... It was an awesome lesson. She has struggled with a lot of stuff in her past, but loves when we come and talk with her. The Spirit was really strong in the lesson. She even prayed out loud for the first time ever! We have met with her off and on for months now and it was the first time. It was really cool! The light in her attitude was different than ever before. She told us a story about a time, probably my 2nd week here, where we saw her randomly walking in town one day as we were on our bikes. We pulled over and walked with her back home. We never knew this, but she told us yesterday, that she was really thinking about falling back into temptation that day, but that when we pulled up she knew that we were sent there for a reason. I know that Heavenly Father puts people in each one of our paths that we can all help.

Today I read a talk by Elder Devin Durrant and he was talking about invitations. As a missionary, we invite people to do things all of the time that build their faith in Christ. Invitations are something that I really want to work on more as a missionary both to the people of Oregon and to the people at home, so I am going to start leaving invitations to you all! My invitation to you this week is to look for small opportunities to serve with a smile to someone that you have never met! If you pray for an opportunity to provide an unplanned act of service, Heavenly Father will give you that opportunity and that person will need your loving service and smile.