11/30/2009
Well hello family and friends,
It was so great to hear from all of you in your emails this past week. Thank you for all of your prayers and your support in your letters and your emails. It's a little rough to be here in a new country again, trying to learn 2 new languages (mostly just one), but your love and support are helping so much! Don't worry things aren't nearly as bad as they were my first week in Puerto Rico. hahah. It's just a little difficult to adjust to not being to communicate with anyone again. But that's OK because I am learning a ton of stuff and I am loving every minute of it. Be sure to keep me in your prayers because I can use all the help that I can get hahah.
I'm not sure how much I told you last week and I think it's because I didn't really know that much about Aruba yet. But today I will tell you a little more about my new country, and i hope you love it! Aruba is a beautiful island, it's sooooooo much different then Puerto Rico though. It's so dry and desert here. It's weird, it feels like southern Utah. It rains every now and then but nowhere close to the kind of rain that we had in Puerto Rico. The beaches are beautiful of course and the sun is amazing. By Christmas I should look tall, dark, ripped, and handsome. Too bad you are all thousands of miles away and you can't see me! :) haha! Guess you'll just have to wait until I get back.
Anyways a lot of you had questions about the people here. I absolutely love the people here and to be honest I think they are just amazing. Like dad said, Aruba is tourism. That's what it is. That's why the country is here. It's here for the rich tourists. But the people here are so loving and humble. I love it! What's cool about this experience is that every person and every family comes from a different country and a different place so there is a ton of different cultures that I get to be a part off. Already I've talked to a ton of Colombians and people from Venezuela?! (I don't know how to spell) Anyways the fact is I am loving it and the people are so open and friendly (except for the dutch people on vacation . . . they just want nothing to do with us). But that can be expected haha. Did I also say that there are a ton of people from Jamaica here too. Yeah, it's fun. I am teaching in 3 different languages each day and I'm loving it! Ahhh it rocks here!
The people here all speak about 4 or 5 languages. Papiamento, Dutch, Spanish and English. Some people speak other languages like french, but the big 4 are those. Papiamento is basically a mix between Spanish, Dutch and English, with a little Portuguese and French mixed in. We are supposed to learn Papiamento here first and then try and learn Dutch. Dutch is ridiculously hard! hahah But Papiamento is coming along nicely. It's a hard situation to be in again, but its such a cool experience to have to rely big time on the Lord again.
Don't get me wrong, I love Puerto Rico, and I always will, but I think this is such an awesome experience.
The downer about the islands though is the whole package thing. As far as I know the mission will not bring packages down here for us. So if you want to sent me a package, I will give you the address. But to be honest, I don't need packages. Just send lots and lots and lots of letters to the mission home because i will get all of those. :) Oh and do it quick! They'll bring them down on the 7th and I think that's the last time this transfer.
So yeah, that's a lot of information about Aruba. I am loving it. It's a big adjustment, but i am loving it! Thanks again for all that ya'll are doing for me. If you want me to answer any more questions just let me know.
But now I am going to talk about the work because I don't want you to think that I am just down here on vacation! haha The work is going well down here. It's a big adjustment from the area where I was just serving in Puerto Rico. But I like it a lot. We ride bikes all over the island. This is nice because it's a good leg workout. But it is also hard because our tires get flat or pop constantly. My first day here we had 5 flat tires! hahah. But we bought some extra thick tubes to solve the problem and that seems to be working.
As for our investigators here we have a baptismal date with Vivian on the 19th. She had a date before but it fell through so we set another one with her on my second night here it was great! She's doing well and I think that if we can help strengthen her testimony she will be getting baptized on the 19th!
Other then that we have been working hard to find people this week. Yesterday we found Angelica and her family. This awesome family has 5 cute little boys who love our magic tricks and a great set of parents who want the best for their family. We have an appointment with them on Wednesday and I am really looking forward to it. It should be a good one!!!
So other then that the work is just continually progressing. I will however share a neat experience that I had this week. I had to teach in Spanish this week for the first time without a native speaker by my side. It was really scary but I said a prayer and asked for some help and the Lord sent it right away. I taught the lesson in great Spanish and didn't seem to struggle at all. I know that it was the Holy Ghost helping the whole time. It was such a great experience to know that the Lord really was there for me and that He was helping me to teach these people that needed to hear the gospel. I know He loves us and is there to help us. I am so thankful for this Church, for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and for the knowledge that God IS our Heavenly Father and that He loves us!
Well that's about all I have to write this week. I am sure next week I will have some better stories to tell you. But yeah, if you have questions about Aruba lemme know!
It was great to hear that BYU won on Saturday. There were some members in church from Utah who told us that they had won but I couldn't believe it until I heard it. O ye of little faith! I am sorry and I hope that you will all forgive me! But what a neat game! I hope you all enjoyed it for me!!!!
I love you guys so much! Thanks for all you do. Keep me in your prayers and if you have a minute write a quick letter to the mission office! I love hearing from you all!
Have a great week! Read and pray every day!
Go Cougars!!! YEAH!!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving.. FROM ARUBA!!!!!!
11/24/2009
Hola Familia y Amigos,
I just heard the roar of a cruise ship outside and I am sitting in an email cafe in the middle of a bunch of high class tourist shops, that's right I'm in ARUBA!
The zone leaders called me on Saturday morning and they said, "Elder Oviatt, start packing you are headed to the islands." I was really shocked but it was a really neat experience. Even though I had no idea what to think, the song "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" just kept running through my head so yeah, my transfer was a blast, . And I'm sure you are all dying to hear so I'll let you know a little more about it.
For those of you who don't know there are 3 more islands (besides Puerto Rico) in my mission. They are Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. What is way cool about these islands is that they speak a language here that they don't speak a lot anywhere else in the world. It's called Popiamento. It's a lot like Spanish but it's also very different. They also speak another language down here, you might have heard of it, it's DUTCH. The cool thing with the Dutch is that it's a lot like German. The whole time I was in Puerto Rico I was trying to think back on my time in German class and I couldn't think of a single word. I landed in Aruba last night and it all came back to me. It's a really cool experience to feel the influence of the spirit helping you with the gift of tongues. Which is such a blessing considering that I will be trying to teach in 4 languages :) How Cool is that?!?!?!!
I don't have a lot of information to give you on Aruba because I just landed here last night. But from what I can tell I am going to absolutely love my time here. It's a lot different then Puerto Rico. It's a ton drier and a lot hotter. Puerto Rico is a tropical rain forest and Aruba is like Utah by the ocean. There is a group of cactus outside my apartment. It's pretty cool! I feel right at home! hahah
Anyways my new companion is Elder Bailey. He is from Riverton, Utah. He's way cool and I know that we are going to have a great time together. He already helped me a ton this morning with me Papiamento so I can't wait to see where this transfer goes.
So yeah, that's the big news from this transfer cycle. I'm sure a lot of you are shocked (like me) but that's just what's so cool about this experience. There is nothing like the mission, nothing in the world. And I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to be here!
My last week in San Sebastian was awesome too. Mom and Dad, thank you so much for the package. I was able to eat all of the candy before and I brought the pajamas down to wear on Christmas Eve! Woohoo! And thanks for all of the rest of you who wrote letters and stuff. I left yesterday early early in the morning but don't worry, if you sent me a letter, I will eventually get it.
The biggest event that we had last week was that we had a Ward service project up at the home of Wilton and Myra. We helped them paint and clean up the yard. It felt a lot like an Extreme Home Makeover and it was so cool to see the way that the members have welcomed this family into the ward. I know that the Lord has also blessed them tremendously for the decision that they made to be baptized and to come into the church. For my last weekend in San Sebastian, I couldn't have wished for a better ending.
So yeah, it's crazy to be on a different island, and even farther away from you guys, but I feel such a feeling of comfort here. I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be and I am so excited to get out and get to work! I hope that you all have an amazing Thanksgiving this week. They don't celebrate it down here but the landlord of our apartment does, and he invited us over for Thanksgiving Dinner, so yeah . . . that will be fun! And I can't believe that we are so close to Christmas. I can't wait to hear you guys!!!! But that's still a long ways away. There's a lot of work to be done still.
Before I leave I want to leave you with a really cool experience that I had this past week. We are reading the Book of Mormon as the mission and we are going to finish before the end of the year. I was reading the other day in first Nephi chapter 17 verse 3 and when I read it I thought it was a really cool scripture, but then I really didn't think anymore than that. Two days later we had a trade off and I was in the other area of Las Marias. We went to a family that had been really struggling in the church. Elder Schaeffer and I went to their home without a real lesson plan. We were just going to talk to them and to see how we could help. As I sat down, I couldn't get this scripture out of my mind. When I started to talk I shared the scripture and it set the tone for a lesson that was just awesome. I did nothing in that lesson. The spirit did it all. That scripture was what the family needed to hear and I know that the Lord worked through His missionaries to share the message that He wanted that family to hear. I love this work and I am so thankful for our Heavenly Father and His love for us. We are His children and He does want the best for us. I know that to be true. This is His Church on the earth today, without a doubt in my mind.
I love you all. I hope that you have an amazing week of thankfulness. I am so thankful for all of you and for all that you have done for me in my life. I will forever be grateful for the family and friends that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with! I love you guys!
Write soon . . . I'm not sure what our address is but the fastest way for me to get your letters will be if you send them to the mission office in Puerto Rico. They come down every few weeks for meetings and when they come down they bring all of those letters. So yeah, don't be shy about writing a letter! I love hearing from you guys!
Thanks again for all you do! I cant wait to hear from you!
Hola Familia y Amigos,
I just heard the roar of a cruise ship outside and I am sitting in an email cafe in the middle of a bunch of high class tourist shops, that's right I'm in ARUBA!
The zone leaders called me on Saturday morning and they said, "Elder Oviatt, start packing you are headed to the islands." I was really shocked but it was a really neat experience. Even though I had no idea what to think, the song "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go" just kept running through my head so yeah, my transfer was a blast, . And I'm sure you are all dying to hear so I'll let you know a little more about it.
For those of you who don't know there are 3 more islands (besides Puerto Rico) in my mission. They are Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. What is way cool about these islands is that they speak a language here that they don't speak a lot anywhere else in the world. It's called Popiamento. It's a lot like Spanish but it's also very different. They also speak another language down here, you might have heard of it, it's DUTCH. The cool thing with the Dutch is that it's a lot like German. The whole time I was in Puerto Rico I was trying to think back on my time in German class and I couldn't think of a single word. I landed in Aruba last night and it all came back to me. It's a really cool experience to feel the influence of the spirit helping you with the gift of tongues. Which is such a blessing considering that I will be trying to teach in 4 languages :) How Cool is that?!?!?!!
I don't have a lot of information to give you on Aruba because I just landed here last night. But from what I can tell I am going to absolutely love my time here. It's a lot different then Puerto Rico. It's a ton drier and a lot hotter. Puerto Rico is a tropical rain forest and Aruba is like Utah by the ocean. There is a group of cactus outside my apartment. It's pretty cool! I feel right at home! hahah
Anyways my new companion is Elder Bailey. He is from Riverton, Utah. He's way cool and I know that we are going to have a great time together. He already helped me a ton this morning with me Papiamento so I can't wait to see where this transfer goes.
So yeah, that's the big news from this transfer cycle. I'm sure a lot of you are shocked (like me) but that's just what's so cool about this experience. There is nothing like the mission, nothing in the world. And I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to be here!
My last week in San Sebastian was awesome too. Mom and Dad, thank you so much for the package. I was able to eat all of the candy before and I brought the pajamas down to wear on Christmas Eve! Woohoo! And thanks for all of the rest of you who wrote letters and stuff. I left yesterday early early in the morning but don't worry, if you sent me a letter, I will eventually get it.
The biggest event that we had last week was that we had a Ward service project up at the home of Wilton and Myra. We helped them paint and clean up the yard. It felt a lot like an Extreme Home Makeover and it was so cool to see the way that the members have welcomed this family into the ward. I know that the Lord has also blessed them tremendously for the decision that they made to be baptized and to come into the church. For my last weekend in San Sebastian, I couldn't have wished for a better ending.
So yeah, it's crazy to be on a different island, and even farther away from you guys, but I feel such a feeling of comfort here. I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be and I am so excited to get out and get to work! I hope that you all have an amazing Thanksgiving this week. They don't celebrate it down here but the landlord of our apartment does, and he invited us over for Thanksgiving Dinner, so yeah . . . that will be fun! And I can't believe that we are so close to Christmas. I can't wait to hear you guys!!!! But that's still a long ways away. There's a lot of work to be done still.
Before I leave I want to leave you with a really cool experience that I had this past week. We are reading the Book of Mormon as the mission and we are going to finish before the end of the year. I was reading the other day in first Nephi chapter 17 verse 3 and when I read it I thought it was a really cool scripture, but then I really didn't think anymore than that. Two days later we had a trade off and I was in the other area of Las Marias. We went to a family that had been really struggling in the church. Elder Schaeffer and I went to their home without a real lesson plan. We were just going to talk to them and to see how we could help. As I sat down, I couldn't get this scripture out of my mind. When I started to talk I shared the scripture and it set the tone for a lesson that was just awesome. I did nothing in that lesson. The spirit did it all. That scripture was what the family needed to hear and I know that the Lord worked through His missionaries to share the message that He wanted that family to hear. I love this work and I am so thankful for our Heavenly Father and His love for us. We are His children and He does want the best for us. I know that to be true. This is His Church on the earth today, without a doubt in my mind.
I love you all. I hope that you have an amazing week of thankfulness. I am so thankful for all of you and for all that you have done for me in my life. I will forever be grateful for the family and friends that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with! I love you guys!
Write soon . . . I'm not sure what our address is but the fastest way for me to get your letters will be if you send them to the mission office in Puerto Rico. They come down every few weeks for meetings and when they come down they bring all of those letters. So yeah, don't be shy about writing a letter! I love hearing from you guys!
Thanks again for all you do! I cant wait to hear from you!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
My email this week
11/16/2009
Hola Family and Friends!
I hope that you all had a fantastic week back in chilly Utah and I hope that all is going well and almost perfect for you all in your lives right now. Thank you so much for the letters and love and support that you all sent to me this week. It was so great to hear about what you have all been up to and of the cool experiences that you have been able to have. It was also nice to feel the warmth of the love and your support for me which help me to continue to work hard in this great and marvelous work. I will always be thankful for the blessing that I have been given to be part of such a great family and to have such great friends! Thanks for all you do guys!
So this past week was a great hard week of work here in beautiful San Sebastian. We have had a rough past few weeks with the number of investigators that we have had drop out, but it was great to be able to work hard and see the blessings that the Lord had in store for us. As much as I miss you guys back home, I am so thankful for this opportunity. I know without a doubt that this is the place where the Lord wants us to be.
Our week was full of hard work, and a lot of it was just that . . . work! We had a lot of opportunities to find new people and invite them. This week we will have the opportunity to teach a lot. Because this week was used mostly to find new investigators to teach, I don’t have a lot of cool or exciting stories to share with you. But that’s OK because it was still a great week of work and I know that next week we will have some really cool experiences to share. But just because I didn’t have a lot doesn’t mean that I didn’t have any good experiences.
On Tuesday night we taught the entire family of our newest baptismal date Rut. By the way Uncle Todd I have a really cool piece of information for you, Rut and her mom are from Hungary. Do you remember very much Hungarian? Do you have any cool phrases that I could say to them that would make them laugh or smile? Haha! It’s so cool to see the type of people we get to meet here. Who knew that someday I would meet a Hungarian family living in Puerto Rico?? Anyways we had a lesson with Rut and we ended up teaching her whole family.
This lesson was one of the most amazing lessons that I have been part of in my mission. This family is so humble. They don’t have a whole lot but what they have is really the only thing that we need in able to work with people here . . . and that is faith and a desire to learn more. I can’t tell you what an amazing feeling it was to be guided by the spirit to say the things that I needed to say. I don’t know that I said a whole lot of my own words during this lesson and I know it was because the spirit was working through me to touch the hearts of these people. We taught great together. We taught like we have never taught before and we felt on fire. My Spanish was amazing and Elder Blandon and I were making connections and transitions that we have never been able to make before. We talked afterward about how amazing the lesson was and we both made the observation that this lesson felt really different.
As I thought about this lesson more and more I thought about the desire that these people had to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ and their desire to change their lives. The Lord wanted His message to be made loud and clear to His children in this moment. I have no doubt in my mind that it was for this reason that He helped His lowly servants teach an amazing lesson. This is the Church of Jesus Christ in our days, I know it is! And I know that our Heavenly Father wants the best for His children. I know that this is the reason why He has established His church once again over the earth. He wants the best for all of His children.
There are a lot of great people in the world who go to a lot of good churches and do a lot of good things. But I know that the Lord wants the absolute best for His children. We all have problems. Some of them are bigger then others. But the key is that our loving Savior suffered for each and every one of us. He knows our problems and He knows our sorrows. He wants the best for us. And it’s for this reason that He has established His church on the earth again. I know my Savior lives and I know He loves us. I am so thankful for the sacrifice He made for us and the power that we can find in this sacrifice to change our lives and become better people.
Sorry if that was a little out of place, but I write what I feel I need to write in these emails and I felt that I really need to write about that. Anyways . . . besides that lesson, we had a great week. We found a lot of new people who have a real desire to learn more about the gospel.
This weekend we had a Stake activity and a Caribbean Area Conference with Elder Ballard. The activity was really fun because it was a talent show and the talents that the people shared were native talents in Puerto Rico, part of the culture here. It was so cool to see that and to realize how much I love this land and these people. The meeting with Elder Ballard was really neat. He talked a lot about how we can all receive personal revelation to do those things that we need to do in our lives. He challenged all of the investigators in the audience to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it comes from God. Then he promised that they would be able to know perfectly that the Book of Mormon is true and that this is the Church of Christ in the last days. It was such a blessing to hear from an apostle of Jesus Christ and it was really cool to realize how Jesus Christ is guiding us through His messengers today.
I know that this is His church and I am so thankful to be here serving Him. I hope that you all have a great week this week! I look forward to your letters and your emails. I hope that BYU does well this week and you all better remember not to wear red next week! Haha! I love you all so much and I hope that you have an amazing week.
Love you all! Have an amazing week.
Hola Family and Friends!
I hope that you all had a fantastic week back in chilly Utah and I hope that all is going well and almost perfect for you all in your lives right now. Thank you so much for the letters and love and support that you all sent to me this week. It was so great to hear about what you have all been up to and of the cool experiences that you have been able to have. It was also nice to feel the warmth of the love and your support for me which help me to continue to work hard in this great and marvelous work. I will always be thankful for the blessing that I have been given to be part of such a great family and to have such great friends! Thanks for all you do guys!
So this past week was a great hard week of work here in beautiful San Sebastian. We have had a rough past few weeks with the number of investigators that we have had drop out, but it was great to be able to work hard and see the blessings that the Lord had in store for us. As much as I miss you guys back home, I am so thankful for this opportunity. I know without a doubt that this is the place where the Lord wants us to be.
Our week was full of hard work, and a lot of it was just that . . . work! We had a lot of opportunities to find new people and invite them. This week we will have the opportunity to teach a lot. Because this week was used mostly to find new investigators to teach, I don’t have a lot of cool or exciting stories to share with you. But that’s OK because it was still a great week of work and I know that next week we will have some really cool experiences to share. But just because I didn’t have a lot doesn’t mean that I didn’t have any good experiences.
On Tuesday night we taught the entire family of our newest baptismal date Rut. By the way Uncle Todd I have a really cool piece of information for you, Rut and her mom are from Hungary. Do you remember very much Hungarian? Do you have any cool phrases that I could say to them that would make them laugh or smile? Haha! It’s so cool to see the type of people we get to meet here. Who knew that someday I would meet a Hungarian family living in Puerto Rico?? Anyways we had a lesson with Rut and we ended up teaching her whole family.
This lesson was one of the most amazing lessons that I have been part of in my mission. This family is so humble. They don’t have a whole lot but what they have is really the only thing that we need in able to work with people here . . . and that is faith and a desire to learn more. I can’t tell you what an amazing feeling it was to be guided by the spirit to say the things that I needed to say. I don’t know that I said a whole lot of my own words during this lesson and I know it was because the spirit was working through me to touch the hearts of these people. We taught great together. We taught like we have never taught before and we felt on fire. My Spanish was amazing and Elder Blandon and I were making connections and transitions that we have never been able to make before. We talked afterward about how amazing the lesson was and we both made the observation that this lesson felt really different.
As I thought about this lesson more and more I thought about the desire that these people had to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ and their desire to change their lives. The Lord wanted His message to be made loud and clear to His children in this moment. I have no doubt in my mind that it was for this reason that He helped His lowly servants teach an amazing lesson. This is the Church of Jesus Christ in our days, I know it is! And I know that our Heavenly Father wants the best for His children. I know that this is the reason why He has established His church once again over the earth. He wants the best for all of His children.
There are a lot of great people in the world who go to a lot of good churches and do a lot of good things. But I know that the Lord wants the absolute best for His children. We all have problems. Some of them are bigger then others. But the key is that our loving Savior suffered for each and every one of us. He knows our problems and He knows our sorrows. He wants the best for us. And it’s for this reason that He has established His church on the earth again. I know my Savior lives and I know He loves us. I am so thankful for the sacrifice He made for us and the power that we can find in this sacrifice to change our lives and become better people.
Sorry if that was a little out of place, but I write what I feel I need to write in these emails and I felt that I really need to write about that. Anyways . . . besides that lesson, we had a great week. We found a lot of new people who have a real desire to learn more about the gospel.
This weekend we had a Stake activity and a Caribbean Area Conference with Elder Ballard. The activity was really fun because it was a talent show and the talents that the people shared were native talents in Puerto Rico, part of the culture here. It was so cool to see that and to realize how much I love this land and these people. The meeting with Elder Ballard was really neat. He talked a lot about how we can all receive personal revelation to do those things that we need to do in our lives. He challenged all of the investigators in the audience to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it comes from God. Then he promised that they would be able to know perfectly that the Book of Mormon is true and that this is the Church of Christ in the last days. It was such a blessing to hear from an apostle of Jesus Christ and it was really cool to realize how Jesus Christ is guiding us through His messengers today.
I know that this is His church and I am so thankful to be here serving Him. I hope that you all have a great week this week! I look forward to your letters and your emails. I hope that BYU does well this week and you all better remember not to wear red next week! Haha! I love you all so much and I hope that you have an amazing week.
Love you all! Have an amazing week.
Oh What a Beautiful Morning Sent 11-9-2009
Hola family and Friends!
I woke up this morning to the beautiful tropical rain and I couldn’t believe it! In the five and a half months that I have been in my mission I have never seen the rain in the morning! It was so beautiful and it reminded me a lot of Utah! It even had a little chill to it and reminded me of a nice September morning in good ole Utah. But then the rain stopped and it shot back up into the 80’s. Oh what a blessing it is to be in paradise. I hope that you are all enjoying the beautiful weather in Utah! haha!
Anyways, thank you to all of you who wrote me this week. It was so great to hear from all of you. Grandma and Grandpa, thank you so much for the talk on the Book of Mormon. I learned so much. I read it as soon as I got it. This morning I have been telling the other missionaries about it and they thought it was so cool too. So yeah, thank you so much. You have no idea how much it means to me! Mom and dad, thank you for your letters. It was great to read the ward newsletter and to hear about the other missionaries and how they are doing.
OK, well this week was an all right week. We have had 6 baptismal dates drop on us during the last two weeks. That has been kind of hard and discouraging along with some other things that have happened these last few weeks. But that’s ok! Our mission president told Elder Blandon and I that our faith is being tried right now because we need to be able to grow and improve the work even more in the area. I really liked that and the more I have thought about it the more I know that to be true. We really do grow the most in our hardest times!
Anyways, even though we have been struggling to find investigators and good solid people to teach we have still been blessed to be a part of some awesome miracles. And I would love to share some of those with you guys in the short time that I have.
The first one was on Tuesday. Monday night Elder Blandon and I both had the very strong impression that we needed to visit Wilton and Myra in the morning. The problem is that they are in school during that time, but the impression was still there. So we knew that we had to go. We went at about 1 o' clock which is a lot earlier then we usually do. When we got there, the mom ran out to us and said I am so thankful you guys are here. I have been praying that you would come! Myra is really sick and I need your help. I’m not sure if I have ever told you this but Myra is diabetic and it is pretty bad. Anyways, on Tuesday she woke up and was having some problems. When they checked her blood sugar it was around 550. It had began to go down a bit but we told her mom that we could give her a priesthood blessing to help move the process along. It was so neat to be able to lay our hands upon her head and give her a priesthood blessing. I’m sure that a lot of you have had experiences like this but it was a really cool experience to see the way that the Lord works. I know that our Heavenly Father lives and he loves us. We are His children and He hears our prayers. I know that this is true with all of my heart!
Another miracle that we had this week was with some of our investigators that we have had for a while. We have had baptismal dates with them but this last week we couldn’t get a hold of them and we were really worried about what might have happened. Not that anything bad had happened to them physically, but if they had been shown some more of the crap that our other investigators had been given. Anyways, we prayed every single day that we would be able to at least communicate with them to find out what happened. Yet still, every single day we couldn’t find them. Finally on Friday we prayed before we left and then we walked straight to their apartment, and wouldn’t you know it, guess who was walking across the parking lot. We ran up to them and said hi and asked how things were doing. It turned out that everything was fine, they just couldn’t answer their phones and stuff. Anyways to make along story short, we were able to visit them on Saturday and things are going great. They weren’t able to come to church yesterday because of car issues and that is why their baptismal date fell through, but we are going to pass by later this week to set up another date and things are going to go great.
We were blessed with the opportunity to set another baptismal date with a lady named Rut. Rut has a strong desire to change her life and is going to need a little help, but that’s OK. The Lord is able to work with those who are humble and have desires to change. Anyways when we set the date it was cool because she checked her calender to make sure that her lip ring would be out by then so that she would be clean for her baptismal day. She is a great lady and I can’t wait to see where this one goes!
I want you all to know that I have a testimony of this work. I know that this is the work of the Lord and I am so thankful for the opportunity that He has given me to dedicate these few months of my life to serve Him. Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior and Redeemer. He knows our pains and our sorrows and He is there for us. He is always there for us. He is the one true friend I have in this life and I am so thankful for him.
I love you guys so much! It was good to hear that BYU won again. Hopefully they do well again this week! Thanks for all you do! I hope that everyone's tests and lives go well! Have a great week! I’m praying for you.
Go Cougars!
I woke up this morning to the beautiful tropical rain and I couldn’t believe it! In the five and a half months that I have been in my mission I have never seen the rain in the morning! It was so beautiful and it reminded me a lot of Utah! It even had a little chill to it and reminded me of a nice September morning in good ole Utah. But then the rain stopped and it shot back up into the 80’s. Oh what a blessing it is to be in paradise. I hope that you are all enjoying the beautiful weather in Utah! haha!
Anyways, thank you to all of you who wrote me this week. It was so great to hear from all of you. Grandma and Grandpa, thank you so much for the talk on the Book of Mormon. I learned so much. I read it as soon as I got it. This morning I have been telling the other missionaries about it and they thought it was so cool too. So yeah, thank you so much. You have no idea how much it means to me! Mom and dad, thank you for your letters. It was great to read the ward newsletter and to hear about the other missionaries and how they are doing.
OK, well this week was an all right week. We have had 6 baptismal dates drop on us during the last two weeks. That has been kind of hard and discouraging along with some other things that have happened these last few weeks. But that’s ok! Our mission president told Elder Blandon and I that our faith is being tried right now because we need to be able to grow and improve the work even more in the area. I really liked that and the more I have thought about it the more I know that to be true. We really do grow the most in our hardest times!
Anyways, even though we have been struggling to find investigators and good solid people to teach we have still been blessed to be a part of some awesome miracles. And I would love to share some of those with you guys in the short time that I have.
The first one was on Tuesday. Monday night Elder Blandon and I both had the very strong impression that we needed to visit Wilton and Myra in the morning. The problem is that they are in school during that time, but the impression was still there. So we knew that we had to go. We went at about 1 o' clock which is a lot earlier then we usually do. When we got there, the mom ran out to us and said I am so thankful you guys are here. I have been praying that you would come! Myra is really sick and I need your help. I’m not sure if I have ever told you this but Myra is diabetic and it is pretty bad. Anyways, on Tuesday she woke up and was having some problems. When they checked her blood sugar it was around 550. It had began to go down a bit but we told her mom that we could give her a priesthood blessing to help move the process along. It was so neat to be able to lay our hands upon her head and give her a priesthood blessing. I’m sure that a lot of you have had experiences like this but it was a really cool experience to see the way that the Lord works. I know that our Heavenly Father lives and he loves us. We are His children and He hears our prayers. I know that this is true with all of my heart!
Another miracle that we had this week was with some of our investigators that we have had for a while. We have had baptismal dates with them but this last week we couldn’t get a hold of them and we were really worried about what might have happened. Not that anything bad had happened to them physically, but if they had been shown some more of the crap that our other investigators had been given. Anyways, we prayed every single day that we would be able to at least communicate with them to find out what happened. Yet still, every single day we couldn’t find them. Finally on Friday we prayed before we left and then we walked straight to their apartment, and wouldn’t you know it, guess who was walking across the parking lot. We ran up to them and said hi and asked how things were doing. It turned out that everything was fine, they just couldn’t answer their phones and stuff. Anyways to make along story short, we were able to visit them on Saturday and things are going great. They weren’t able to come to church yesterday because of car issues and that is why their baptismal date fell through, but we are going to pass by later this week to set up another date and things are going to go great.
We were blessed with the opportunity to set another baptismal date with a lady named Rut. Rut has a strong desire to change her life and is going to need a little help, but that’s OK. The Lord is able to work with those who are humble and have desires to change. Anyways when we set the date it was cool because she checked her calender to make sure that her lip ring would be out by then so that she would be clean for her baptismal day. She is a great lady and I can’t wait to see where this one goes!
I want you all to know that I have a testimony of this work. I know that this is the work of the Lord and I am so thankful for the opportunity that He has given me to dedicate these few months of my life to serve Him. Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior and Redeemer. He knows our pains and our sorrows and He is there for us. He is always there for us. He is the one true friend I have in this life and I am so thankful for him.
I love you guys so much! It was good to hear that BYU won again. Hopefully they do well again this week! Thanks for all you do! I hope that everyone's tests and lives go well! Have a great week! I’m praying for you.
Go Cougars!
It's November and it's 80 degrees! Where am I?!?! Sent 11-2-2009
Hola family and friends,
Well like always I just spent 20 minutes writing my email to all of you guys and then guess what . . . it got deleted. So I won't be able to write as much or in as much detail as I wanted too, but well that’s the life. I guess I said something in my previous email attempt that was going to hurt someone and the Lord didn’t want me to send it! haha! I hope that is not the case but anyways here we go . . .
I hope that you all had an amazing Halloween this past week. We as missionaries didn’t get dress up and go out. We had to stay inside. But it was fun. We played Risk and talked about how we can improve our work! It was a good Halloween. But definitely not the same as the ones back home. I hope that you enjoyed it!
Anyways this week was perhaps one of the hardest weeks that I have had on my mission. I learned two things: the first is that the mission is an emotional roller coaster, and the second is that we must experience opposition in all things.
The week started out great! I had a day of amazing Spanish where I talked was able to speak as I had never spoken before. I also taught like I have never been able to teach before. It was an amazing blessing from the Lord and I felt like I was on fire.
And then Friday came . . .
We had a lesson with the family we thought were our most promising investigators, Alexis and Alexandra. We were ready for what we thought was going to be an amazing lesson with the Branch President. We came in, we all sat down, and we sang the opening hymn. Alexis and Alexandra didn’t sing with us. After the prayer they pulled out the list.
Someone had handed them a great little list of anti-Mormon scriptures along with some other anti-Mormon stuff. They began to read off the scriptures and even though we answered every question with complete ease, the seed of faith that had been planted by the Lord had been removed and buried by some conspiring servant of the devil.
It was hard to go through that lesson and to hear all the opposition that they had chosen to believe. It was so full of contention and so false that the spirit was just gone. It was really cool to see the way it came back when we all bore our testimonies and when we knelt down to pray. I could just feel the love of the Lord that he had for these people. I started to just bawl like a baby.
Every time that I had looked at this family I would think about how families can be together and how they were choosing the path that the Lord wanted them to be on. We now knelt in prayer knowing that they had chosen to get off of that path. I just couldn’t help but deeply feel the sorrow I had for them. It was hard for me to realize that they had just delayed their opportunity to be sealed together as a family. It was a hard night (as you can imagine) but as we went back to the apartment, I had the opportunity to pray and ask Heavenly Father to get me back on my feet. It was amazing to feel His love pick me up that night and the next day during stories.
I want you all to know that I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth today. There is no doubt in my mind that He is at the head of the church. This church receives so much devilish opposition. This opposition is actually the most blatant evidence that this is truly His church. Why would satan try so hard to destroy a church if it wasn’t the church of God? I hope that none of you have had to deal with this crap . . . having someone try to destroy your faith in God and in our Savior. But if you have, I would encourage you not to listen to man, but listen to God. Get down on your knees and ask Him yourself. You can’t deny a witness from God and God will never lie to you. He will tell you the truth! But a man will just tell you what he wants to tell you, true or not.
I am so thankful for this opportunity that I have to fight in this spiritual war. Satan’s influence in the world is so strong and he is growing everyday. Moms and Dads, don’t let him tear your family apart. God created this gospel to help our families stay together and live in a way that we should. The teachings in the Church of Jesus Christ are His teachings and they bless the family. And the biggest blessing of all is the knowledge that our families can be together forever.
I hope that you all have an amazing week! Enjoy the crisp fall weather and I will enjoy the nice tropical weather.
Never forget who you are, a Child of God, and never forget to do the things that will bring you closer to Him!
I love you all so much thanks for all you do! Have a super fantastic Week!
PS FAMILIES ARE FOREVER!!!!
Well like always I just spent 20 minutes writing my email to all of you guys and then guess what . . . it got deleted. So I won't be able to write as much or in as much detail as I wanted too, but well that’s the life. I guess I said something in my previous email attempt that was going to hurt someone and the Lord didn’t want me to send it! haha! I hope that is not the case but anyways here we go . . .
I hope that you all had an amazing Halloween this past week. We as missionaries didn’t get dress up and go out. We had to stay inside. But it was fun. We played Risk and talked about how we can improve our work! It was a good Halloween. But definitely not the same as the ones back home. I hope that you enjoyed it!
Anyways this week was perhaps one of the hardest weeks that I have had on my mission. I learned two things: the first is that the mission is an emotional roller coaster, and the second is that we must experience opposition in all things.
The week started out great! I had a day of amazing Spanish where I talked was able to speak as I had never spoken before. I also taught like I have never been able to teach before. It was an amazing blessing from the Lord and I felt like I was on fire.
And then Friday came . . .
We had a lesson with the family we thought were our most promising investigators, Alexis and Alexandra. We were ready for what we thought was going to be an amazing lesson with the Branch President. We came in, we all sat down, and we sang the opening hymn. Alexis and Alexandra didn’t sing with us. After the prayer they pulled out the list.
Someone had handed them a great little list of anti-Mormon scriptures along with some other anti-Mormon stuff. They began to read off the scriptures and even though we answered every question with complete ease, the seed of faith that had been planted by the Lord had been removed and buried by some conspiring servant of the devil.
It was hard to go through that lesson and to hear all the opposition that they had chosen to believe. It was so full of contention and so false that the spirit was just gone. It was really cool to see the way it came back when we all bore our testimonies and when we knelt down to pray. I could just feel the love of the Lord that he had for these people. I started to just bawl like a baby.
Every time that I had looked at this family I would think about how families can be together and how they were choosing the path that the Lord wanted them to be on. We now knelt in prayer knowing that they had chosen to get off of that path. I just couldn’t help but deeply feel the sorrow I had for them. It was hard for me to realize that they had just delayed their opportunity to be sealed together as a family. It was a hard night (as you can imagine) but as we went back to the apartment, I had the opportunity to pray and ask Heavenly Father to get me back on my feet. It was amazing to feel His love pick me up that night and the next day during stories.
I want you all to know that I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth today. There is no doubt in my mind that He is at the head of the church. This church receives so much devilish opposition. This opposition is actually the most blatant evidence that this is truly His church. Why would satan try so hard to destroy a church if it wasn’t the church of God? I hope that none of you have had to deal with this crap . . . having someone try to destroy your faith in God and in our Savior. But if you have, I would encourage you not to listen to man, but listen to God. Get down on your knees and ask Him yourself. You can’t deny a witness from God and God will never lie to you. He will tell you the truth! But a man will just tell you what he wants to tell you, true or not.
I am so thankful for this opportunity that I have to fight in this spiritual war. Satan’s influence in the world is so strong and he is growing everyday. Moms and Dads, don’t let him tear your family apart. God created this gospel to help our families stay together and live in a way that we should. The teachings in the Church of Jesus Christ are His teachings and they bless the family. And the biggest blessing of all is the knowledge that our families can be together forever.
I hope that you all have an amazing week! Enjoy the crisp fall weather and I will enjoy the nice tropical weather.
Never forget who you are, a Child of God, and never forget to do the things that will bring you closer to Him!
I love you all so much thanks for all you do! Have a super fantastic Week!
PS FAMILIES ARE FOREVER!!!!
Happy Halloween! Thanks Bishop Weight! Sent 10-26-2009
Hola Familia y Amigos
I hope that all is going well in good old cold Orem, Utah. First off, I want to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. I hope that all goes well for everyone this week.
Thanks to all of you who wrote me a letter or an email this week. It was so great to hear from you. As always it was great to hear from you and hear about how things are going!
I want to thank Bishop Weight for all that he did for me in his service as young men's president. I've thought a lot about how the young men's leaders all around the world carry a lot of responsibility. They have to help these young men grow up and be prepared to serve missions. I want to thank all of my young men's leaders, but especially Bishop Weight, for all that they did to help me get where I am today and to help me stay on the straight and narrow path. I know that Bishop Weight has helped a lot of people in his life but I doubt that there are any who are more thankful for his service and his help then those young men that were with me and before me. Thanks for all you did for us Bishop Weight! You are an amazing man and an even better example to all of us!
As for the fires, I don't think that you have anything to be worried about mom. I have yet to see any smoke from the fires. Bayamon is about 2 hours from San Sebastian and as far as I know all that happened is that some big gas tanks caught on fire so they have to wait until all of the gas burns out. Yeah the air will probably be bad for a while but I imagine it will be a lot like a forest fire is back home. And as always all the missionaries are safe. You have nothing to worry about. We are in the Lord's hands and He will protect us.
It's too bad that BYU lost but esta es la vida. Always perhaps another day or another season for BYU, but as always go cougars! :)
OK . . . well this week was absolutely amazing. The work here in San Sebastian is improving so much and I love it. We now have two more baptismal dates and the family is just awesome. We contacted Alexis and his wife about two weeks ago. Last Sunday they came to church and they absolutely loved it! We had a family home evening on Monday night in the home of the Sanchez family, one of the strongest families of our branch. It was such a great lesson they taught about how we can use family home evenings to improve my family. Alexis and Alexandra loved it and said that they were going to try and implement this in their home next week. It was great to see the kids of both families interacting while the parents of both families were talking about how we can better improve our family relations. God created His plan and His gospel in order to bless our families and help us receive the ordinances needed to be exalted and live together forever as families. It is great to see how truly blessed we are to have a program like family home evening. It really does bring our families closer to him!
Wednesday was the day that we were going to put the baptismal challenge with them and the lesson went so much better then we could have ever dreamed. We were both a little nervous because Alexandra called us the night before and said that she had some doubts but it turned out her doubts were just questions about what is a Lamanite and a Nephite. I can't tell you how nice it was to hear that was all.
The lesson we had with them was so amazing! The spirit was incredibly strong and I could tell that they knew what we were teaching them was special. Alexis had a big problem when we showed him the picture of baptism. The girl in the picture looks pretty young and he started talking about how he doesn't believe kids should be baptized, even at 8 years old. It was a great opportunity for me and Elder Blandon to share our testimonies about the way we felt on our baptism days. That helped to change his attitude a bit, but then his wife told a story of their son who came home from church and when they started to pray that night he told his mom that they were doing it wrong, that isn't what they learned in primary. With tears running down all of our faces she told us that there is nothing more that she wants for her kids then to want to follow the Savior at 8, that was the thing that helped Alexis changed his attitude. It was great to end that lesson and commit them both to baptism. They said that they were both a little nervous and they never thought that it would come this fast but the spirit was so strong in the room that there was only one answer that they could give. And I am so thankful they gave it. They said that they wanted to prepare to be baptized on November 14th and once again, I was the happiest man in the world!
Friday night Alexis came to the priesthood activity with us and had a blast. When we left he was shaking all of the members hand's with us like he's been a member for a long time. It was great to see him interacting with the members like that. It really does feel like he has been attending our branch for a while now. It's crazy to think that at that point he had only been to church once! Talk about a miracle.
Yesterday they came to church and they loved it again. Both of them were participating in their classes and asking questions trying to learn more and understand more. It was so awesome! I can't wait to see how this family ends up. Every time I look at them I can't help but think that families really are forever and that this is what God wants most for them. I really hope that all will go well and that they will continue on the path that they have started on. I know that they will though because they are so awesome and so strong!
Other then that we had some other cool experiences. We have a member in our ward who has been going through a hard time in her life right now. We went to share a message with her and we both felt prompted to share a message from Moses 7:29. It's a message that we have shared before, but in this moment we really felt like we needed to share it. As we started the lesson she couldn't believe that we were sharing this scripture. She said that she had just read that scripture in the morning and wanted to ask questions and talk more about it with someone. That was cool enough as it is but what makes this story even better is that we started sharing this message about 3 weeks ago when I read that scripture in personal study. And 3 weeks later we were the answer to the prayers of one of God's children. I can't tell you how amazing and how humbling that moment was. I read that scripture 3 weeks ago and never did I think that 3 weeks later the Lord would use that scripture to answer someone's prayers. The Lord truly knows us and loves us. If you want proof, look at the fact that I was prompted to read this scripture 3 weeks before I would use it to answer someone's prayers. What a blessing it is to be in the service of the Lord.
I also had my first dog chasing incident this week. We were contacting up in the mountains and there was a nice little dog following us around. Then Mack the big rotwiler??? (I don't know how to spell) spotted us and chased us down the street. It was funny to see all the cars laughing at us and it was great to think about how officially i am missionary :) It was a fun experience. One of those only in the mission experiences that you never forget.
Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and your support. You have no idea how much it means to me! I hope that you all have a fantastic week this week and I hope that Halloween is good for all of you! I love you all!!!
Don't forget to read and pray every day!
Thanks again Bishop Weight!
I hope that all is going well in good old cold Orem, Utah. First off, I want to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. I hope that all goes well for everyone this week.
Thanks to all of you who wrote me a letter or an email this week. It was so great to hear from you. As always it was great to hear from you and hear about how things are going!
I want to thank Bishop Weight for all that he did for me in his service as young men's president. I've thought a lot about how the young men's leaders all around the world carry a lot of responsibility. They have to help these young men grow up and be prepared to serve missions. I want to thank all of my young men's leaders, but especially Bishop Weight, for all that they did to help me get where I am today and to help me stay on the straight and narrow path. I know that Bishop Weight has helped a lot of people in his life but I doubt that there are any who are more thankful for his service and his help then those young men that were with me and before me. Thanks for all you did for us Bishop Weight! You are an amazing man and an even better example to all of us!
As for the fires, I don't think that you have anything to be worried about mom. I have yet to see any smoke from the fires. Bayamon is about 2 hours from San Sebastian and as far as I know all that happened is that some big gas tanks caught on fire so they have to wait until all of the gas burns out. Yeah the air will probably be bad for a while but I imagine it will be a lot like a forest fire is back home. And as always all the missionaries are safe. You have nothing to worry about. We are in the Lord's hands and He will protect us.
It's too bad that BYU lost but esta es la vida. Always perhaps another day or another season for BYU, but as always go cougars! :)
OK . . . well this week was absolutely amazing. The work here in San Sebastian is improving so much and I love it. We now have two more baptismal dates and the family is just awesome. We contacted Alexis and his wife about two weeks ago. Last Sunday they came to church and they absolutely loved it! We had a family home evening on Monday night in the home of the Sanchez family, one of the strongest families of our branch. It was such a great lesson they taught about how we can use family home evenings to improve my family. Alexis and Alexandra loved it and said that they were going to try and implement this in their home next week. It was great to see the kids of both families interacting while the parents of both families were talking about how we can better improve our family relations. God created His plan and His gospel in order to bless our families and help us receive the ordinances needed to be exalted and live together forever as families. It is great to see how truly blessed we are to have a program like family home evening. It really does bring our families closer to him!
Wednesday was the day that we were going to put the baptismal challenge with them and the lesson went so much better then we could have ever dreamed. We were both a little nervous because Alexandra called us the night before and said that she had some doubts but it turned out her doubts were just questions about what is a Lamanite and a Nephite. I can't tell you how nice it was to hear that was all.
The lesson we had with them was so amazing! The spirit was incredibly strong and I could tell that they knew what we were teaching them was special. Alexis had a big problem when we showed him the picture of baptism. The girl in the picture looks pretty young and he started talking about how he doesn't believe kids should be baptized, even at 8 years old. It was a great opportunity for me and Elder Blandon to share our testimonies about the way we felt on our baptism days. That helped to change his attitude a bit, but then his wife told a story of their son who came home from church and when they started to pray that night he told his mom that they were doing it wrong, that isn't what they learned in primary. With tears running down all of our faces she told us that there is nothing more that she wants for her kids then to want to follow the Savior at 8, that was the thing that helped Alexis changed his attitude. It was great to end that lesson and commit them both to baptism. They said that they were both a little nervous and they never thought that it would come this fast but the spirit was so strong in the room that there was only one answer that they could give. And I am so thankful they gave it. They said that they wanted to prepare to be baptized on November 14th and once again, I was the happiest man in the world!
Friday night Alexis came to the priesthood activity with us and had a blast. When we left he was shaking all of the members hand's with us like he's been a member for a long time. It was great to see him interacting with the members like that. It really does feel like he has been attending our branch for a while now. It's crazy to think that at that point he had only been to church once! Talk about a miracle.
Yesterday they came to church and they loved it again. Both of them were participating in their classes and asking questions trying to learn more and understand more. It was so awesome! I can't wait to see how this family ends up. Every time I look at them I can't help but think that families really are forever and that this is what God wants most for them. I really hope that all will go well and that they will continue on the path that they have started on. I know that they will though because they are so awesome and so strong!
Other then that we had some other cool experiences. We have a member in our ward who has been going through a hard time in her life right now. We went to share a message with her and we both felt prompted to share a message from Moses 7:29. It's a message that we have shared before, but in this moment we really felt like we needed to share it. As we started the lesson she couldn't believe that we were sharing this scripture. She said that she had just read that scripture in the morning and wanted to ask questions and talk more about it with someone. That was cool enough as it is but what makes this story even better is that we started sharing this message about 3 weeks ago when I read that scripture in personal study. And 3 weeks later we were the answer to the prayers of one of God's children. I can't tell you how amazing and how humbling that moment was. I read that scripture 3 weeks ago and never did I think that 3 weeks later the Lord would use that scripture to answer someone's prayers. The Lord truly knows us and loves us. If you want proof, look at the fact that I was prompted to read this scripture 3 weeks before I would use it to answer someone's prayers. What a blessing it is to be in the service of the Lord.
I also had my first dog chasing incident this week. We were contacting up in the mountains and there was a nice little dog following us around. Then Mack the big rotwiler??? (I don't know how to spell) spotted us and chased us down the street. It was funny to see all the cars laughing at us and it was great to think about how officially i am missionary :) It was a fun experience. One of those only in the mission experiences that you never forget.
Thanks again to all of you for your prayers and your support. You have no idea how much it means to me! I hope that you all have a fantastic week this week and I hope that Halloween is good for all of you! I love you all!!!
Don't forget to read and pray every day!
Thanks again Bishop Weight!
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