First Week in Keizer

We had MLC this morning, but we have the conference tomorrow so our pday is going to be short so I don't have a ton of time. First off I just wanted to let you know that the address I gave you wasn't totally correct because I didn't have the apartment number on it. The full address is: 3647 River Rd NE #102

Keizer, OR, 9730

But yeah our MLC was good this morning. Elder Ardern of the Quorum of the Seventy, and his wife, ran the training. It was really good. They talked about the principles of leadership. They talked about how the essence of leadership is teaching. They also talked about how every moment is a teaching moment. I'm really excited for the chance to hear more from him tomorrow during the Zone Conference we are having. It will be exciting! 

The week here was good. It was good to meet the ward. We have a really small ward. And a pretty old ward. We have about 500-600 on the records. But only about 75 actually come, so there is a lot of rescuing to be done. It will be good though. I'm excited! 

Happy Mother's Day and Getting Transferred

Yeah it was great to be able to see all of you yesterday! It looked like everyone was doing good. I can't believe I have already made half of my calls home. The next 7 months until the next call are going to be big for me in trying to forget myself and turn outward. 

  

Yeah it should be really interesting going into a new area with different responsibilities. I know it'll be good, but I'm a little nervous. Not as nervous as I was coming into Stayton at the time we did in the way we did, but still a little nervous. I am definitely going to miss the people of Stayton. The ward here was really really good. And I made a lot of really good friends. So I am definitely going to miss everyone here! But I am going to be going to an area that I am needed.  This week was good! I will probably keep it short because I am going to be super busy today. Oh and by the way, I think I have a meeting up in Newberg next Monday so there's a chance my pday will be Tuesday. 

But yeah, the week here was good. I think that we literally are half of the food supply here in Stayton. Sister Copeland from the 4 corners ward took us and the four corners elders (our district) out to lunch at a place in Sublimity. I got what they call the Rhino burger. It was huge! It was basically a huge loaf of bread with meat on it. It wasn't a burger!

 Later that day we dug a grave for a lady's dog. Then we had pizza for dinner and helped the activity days girls after that by judging their cupcake wars challenge. So much food!

We had some cool experiences. I definitely keep learning that we can't judge anyone, especially as missionaries. There was one guy that we saw, Richard, who was up on his porch outside smoking and we barely caught a glimpse of him, but of course we wanted to talk to him and he ended up being a really nice guy who was pretty interested. That was awesome. 

Brother Graham was out of town this week so we taught gospel principles at church. It went super well. The lesson was on The Atonement of Jesus Christ. I could feel the guidance of the Spirit helping us out and giving us confirmation of the reality of the Savior and what He did for us. 

Amazing Week - 4 Baptisms and a Birthday

Things are going well here. The baptism Saturday went really well! We had a really big turnout from the ward. We probably had 50-60 people there. And we got a call from President in the morning saying that he was going to come for it, so he and Sister Tateoka were there for it, which is always cool! But yeah overall, the baptism was awesome. There was a really strong Spirit there. It was just really cool to be able to see all of these sisters decide to follow the Savior and be baptized. It has been a really cool experience to watch the change that has taken place in the lives of them individually, but also in the lives of their families. Especially for Aishia, it has been awesome to see the change that has taken place in her life. We have been teaching her since Elder Pinkston and I came into the area and the light of Christ has really come into her life and countenance. 

We were able to do the confirmations yesterday and that went really well too. It was awesome to be able to feel and witness the Spirit present as we confirmed them members of the church. It is awesome to be able to be a part of this process and see first hand the change that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring into someone's life. It is motivating to me to always try and allow the Savior and His gospel to create a change in my heart. Since my birthday was Friday, I made a goal for this next year to experience the "mighty change of heart" that Alma talks about in the Book of Mormon. I know that I am already beginning to experience it, but my goal for the next year is to truly allow myself to feel it and to fully give my heart to the Savior. 

 

Other than the baptisms, we had a bunch of other cool stuff this week. We had Zone Conference on my birthday. It was really good. We talked about obedience and about following up with the people we teach and making daily contact with them. Elder Pinkston was at this Zone Conference and he brought me a Dairy Queen cake, so that was good. On Saturday morning, we had a breakfast with the Stake Presidency here in the Salem Stake for our Zone. It was really good as well. Our district sat at a table with President Cook here in the Stake Presidency and he gave us a lot of good advice about the future when looking for careers and stuff. Overall it was really fun. 

4 Baptisms Coming Up!

We have a really good ward. We had dinner with the Mitzels on Saturday and we thought it was just them, but it turned out to be the Mitzels, Burtons, and Saari's. They had a surprise birthday party for me.  It was super fun! We have a really good ward and I'm really lucky to be a part of the ward here. 

The baptisms are all set for Saturday. Aishia and the three Amida girls are all going to be getting baptized on that day at the same baptismal service. It should be really fun. We are expecting a lot of people to be here, so there is a chance we mug have to move it to the chapel. But it should be a really good baptism and we are really excited for all of them. The Gospel has really changed their lives, individually and as families. The Amida family is really coming closer and it's awesome to watch. The cool part is that we know that this is a blessing from Rose's son who is serving a mission in the Philippines. I can't imagine how excited he is to hear the news that his sisters are getting baptized! And for Aishia, she has come a long way over the 5 months that I have been here. She has changed her life in so many ways and the light that has filled her life is amazing to see. She is being an awesome example to her husband and kids by following the Savior and I know that it is going to have a really good impact on them. 

  

The Savior's grace is something that I am definitely trying to figure out for myself. The adversary will always try and make us not feel worth it or feel like we deserve the love of the Savior. But it's up to us to just do our best and when we do that is when the power of Jesus Christ will come into our lives. We aren't expected to be perfect in this life, we are only expected to strive and do our best. That is something that I really have to work hard on every day. I am finding that I am far too hard on myself. So I am trying to focus on the Savior and how He can help me achieve what He expects of me and just on making progress every day. One of my favorite scriptures is Moroni 10:32

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

All we have to do is love God and try our best to follow the Savior. He will pick us up and carry us. He will get us to where we want to be and carry us there. We just can't get down on ourselves, because that is a trick of the adversary. By the way, I loved that article from the Ensign

about the war going on between us and the adversary. It was really good!

Happy Early Birthday, Elder Klima!

"We have the pleasure of being in the ward Elder Klima is serving in. He is an amazing missionary and we love him so much. There was a little surprise early birthday party for him and we wanted to send you a few pics."

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Really Good Week!

Elder Smith, Elder Radmall (the tall one), Elder Pectol, and I went hiking at Silver Falls with Brother Meeks and a member from their ward. It was super fun! But because of that, there isn't much time left in the day. Trying to be obedient and get everything done that we need to get done on pday, so we are still flying around to finish everything.

The week here was really good. The things that happened were all good. Aishia finally committed to be baptized! Now it is just trying to settle the date that it will happen. We are going back tonight to set the date. Hopefully the 6th of May. The Amyda's are also scheduled for that day. It's all pretty exciting, but it's great to see the Spirit working in their life. In the lesson that Aishia committed to be baptized, the Spirit worked on her throughout the whole thing. At the beginning of the lesson, if we would have asked, she would have probably said no. But the Spirit worked on her and then by the end of the lesson we were reading Ether 12:6 and talking about how baptism would be her "trial of faith" and then we asked if she would and she said yes! She has come a long way since I met her back in March. The Savior has really changed her heart. I'm excited for her. 

I had a couple of cool experiences with the Spirit this week. The main one was during one of my nightly prayers. I asked a very specific question to Heavenly Father. I got the feeling to just be calm and listen. I received a very distinct feeling from the Spirit. I know it was from Heavenly Father. I bear witness that He lives and listens to our prayers. That knowledge doesn't remove any trials I face, any doubts, any fears that I have, but I can't deny the testimony that I have received. 

  

By the way, one thing I've learned is to write down spiritual experiences. It's important to remember those! 

Happy Easter!

Easter was really good. We had a bunch of people come to church. It was really packed. And a lot of people that we are teaching came, which was good. Sacrament meeting was really good. The primary kids did a special musical number, Gethsemene, which really brought the Spirit into the room. I am grateful for the reverence that is so present at church. I know a lot of people worship with loud music or loud speaking, which is good because they are at least worshiping the Savior, but sitting in Sacrament meeting and feeling the Spirit through the reverence makes me really think of how the Savior must have been. He wasn't loud or boisterous. He was calm, peaceful, confident, and full of the Spirit. There is just something special about being in Sacrament meeting.

 

For dinner, we ate at the Mitzel's. They are an awesome family. Sister Mitzel is from Thatcher, Arizona. Their 10-year-old son, Owen, wanted to go on splits with us. So what we did was he taught the dinner message with Elder Smith while I listened to it with Brother Mitzel as my companion. It was fun. He did a really good job and even dressed up with his suit and everything! He was super excited to do it. So that was fun.

Celebrating the Savior at Easter should really be a daily thing! President Nelson told us in General Conference that becoming a powerful disciple of the Savior is not easy. It's not easy to look unto Christ in every thought like it says we should in the scriptures, but as we do that we can draw upon the power of Jesus Christ in a very real way. I definitely have a testimony of that. The past week, the Savior has really been changing my heart, desires, and thoughts. As I continue to pray and really try and think of the Savior I have felt His love begin to change me. I have only tasted a tiny bit of this light and understanding, but it makes me want to really continue to focus on the Savior because the joy that came with this change was pretty indescribable. It's so cool that His gospel has been restored to the Earth! That he very literally guides this church because it is His! I'm really grateful to Heavenly Father and the Savior for blessing me with this light that has started to fill my mind this past week. The way I view people and things are starting to change and I know it is only because of them.

I think missionaries can really experience this. Especially if you are obedient. When you are obedient, you really begin to draw upon the power of the Savior and He changes you. I think obedience is the only way that a real lasting change will occur on your mission. It's the only way to allow the mission to go through you, rather than the other way around. Everything we do has an opportunity to point towards the Savior and our Heavenly Father. This week more than ever, I am finding myself looking at people and thinking, "how would the Savior handle this situation? How would He show His love for them?" I really liked the talk in Conference, "Then Jesus Beholding Him, Loved Him". Charity and seeing others through the eyes of the Savior was a huge theme that stuck out to me in Conference and is something I am really working on. Preach My Gospel says that charity is a gift and as we receive that gift in our lives, through our actions and obedience, then we will really experience a mighty change of heart.

We saw a lot of miracles this week! So many that I can't really write them all down because I don't remember them all off the top of my head. The Amyda girls, who's mom is a returning less-active and who's brother is on a mission in the Philippines, committed to be baptized on May 6th! We are really excited for that. We feel really confident that they will make that date. Their father, who isn't a member, is also interested and is sitting in on the lessons. Their family is awesome. They had us over for one of their daughters birthday dinners and we had so much food! Aishia is also progressing a lot towards baptism. Hopefully in this month. She has been to church 13 weeks in a row! And she is doing awesome. The light of Christ is continuing to grow and grow in her countenance. It has been really cool to watch.

Being with Elder Smith has been fun. We are both really excited for the rest of the transfer. We are working hard and talking to everyone. We both have a desire to grow closer to the Lord and we are working on it. We are trying to really learn how to be obedient and how to be ourselves. I feel like a lot of missionaries don't think obedience and fun can coexist, but I feel like the fun and joy only comes when we are being obedient! When you are being happy, being yourself, and being obedient it is really fun. And especially if you take time to just ponder for a moment or two a day and think about how blessed we are. To think about how cool it is to know of the Plan of Salvation and of who the Savior really is. It's fun. I'm starting to look at people and think, "they already chose Christ before this life! They would not be here if they didn't choose His plan in the pre-mortal existence." And it is really changing my perspective.

It was a good week. I am definitely grateful to the Lord for being able to serve in His vineyard and help others come to know the truths of eternity.