Mission Life is Great!

The week here was good. Elder Smith and I are doing good. He's from Gilbert, Arizona. He's had a sprained ankle, so this week our proselyting was all driving. Driving a bunch kind of gets me a little stir crazy. But it'll be good, we will get out and walk a lot more his week.

We had a really good day yesterday. It was a great Sunday. The lessons were about the Holy Ghost, which was exactly what Aishia needed to hear. I've been studying Charity a lot recently. I think it was talked about a ton in Conference and was something I needed to hear. In Preach My Gospel it talks about how basically if we can receive the gift of charity in our lives, a ton of our problems will go away because we will be able to see other people in the way that the Savior sees them. It's definitely something I want to work on! I would encourage you to read the charity portion of chapter 6 in Preach My Gospel. 

We had interviews with President Tateoka this morning, so I am a little bit short on time in trying to get everything done this pday. Interviews went well though! It is always good to be able to talk with him and Sister Tateoka. By the way, I found out that the Tateoka that was talked about in Conference is his cousin. Pretty cool. One thing I'm learning a lot is to try and just stay in the moment and not think too much. Thinking too much has always been a problem for me but I'm learning to try and stay in the moment and keep my thoughts to the Savior as best I can.

This week should be good. We are just looking to try and teach more people. Nicole is going with the Grahams to do baptisms for the dead for the first time, so that will be sweet! 

Sorry this couldn't be longer, just super busy today!

Great General Conference and Staying in Stayon!

It's crazy that it is already April. Time;s flying. General conference was really really good. I really liked President Nelson's talk. He talked about how too often we refer to the Atonement and things, rather than referring to Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ who can help us, heal us, strengthen us, and succor us. His Atonement allows Him to be able to do so, but it isn't the Atonement that strengthens us, it's Jesus Christ! I thought that was cool. I also really liked Elder Ballard's talk. He talked about setting goals and making plans. It really made me think about needing to do some real reflecting and setting some long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals. And some Eternal-goals! And then making real, measurable plans that will allow for me to be able to work towards those goals. We set goals a lot as missionaries, but if you're not focused on achieving those goals and making plans to do so, it becomes very easy to just lose track and focus of them. Really, all of the talks were really good. Priesthood session was awesome. One of my favorite talks of all, though, was the talk given by the prophet on Sunday morning. He shared a really powerful testimony about the Book of Mormon and the power that comes from reading the Book of Mormon. I thought it was really cool that President Monson shared this with us, because he obviously isn't doing too great in health. But he felt it that important to share with the world a message about the Book of Mormon. It makes me want to get more out of my Book of Mormon study! I'm grateful for President Monson and all of His service. He is truly the living prophet of God on the Earth today and it's a privilege to be able to hear his words! 

I will be staying here in Stayton. Elder Pinkston is going to be getting transferred into Albany. It'll be weird to be in Stayton without him, but I am glad that I am staying. I'm excited to be here. My new companion will be Elder Smith. He has been in the field as long as Elder Pinkston. He's most recently from Gilbert. 

Teaching By the Spirit

The week here went well. We did a ton of walking. We had a Zone Conference on Wednesday. We talked about knowing how you are a successful missionary. And how the measure of success doesn't come from baptisms or anything like that. But the success is told by your commitment to serve the Lord. We also talked a lot about lesson plans. We talked about creating more specific lesson plans and planning lessons by the Spirit. We tried to really work on that this week, and it went well. We had a couple of very good lessons because the presence of the Spirit was so strong. And we taught in more unity than we probably ever have. It was really cool because we planned the lessons totally by the Spirit and as we were teaching when one of us went off from where the plan was, we were able to know for a fact that it was because that thought and direction was prompted by the Spirit. 

Something that I have studied in respect to the opposition is that it is real and really doesn't want us to accomplish the Lord's work. If you think about Joseph Smith, when he went to pray, he felt an unknown power holding him back and binding his tongue. The adversary knew that he was about to have an experience that would change the course of history in a righteous way and really didn't want it to happen! Same thing with Christ after He was baptized. Right before He began His ministry, or at least that of which we have recorded in the Bible, He went to the wilderness to fast and pray and be closer to God. At this time, Satan comes and tries to tempt Him. I think it's because he knew that Christ was about to begin His earthly ministry and perform miracles and do the will of the Father, so he wanted to do his best to stop it. I have personally seen that on my mission too. As I take steps closer to the Savior, I feel the outside pressure from the adversary. It's super frustrating for me personally. It's bugs the heck out of me! I saw it with my mission papers and getting everything sent in and good to go, and I've seen it out here as I take steps that I know I need to take in order to progress. Sometimes it's hard to remember in the moment that it is just the opposition and that if we turn to the Lord in those moments then we will be fine, but that's what it comes down to. We just have to focus on the Lord and we will ultimately be ok! 

The other night we had about 30 minutes left at night. We decided to say a prayer and ask where to go. I felt determined to talk to anyone that the Lord put in our path because it was so late and dark and generally no one is out that late. I had faith that we would be able to talk to at least one person. We were walking down the street and a couple houses behind us a guy walked out so we kind of crossed the street and yelled over to him. I think he was kind of sketched out at first... but we started talking for a second. He wasn't interested at all, but we left him with a Book of Mormon. I felt that if that was the only person we saw, that was at least good enough because we talked to him and left him with something. As we were almost back to the church, we saw a truck pull up and park in his driveway, so we started to speed walk a little and we called out to him as he got out and started walking to his house. At first I had no clue what I was going to say, but a thought came into my mind "family history" so started talking about that. He turned out to be really into family history, so we gave him a family search pass along card and he said we could come back next week to talk about it with him. Who knows how interested he actually is, but it was just another testimony builder to me of the Holy Ghost putting the thoughts into our mind and how we are blessed as missionaries when we try to talk to everyone.

I Am a Child of God

The week here was good! We got a ton of rain. Probably the most rain that I have had on my entire mission. We had a couple of really sunny days, but on both of those days we had a ton of appointments inside and planning and stuff so we weren't outside on those days. Bu it was nice to be able to at least have the sunshine! The week in general was kind of slow, but it will get better. Just gotta keep working hard and trusting in Him. Personally, I'm trying to recognize that I need to be patient with myself. I expect so much out of myself and expect change to happen so immediately that sometimes I forget that it is all in His timing and that all I can do is try my best, do all that I can, repent when I fall short, and then He will help me to reach that potential that I know I have and that He knows I can reach. It's a process, but I know it'll come with time. 

I have been studying a lot this week about our true identity, in the context of the Plan of Salvation. I'm coming to realize that the more that I am able to remember that I am actually a child of God and that He loves me, it helps me to remember how important our choices are and how to keep my heart in line more with His will. And being able to look at others that way is huge! It inspires me to serve them because I can remember that Heavenly Father loves them just as much as He loves me! 

I'm still working on my goal of not eating out.  I haven't had any fast food again this week.  I'm coming to realize how important self-mastery is. When we can learn how to be the masters of our own wants and desires, then we can be more effective agents in actively making choices that bring us closer to Heavenly Father and ultimately help us realize our divine potential. 

I'm glad that you guys had a good visit with the Grahams. They really are awesome people. He is really focused on sharing the gospel with others, so it is great to be able to work with him out here. We can talk to any member, less active or fully active, and sometimes even random people that we meet, and they all know him because of how he has helped them in one way or another. Definitely a good example to follow.

Here's a picture of Mount Jefferson. I think it's cool because I could always see it from madras and now I can see it on the sunny days out here in Stayton!

Testimony Building

The week here went well! A couple weeks ago we invited Aishia to live the Word of Wisdom, she loves coffee, for the 11 days leading up to Fast Sunday. I felt prompted to promise her that if she did, the desire to drink coffee would be gone at the end of it. She took on the challenge and told us that she doesn't even want coffee anymore and has no intentions of doing so.  It was pretty cool! That was a testimony builder to me of the Holy Ghost and listening to the promptings. It was also a testimony builder to me of fasting! I haven't ever had any big experiences from fasting. But the fact that she didn't have any desire to drink coffee anymore, after we made that promise to her, and we fasted and everything, was a huge testimony builder of fasting. And just "experimenting upon the word" as it says in Alma 32:27. Heavenly Father is bound to bless us when we keep His commandments. So when we do those things like reading scriptures, praying, going to church, trying out the Word of Wisdom, He will bless us! And we will start to notice those blessings more and more. 

On Friday, we had the chance to be the auctioneers for a ward youth fundraising event. That was fun. Definitely don't have auctioneering in my future any time soon. 

This week, something that stood out to me in my studies was while I was reading in Matthew 12:30. It says, "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." It's a really simple scripture, but it is so true. If we aren't actively trying to gather His sheep. Whether by our example, words, direct invitations to invite others to the gospel, then we are scattering them abroad. We have to do our best to remember that His gospel has been restored to the Earth! He literally is at the head of the Church. It is Him! He gives us the Gospel because He wants to bless us! So we need to do our best to follow Him! 

We went on a hike today. It wasn't too long, but it was a hike back up to a huge waterfall. And there was an old closed down mine that we got to look around in. It was a pretty cool hike. There are apparently a lot of good hikes like that up here. 

11 People at Sacrament Meeting!

The week here went really well. The biggest miracle that we saw this week was that we had 11 people we are talking to at Sacrament Meeting. That was really really cool to see. There's such a special Spirit during the Sacrament meeting that can be felt simply by being in that meeting. We had a few people that we totally were not expecting, which was an awesome surprise! 

A couple of weeks ago, we met a man outside working on his truck. We shared a little bit with him and he said that we could stop by in the future and if he was home we could share a message with him and his family. Last Monday, we received a referral from a missionary in the Philippines. He sent us to his moms house, who is a less active member. Well, we pulled up to the house.. and it was the same one that we met the other guy at! Long story short, this missionary's mom hasn't been to church in a long, long time and she has three daughters who are 15,12, and 8 who haven't been to church before. The cool thing is that they came to church and loved it! So we are really excited to start teaching them.

I was pondering the other day the purpose of objectives and goals. In Moses it says that Heavenly Fathers greatest desire, His objective, is for us to be immortal and have eternal life with Him. But He knew that wasn't enough. There had to be a plan in place for that to be fulfilled. I've come to realize that I need to start creating objectives in more aspects of my life and then set goals and plans in which help to fulfill those objectives. The first one for me is to treat my body more respectable and so I made the goal of no eating out in March. 

One thing I studied this week was Jacob 5. I know this is mainly about the scattering and gathering of Israel, but I also found it to be really closely related to our Savior's love for us. In this allegory it talks a lot about how it "grieved the Lord of the vineyard" to see his trees perishing. And so he put in a lot of effort to try and make it possible for them to bring forth good fruit. That's what our Savior does. He is always there for us. Always trying to help. But we need to do our part. In the allegory it says that the Lord of the vineyard even asks "What could I have done more?" I am sure that that is how the Savior feels at times when we don't allow the Atonement to work in us. The real question should be posed by us. What more can we do? How can we let the Savior help us? 

This week should be good. We have interviews with President on Thursday. I'm excited for that! 

Experiment Upon the Word

The week here was good. I think the highlight of our week came on Wednesday or Thursday when we were having a lesson with one of our friends that we are teaching. She loves coffee a lot. We felt prompted to promise her that if she would give up coffee and live the word of wisdom for 10 days leading up to fast Sunday, read the Book of Mormon every day, and then fasted on that day, then she would lose the desire to drink coffee and she would feel the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. She has been doing awesome so far! I have faith that she will be blessed as she "experiments upon the word" like it says in Alma 32:27. 

We had a stake Conference yesterday and the second counselor of the presidency said the same thing about how all he wanted for his kids was for them to come to know Christ and our Heavenly Father. That really is what it's all about is working towards Eternal Life with your family. I think we all need to try and remember how much the gospel really means to us more often so we can allow it to truly change the way we go about our every day life. Nicole, the lady who was baptized out here a month ago, has really thrown herself into the gospel and it has been cool to watch. She is getting prepared to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. She has been really getting involved in the ward and everything like that and it has been awesome to see. 

Our lesson last night went really well. Jasmine really felt the Spirit throughout the lesson. We were talking about the Plan of Salvation and how we knew God before this life and how we are actually here for a reason and that really struck home to her. We also showed the Because of Him video about Jesus Christ and why He suffered and died for us, and that meant a lot to her as well. It truly is amazing to think about Christ and exactly how much He loves us and that He was willing to sacrifice Himself for our sake. Sometimes it is easy to not remember Him as we are going throughout our daily lives, but when we do try harder to remember Him and His love for us, then we can find rejuvenation and joy through His love and Atonement. In Preach My Gospel, in the First Presidency message, it promises us that we will find more joy imaginable when we do missionary work. I know this is true.

Other than that, we spent a lot of time trying to find people to teach. We are trying to kind of clean out our teaching pool and teach people who are actually prepared to hear the gospel and are searching for the truth.