December 28, 2009
Good morning family and friends!
I hope that you all had an amazing Christmas and I wish you all one of the best new years that you could have! It was great to be able to talk to my family this past week on the phone. What an amazing opportunity that was to be able to be able to talk with them and share experiences with one another! Family, I love you so much! Thank you to all of you for all that you do for me! I hope that your Christmases were all amazing! Good luck with the new year!
So I don't have a lot of time to write this big email and I know I am not supposed to apologize, but if this email isn't very big it's because I have 10 minutes to write 3 more emails. But I hope that I can share with you a few of the great experiences that I had this week.
The highlight of the week was Christmas! We had a big party with all of the missionaries and we went and played football. One lady asked if we were a football team and we said "no . . . we are a different kind of team. A better team!" hahah
Other then that we sure had an amazing week. We found a great new investigator named Winston. We found him on Christmas Eve and we taught him the first lesson. While we were teaching him I had the opportunity to tell him the Joseph Smith story. It was so amazing! I had words and phrases coming out of my mouth that I have never even thought of using before. I told that story dang good and I know it was because I wasn't the one telling it! It was the spirit! I know that this guy needed to hear the message loud and clear. We have a return cida with him this Friday and things should go well.
My other cool experience came from church yesterday. I had the opportunity to translate for sacrament meeting. Like I have told you before there are all sorts of people in the church down here in Aruba. The church meetings are in Spanish because most of the members speak Spanish. But there still are members who don't know Spanish so the missionaries translate for them. No one wanted to do it yesterday and I thought I needed to just get up the guts to do it. So I walked up to the front (praying harder then I have ever prayed in my life) and put on the headset to translate into the microphone. I just kept praying and praying and praying and I knew that the Lord would help me. And wouldn't you know it, He did! My translating was not perfect by any means but it was a lot better then I expected it to be. Especially with the Papiamento. A member of the bishopric gave a talk in Papiamento, and I was scared out of my mind. But again, with a sweet prayer, I was able to feel the Lord helping me out and I was able to translate the message for the members who needed it.
It was such an amazing experience. I want you to know that I know God knows us. It seems like I say that every week but it is so true. He is our Father in Heaven and He loves us. All He wants is the best for us and that's why He sent His Son to the earth to suffer for our sins. That is why He has given us this great gospel to help us learn and grow and become more like Him and that is exactly why families can be together forever.
I really have to go now but I want you all to know that I love you so much! And that I wish you the best new year! Good luck and stay safe! Next week I will have more time to write! Sorry!
I love you all, Happy New Years!
ps - next week is transfers so I may not email on Monday. Sadly, Elder Bailey will be leaving :( I'm sad but it sounds like I am going to be island training so keep me in your prayers! haha
Love you guys! Happy New years!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Bon Pasco! !Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas!!!!!! I love you guys!!!!!!
December 21, 2009
To the best Family and Friends that a missionary could ever ask for!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
I hope that you all have had a great start to the Christmas week. And I hope that you have an even better week and a very happy and merry Christmas! Thanks to all of you for all that you have done in your love and support! I hope that you enjoy the snow and the lights and the fun that comes with Christmas! But more importantly I hope that you enjoy the spirit that comes with this awesome day! How blessed we all are to have a savior in Jesus Christ. And how blessed we are to have a loving Heavenly Father who would send his son to die for us! I love you guys and I hope that you have a merry Christmas!
Thank you dad and mom and grandma and grandpa for the Christmas present! I just opened it right here in the email cafe and it made me feel so warm and happy. Thank you for your love and all that you have done for me. I love you guys so much and I hope that Christmas is awesome!
Anyways, this week was a great week and the best news from this week is that we had a baptism! It was so amazing! It was a little different from the last baptism that I had in the mission but it was still amazing to see Vivian enter the waters of baptism and commit and covenant to become a new person in Christ. On Saturday we had a lot of preparation for the baptism but all went well. We went in the morning to fill the font and get everything else ready and then we came back at 6:00 for the baptismal service which began at 7:00. It was such a neat ceremony. The missionaries from our ward (there are 8 of us here believe it or not) sang a song for the two investigators getting baptized and it brought a really neat spirit into the room.
When Vivian walked into the font she looked at the water and said "Wow! There's a lot of water there" to my companion Elder Bailey. Then she said "I am going to get wet! My whole body is going to get wet isn't it!" I smiled when she said that. But the most amazing feeling in the world is the feeling that comes after the ordinance is performed. Every time you hear that little splash of water the spirit just floods into the room and tears always well up in my eyes! I am so blessed to be in the service of the Lord and to be able to see people make this change in their lives. I will never forget the light that Vivian had in her eyes at the end of the night, and the light that was still in her eyes during the next day.
On Sunday we were to have her confirmation and it was really neat! She came a little late and Elder Bailey and I were really worried. Usually you don't like to baptize people and then wait a week for the confirmation and conferring the gift of the Holy Ghost. She showed up during the sacrament portion of the meeting. Up until that point we were just praying over and over that she would show up. Sure enough, she did and she was able to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Her blessing was incredible. One thing that I want to share with you that I thought was really cool is that she has had a lot of troubles with her kids. But in the blessing the bishopric member told her that the Lord knows and loves her and that the blessings of the gospel need to be provided to her kids and that she should help them to follow her example. When I heard that I just about fainted. Haha. She has a daughter that is 9 and can get baptized, but she has been really reluctant to have us teach her. I think that this blessing is going to help! We should be having another baptism in 2 weeks and I am just pumped.
I am almost positive that I told you guys about the new family that we found last week, the Wauban family. They are doing great. We taught them the Word of Wisdom this week and the mom was a little reluctant to stop some of her habits. Of the 5 things that the Word of Wisdom tells us to avoid, they participate in 4. So it is going to be a huge commitment for them. What was really cool was to see their son and the love in his eyes when he begged his dad and his mom to commit to this so that they would stop smoking and drinking. They eventually said that they would do it and at the end the boy asked whoever was praying to bless his mom and dad with strength to stop smoking. It was a really neat moment, and it was really cool to see how truly inspired the Word of Wisdom is.
I hope that this email doesn't seem overly serious or overly flooded with spiritual experiences. I know that Christmas is this week so again I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! And before I go I'll share one more experience from this week.
This week we had a lot of cool experiences with prayer and receiving answers to our prayers. We had a baptismal interview on Friday for Vivian and we needed to get a hold of her so that she could get interviewed and be baptized! All day on Friday our phone was not working. The service wasn't working and at the end of the day our phone died. And then the charger broke! It was incredible to see all of the opposition that was trying to get in the way. Needless to say, we prayed really hard on Thursday that we would be able to set up the interview with Vivian on Friday. Friday morning the phone was still dead. We prayed again and wouldn't you know it the phone turned on for 1 minute and we were able to grab the numbers that we needed so we could get in touch with Vivian. Needless to say all worked out well! Behold the power of prayer! I loved it!
Another cool experience we had was when we were tracting. We had had absolutely zero success and we had barely talked to anyone. Anyways we said a prayer and as we started tracting I looked up into the heavens and I said please just one lesson. Wouldn't you know it, the very next house we knocked on we met Rodney -- an awesome new investigator. Elder Bailey and I just turned to each other and laughed at how awesome it was that the Lord answered our prayers so quickly.
Over and over things happened like that this week and it was totally awesome! I know that the God loves us and that He really does hear our prayers. When we ask with a sincere heart He WILL hear us and He WILL bless us!
Sometimes I worry that it feels like I am being way to serious and I hope that is not the case. I am just too excited to be able to talk to my family this week! I want you all to know how much I love and how much I hope that you have one of the best Christmases ever. Christmas just isn't the same down here. It's 90 degrees and the Christmas lights just don't look good on a desert backdrop. Believe it or not it's really hard to feel the Christmas spirit in the middle of the desert. But it is still the best time of the year and I hope that you are all loving it up back home!
We are going to have a lot of dinners and stuff with the members and other missionaries this week so things shouldn't be too bad. Friday we have a big party with all of the missionaries on the island at the senior missionaries' house so that will be fun. It still won't be the same as waking up on Christmas morning with my family, but I'll get to talk to you guys so I'm still pumped!
I wish you all a Merry Christmas again. I really feel like this email is a little dull for a Christmas email but what the heck we had a baptism this week and that was so awesome!
May your days be merry and bright and all your Christmases be.... crap! I forgot it! hahah! I hope that you all have a great Christmas week and that the spirit of Christmas is strong and alive in your hearts. Merry Christmas! Ya'll don't party too hard!
Merry Christmas!
PS I heard BYU plays Oregon State tomorrow! Go Cougars! They are going to make up for the debacle they had last year! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Gooooooo Cougars!!!!!
To the best Family and Friends that a missionary could ever ask for!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
I hope that you all have had a great start to the Christmas week. And I hope that you have an even better week and a very happy and merry Christmas! Thanks to all of you for all that you have done in your love and support! I hope that you enjoy the snow and the lights and the fun that comes with Christmas! But more importantly I hope that you enjoy the spirit that comes with this awesome day! How blessed we all are to have a savior in Jesus Christ. And how blessed we are to have a loving Heavenly Father who would send his son to die for us! I love you guys and I hope that you have a merry Christmas!
Thank you dad and mom and grandma and grandpa for the Christmas present! I just opened it right here in the email cafe and it made me feel so warm and happy. Thank you for your love and all that you have done for me. I love you guys so much and I hope that Christmas is awesome!
Anyways, this week was a great week and the best news from this week is that we had a baptism! It was so amazing! It was a little different from the last baptism that I had in the mission but it was still amazing to see Vivian enter the waters of baptism and commit and covenant to become a new person in Christ. On Saturday we had a lot of preparation for the baptism but all went well. We went in the morning to fill the font and get everything else ready and then we came back at 6:00 for the baptismal service which began at 7:00. It was such a neat ceremony. The missionaries from our ward (there are 8 of us here believe it or not) sang a song for the two investigators getting baptized and it brought a really neat spirit into the room.
When Vivian walked into the font she looked at the water and said "Wow! There's a lot of water there" to my companion Elder Bailey. Then she said "I am going to get wet! My whole body is going to get wet isn't it!" I smiled when she said that. But the most amazing feeling in the world is the feeling that comes after the ordinance is performed. Every time you hear that little splash of water the spirit just floods into the room and tears always well up in my eyes! I am so blessed to be in the service of the Lord and to be able to see people make this change in their lives. I will never forget the light that Vivian had in her eyes at the end of the night, and the light that was still in her eyes during the next day.
On Sunday we were to have her confirmation and it was really neat! She came a little late and Elder Bailey and I were really worried. Usually you don't like to baptize people and then wait a week for the confirmation and conferring the gift of the Holy Ghost. She showed up during the sacrament portion of the meeting. Up until that point we were just praying over and over that she would show up. Sure enough, she did and she was able to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Her blessing was incredible. One thing that I want to share with you that I thought was really cool is that she has had a lot of troubles with her kids. But in the blessing the bishopric member told her that the Lord knows and loves her and that the blessings of the gospel need to be provided to her kids and that she should help them to follow her example. When I heard that I just about fainted. Haha. She has a daughter that is 9 and can get baptized, but she has been really reluctant to have us teach her. I think that this blessing is going to help! We should be having another baptism in 2 weeks and I am just pumped.
I am almost positive that I told you guys about the new family that we found last week, the Wauban family. They are doing great. We taught them the Word of Wisdom this week and the mom was a little reluctant to stop some of her habits. Of the 5 things that the Word of Wisdom tells us to avoid, they participate in 4. So it is going to be a huge commitment for them. What was really cool was to see their son and the love in his eyes when he begged his dad and his mom to commit to this so that they would stop smoking and drinking. They eventually said that they would do it and at the end the boy asked whoever was praying to bless his mom and dad with strength to stop smoking. It was a really neat moment, and it was really cool to see how truly inspired the Word of Wisdom is.
I hope that this email doesn't seem overly serious or overly flooded with spiritual experiences. I know that Christmas is this week so again I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! And before I go I'll share one more experience from this week.
This week we had a lot of cool experiences with prayer and receiving answers to our prayers. We had a baptismal interview on Friday for Vivian and we needed to get a hold of her so that she could get interviewed and be baptized! All day on Friday our phone was not working. The service wasn't working and at the end of the day our phone died. And then the charger broke! It was incredible to see all of the opposition that was trying to get in the way. Needless to say, we prayed really hard on Thursday that we would be able to set up the interview with Vivian on Friday. Friday morning the phone was still dead. We prayed again and wouldn't you know it the phone turned on for 1 minute and we were able to grab the numbers that we needed so we could get in touch with Vivian. Needless to say all worked out well! Behold the power of prayer! I loved it!
Another cool experience we had was when we were tracting. We had had absolutely zero success and we had barely talked to anyone. Anyways we said a prayer and as we started tracting I looked up into the heavens and I said please just one lesson. Wouldn't you know it, the very next house we knocked on we met Rodney -- an awesome new investigator. Elder Bailey and I just turned to each other and laughed at how awesome it was that the Lord answered our prayers so quickly.
Over and over things happened like that this week and it was totally awesome! I know that the God loves us and that He really does hear our prayers. When we ask with a sincere heart He WILL hear us and He WILL bless us!
Sometimes I worry that it feels like I am being way to serious and I hope that is not the case. I am just too excited to be able to talk to my family this week! I want you all to know how much I love and how much I hope that you have one of the best Christmases ever. Christmas just isn't the same down here. It's 90 degrees and the Christmas lights just don't look good on a desert backdrop. Believe it or not it's really hard to feel the Christmas spirit in the middle of the desert. But it is still the best time of the year and I hope that you are all loving it up back home!
We are going to have a lot of dinners and stuff with the members and other missionaries this week so things shouldn't be too bad. Friday we have a big party with all of the missionaries on the island at the senior missionaries' house so that will be fun. It still won't be the same as waking up on Christmas morning with my family, but I'll get to talk to you guys so I'm still pumped!
I wish you all a Merry Christmas again. I really feel like this email is a little dull for a Christmas email but what the heck we had a baptism this week and that was so awesome!
May your days be merry and bright and all your Christmases be.... crap! I forgot it! hahah! I hope that you all have a great Christmas week and that the spirit of Christmas is strong and alive in your hearts. Merry Christmas! Ya'll don't party too hard!
Merry Christmas!
PS I heard BYU plays Oregon State tomorrow! Go Cougars! They are going to make up for the debacle they had last year! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Gooooooo Cougars!!!!!
On the 2nd day of christmas my true love gave to me....Paradise :)
December 14, 2009
Merry Christmas to all!
I hope that you are all just doing absolutely amazing and I hope that this week goes well for all of you! Good luck with finals (those who have to take finals) and I hope that all goes well!
Grandma, I feel terrible that I did not wish you a happy birthday last week so . . . Happy Birthday! I hope that you had an incredible birthday!
A lot of you have asked about Christmas and how it will be down here. To be honest, I actually have no idea what it is going to be like. But when the mission president was down here we were able to celebrate Christmas with him and his wife and all of the elders on the island and that was awesome. We had zone conference on Tuesday morning and after the conference was over we all hopped into taxis and they drove us to a huge hotel resort on the coast. We hopped out and went downstairs and there in the hotel was an awesome tepanyaki type restaurant! It was so fun.
It was funny to see all of the missionaries packed into the restaurant but it was a really great experience and one that I will never forget. It was so nice for the President and his wife to do that for us!
Anyways, thanks to all of you who sent letters to the mission office before they came down. They came down with letters for every elder. But I had the blessing and the privilege to receive upwards of 30+ letters so to all of you who wrote me a letter thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed Paris Caitlyn welcome back to Utah, I'm sure you are loving it hahahahah! Anyways thank you so much for your love and support. I have been able to stretch out the letters until Christmas and I counted and today I found that I have just enough to count down one per day until Christmas! You are all such a blessing to me. Thank you for all that you do!
This week was so awesome! The biggest news this week is that we found a great new family that is just so awesome and so prepared. We found them on Wednesday night when we were tracting and they invited us right in and sat us down outside under their great big palm tree, which happened to be decked out with Christmas lights. It was something I never thought I would see or experience in my life, but it was incredible.
I was amazed at how much the Lord had prepared the dad and this family to hear the message. The dad told us that all week he had been watching the Jesus week specials that the history channel was doing and he had a ton of questions for us. Besides that the 13 year-old kid said that he is sick of not going to church. He begs his mom every week but they just don't go. She said it's because she doesn't feel that the church they attend is right and so why waste your time. We taught them the first part of the first lesson and the dad absolutely loved it. We went back the next night to finish the lesson and he told us that he explained the apostasy to his pastor friends the way that we had explained it to him and he said that they all said that it was true and they had never heard of a better way to explain. Oh how I love glass tables. Anyways, the lesson the next night was just incredible.
The thing that I love about this family is that they are already inviting people to come and hear our message. Anyways, on this night they invited their sister who lived across the street. We told about the restoration of the gospel and they absolutely loved it. We introduced the Book of Mormon and they all had wide eyes and open mouths. They couldn't believe what we were telling them and the excitement that they had was just incredible.
The dad ran inside and grabbed a Book of Mormon that the mission president in the 70s had given out as a gift, but the rest of the family wanted their own too so we gave each of them their own and they were ridiculously excited. We told the teenager about the stripling warriors and the other cool stories that the Book of Mormon contains and he couldn't wait to read it. He told us that he can't wait until he can be a missionary.
As you can imagine we were on cloud 99 for the rest of the week and it was just an incredible lesson. On Tuesday we have a return appointment with them and I am not sure that I have ever been so excited for a lesson in my mission. This family is so prepared and I hope that God will bless us with the opportunity to lead them to the waters of baptism.
Our baptismal date, Vivian, is doing just great. This week we were able to visit her 4 or 5 times with members and that was just incredible. She has not touched coffee since we committed her to living the word of wisdom last week and last night we made baptismal plans for this Saturday. I haven't been able to be a part of a baptism since Wilton and Myra so I am absolutely pumped for this opportunity that we have to see Vivian enter the gate to the rest of her life in Christ on Saturday.
On Saturday we had a funny day. The mission is sure a roller coaster. As you can imagine this week was just a great week with zone conference and with finding this new family and with Vivian progressing and everything. But as most of you know in the mission when you are up high you know that sooner or later you are going to be brought down. On Saturday we had a day packed full of lessons. We had a great first lesson in the morning and we had just stopped tracting and called to confirm our next appointment.
All of the sudden my bike tire went flat so we walked to the bike store to try and buy a cheap tube that could get us through the day. It was a blessing that we got there just before they closed. I bought the new tube and went outside to put it on, by this time the store was closed and when I unrolled the tube we noticed that it would never fit my bike! They sold me a little kids tube! Hahah! It was so crazy.
Me and Elder Bailey talked about how weird that day was. We ended up taking the rest of the afternoon trying to get our bikes back home because we were quite a ways from the house. Elder Bailey and I love to work and needless to say that day was a hard day for us.
It was cool to see the complete 180 that the lord blessed us with the next day on Sunday. The day before everything had gone wrong but yesterday everything went right! I know that story may not mean a lot to you guys but it was just cool to experience that low but have the Lord bring us out of that horrible day and bless us with a day that went perfectly! He loves us and knows us perfectly, I have no doubt about that in my mind.
I hope that all is going well for ya'll back home! I do miss the snow but it honestly doesn't even feel like Christmas so there really isn't a problem with homesickness or anything. I miss you all sometimes and wish I could be there freezing my butt off with you sometimes but then again, I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be. There is nowhere else that I would want to be right now other then here.
Thanks again for all you that you do! The letters were absolutely awesome! I hope that you all have an amazing and great week and good luck with finals those of you who have to endure through that! I'll be praying for you! hahah!
I love you guys so much. We are going to build sand castles on the beach today which should be fun, Don't worry, we aren't going to go swimming! They don't send buck dogs to the islands. I love you guys! Have an absolutely amazing week! Merry Christmas again!
Merry Christmas to all!
I hope that you are all just doing absolutely amazing and I hope that this week goes well for all of you! Good luck with finals (those who have to take finals) and I hope that all goes well!
Grandma, I feel terrible that I did not wish you a happy birthday last week so . . . Happy Birthday! I hope that you had an incredible birthday!
A lot of you have asked about Christmas and how it will be down here. To be honest, I actually have no idea what it is going to be like. But when the mission president was down here we were able to celebrate Christmas with him and his wife and all of the elders on the island and that was awesome. We had zone conference on Tuesday morning and after the conference was over we all hopped into taxis and they drove us to a huge hotel resort on the coast. We hopped out and went downstairs and there in the hotel was an awesome tepanyaki type restaurant! It was so fun.
It was funny to see all of the missionaries packed into the restaurant but it was a really great experience and one that I will never forget. It was so nice for the President and his wife to do that for us!
Anyways, thanks to all of you who sent letters to the mission office before they came down. They came down with letters for every elder. But I had the blessing and the privilege to receive upwards of 30+ letters so to all of you who wrote me a letter thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed Paris Caitlyn welcome back to Utah, I'm sure you are loving it hahahahah! Anyways thank you so much for your love and support. I have been able to stretch out the letters until Christmas and I counted and today I found that I have just enough to count down one per day until Christmas! You are all such a blessing to me. Thank you for all that you do!
This week was so awesome! The biggest news this week is that we found a great new family that is just so awesome and so prepared. We found them on Wednesday night when we were tracting and they invited us right in and sat us down outside under their great big palm tree, which happened to be decked out with Christmas lights. It was something I never thought I would see or experience in my life, but it was incredible.
I was amazed at how much the Lord had prepared the dad and this family to hear the message. The dad told us that all week he had been watching the Jesus week specials that the history channel was doing and he had a ton of questions for us. Besides that the 13 year-old kid said that he is sick of not going to church. He begs his mom every week but they just don't go. She said it's because she doesn't feel that the church they attend is right and so why waste your time. We taught them the first part of the first lesson and the dad absolutely loved it. We went back the next night to finish the lesson and he told us that he explained the apostasy to his pastor friends the way that we had explained it to him and he said that they all said that it was true and they had never heard of a better way to explain. Oh how I love glass tables. Anyways, the lesson the next night was just incredible.
The thing that I love about this family is that they are already inviting people to come and hear our message. Anyways, on this night they invited their sister who lived across the street. We told about the restoration of the gospel and they absolutely loved it. We introduced the Book of Mormon and they all had wide eyes and open mouths. They couldn't believe what we were telling them and the excitement that they had was just incredible.
The dad ran inside and grabbed a Book of Mormon that the mission president in the 70s had given out as a gift, but the rest of the family wanted their own too so we gave each of them their own and they were ridiculously excited. We told the teenager about the stripling warriors and the other cool stories that the Book of Mormon contains and he couldn't wait to read it. He told us that he can't wait until he can be a missionary.
As you can imagine we were on cloud 99 for the rest of the week and it was just an incredible lesson. On Tuesday we have a return appointment with them and I am not sure that I have ever been so excited for a lesson in my mission. This family is so prepared and I hope that God will bless us with the opportunity to lead them to the waters of baptism.
Our baptismal date, Vivian, is doing just great. This week we were able to visit her 4 or 5 times with members and that was just incredible. She has not touched coffee since we committed her to living the word of wisdom last week and last night we made baptismal plans for this Saturday. I haven't been able to be a part of a baptism since Wilton and Myra so I am absolutely pumped for this opportunity that we have to see Vivian enter the gate to the rest of her life in Christ on Saturday.
On Saturday we had a funny day. The mission is sure a roller coaster. As you can imagine this week was just a great week with zone conference and with finding this new family and with Vivian progressing and everything. But as most of you know in the mission when you are up high you know that sooner or later you are going to be brought down. On Saturday we had a day packed full of lessons. We had a great first lesson in the morning and we had just stopped tracting and called to confirm our next appointment.
All of the sudden my bike tire went flat so we walked to the bike store to try and buy a cheap tube that could get us through the day. It was a blessing that we got there just before they closed. I bought the new tube and went outside to put it on, by this time the store was closed and when I unrolled the tube we noticed that it would never fit my bike! They sold me a little kids tube! Hahah! It was so crazy.
Me and Elder Bailey talked about how weird that day was. We ended up taking the rest of the afternoon trying to get our bikes back home because we were quite a ways from the house. Elder Bailey and I love to work and needless to say that day was a hard day for us.
It was cool to see the complete 180 that the lord blessed us with the next day on Sunday. The day before everything had gone wrong but yesterday everything went right! I know that story may not mean a lot to you guys but it was just cool to experience that low but have the Lord bring us out of that horrible day and bless us with a day that went perfectly! He loves us and knows us perfectly, I have no doubt about that in my mind.
I hope that all is going well for ya'll back home! I do miss the snow but it honestly doesn't even feel like Christmas so there really isn't a problem with homesickness or anything. I miss you all sometimes and wish I could be there freezing my butt off with you sometimes but then again, I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be. There is nowhere else that I would want to be right now other then here.
Thanks again for all you that you do! The letters were absolutely awesome! I hope that you all have an amazing and great week and good luck with finals those of you who have to endure through that! I'll be praying for you! hahah!
I love you guys so much. We are going to build sand castles on the beach today which should be fun, Don't worry, we aren't going to go swimming! They don't send buck dogs to the islands. I love you guys! Have an absolutely amazing week! Merry Christmas again!
Say hi to the snow for me! I"ll say hi to the beach :)
December 7, 2009
Bon Dia! Mi Famia y Mi Amigonan
I hope that all is "hopi bon" with you all back in home. Make sure that you take your coat outside so that you all don't get sick from the freezing cold! hahah! I hope that you are all enjoying the snow though. You should enjoy! IT really isn't Christmas without snow. I'm just sorry that the snow has to last for another 3 months!
Speaking of Christmas, the Christmas devotional was absolutely amazing! I know that last year they broadcast it on KBYU and BYU-TV as well as playing it in all the churches. I hope that you were all able to see it! It started at 9 o' clock here, which was a little weird, but it was so awesome. It was great to hear the voice of the prophet of God along with two other apostles and prophets of the Lord. I loved the messages they shared about focusing more on the Savior for Christmas instead of all of the physical things. The program was amazing and as we left the church I was expecting to feel the chilly December air and the sound of snow crunching under my feet. It was a little weird to walk outside and feel the 85 degree nighttime air with a nice ocean breeze. Sorry but as much as you say you hate the snow, Christmas just isn't Christmas without being bundled up and freezing your butt off so enjoy it! haha!
Thank you to all of you for your emails and I am so excited to get your letters tomorrow at the zone conference. Anyways here in Aruba things are going great and to answer all of your questions . . . Yes I am still loving it! I love it here! It's so awesome! It was a little difficult to adjust to riding our bikes all over the island, but now it's great. I love it.
It's such a joy to be able to be working here in the service of the Lord. And it sounds like some of you have more questions so I will try and clear up a few of those.
First off . . . dad asked how long the missionaries stay down here. I will probably be down here on the islands for 6 months, but really it's up to the Lord so there's no set time. But the deal is with our passports we can stay on Aruba for 90 days and Curacao or Bonaire for 90 days, so all in all that's a total of 6 months. So yeah, I will probably be down here until my year mark in the mission which is in May! I can't believe that it's that close, haha!
2nd . . . Jenny asked how many elders are on the island. I didn't know this but she said that the island is like 6 miles by 13 miles, and so yeah, the island isn't very big. But on this beautiful island there are 10 elders and 2 sister missionaries along with a senior missionary couple. So yeah, even though the island isn't very big, the word is being proclaimed loud and clear. Even though none of us can speak Papiamento very well. (haha) But that's OK. It's not your language that converts people it's the spirit of the Lord.
So yeah, those were some of the questions that I got this week. If you have any more just send them along and I would love to answer them!
This week went absolutely amazing! We are working really hard to find some great people who need the gospel in their lives. And the work continues to progress. The biggest news from this week is that our investigator with a baptismal date, named Vivian, is progressing great. She has such a strong desire to change her life and become a disciple of Christ. It's so awesome to teach her. We taught her on Saturday night. We had passed by basically every day that week to try and teach her and every time she had an emergency and had to go or something like that. It was Saturday night and we went to visit her. She wasn't there again. We were so discouraged it was pretty bad.
We decided to visit her neighbor who is a member and teach him a quick lesson. As we were living his house I told him we were sorry that we hadn't been able to teach Vivian with him this week (we had taken him to every dropped appointment that we had). I told him that my goal this next week would be to teach her with him.
We began to ride off and me and Elder Bailey stopped by her house one last time to see if she was there . . . and she was! I know that it doesn't sound like a big deal but to us that meant the whole world. All of those silent prayers that we had been saying that she would be there were finally answered and we had an absolutely amazing lesson with her member friend by our side. Elder Bailey did a great job of teaching her about following the prophet. We committed her to following the prophet and then we moved into teaching the Word of Wisdom. As I began to teach the Word of Wisdom the member was so excited that he jumped in and started talking about coffee!
We were both shocked because usually we talk about coffee last because it's the one that people have the most problems with and we knew that Vivian had troubles with coffee. But he jumped right in and started to teach about coffee! We were a little worried but it turned out perfectly. Vivian told us that she has had an addiction to coffee for years and that she has been trying to quit but she just couldn't do it. She told us that this commandment from a prophet of God was a blessing from God. She said that it gave her the desire and the will that she needed to take that step and cut coffee out of her life. It was so awesome to see how choice she really is and what a desire she has to change her life and follow God.
She says that she doesn't have faith but she is one of the people that I have talked to in my mission that has the most faith. Faith is having works along with your beliefs and she is one of the first people that I have met that is honestly willing to change her life and make the changes that the Lord asks her to make. It's so amazing to see how truly prepared she was to receive her message and I know without a doubt that she will be ready to enter the waters of baptism on the 19th.
I have one more story for you and then I have to get going so we can do everything that we need to get done. This week we were teaching Aileen, a recent convert from San Marteen. She speaks English so it's really different to teach her, and it's actually really hard. But we went over on this day to ask her if she had anyone that needed the gospel. We read her the scripture in Matthew that says those who lose their life for the gospel will find it, and she said that's so true! She said if I don't share this gift that God has given me then I really don't deserve it!
I learned such a great lesson from Aileen (like i always do from investigators and new converts). We truly are blessed to have this amazing gospel. I did a horrible job of sharing the gospel before my mission. But really we are given an incredible gift by the Lord to have His message. I thought that was an awesome insight by a lady who has her head screwed on right.
I hope all of you are doing great and that all is going well. I got to eat fish eyes this week and they were pretty good. It was like sucking salty bloody slime off of a small pebble, but it really isn't as bad as you would think it is :) hahah!
I love you all and I hope that everything is going well back in Utah. Here in Aruba the work continues to progress and we are finding and talking to everyone we can so that this message can cover the earth. Thank you for all of your love and your prayers. I really do feel your support, even if you don't think I do. I do! I promise. Have a good week, good luck! Be safe, be healthy, and a big good luck wish to all of you who have finals this week! Make sure to get lots of sleep!
Good luck . . . just one more week to go and you'll be done!
Bon Dia! Mi Famia y Mi Amigonan
I hope that all is "hopi bon" with you all back in home. Make sure that you take your coat outside so that you all don't get sick from the freezing cold! hahah! I hope that you are all enjoying the snow though. You should enjoy! IT really isn't Christmas without snow. I'm just sorry that the snow has to last for another 3 months!
Speaking of Christmas, the Christmas devotional was absolutely amazing! I know that last year they broadcast it on KBYU and BYU-TV as well as playing it in all the churches. I hope that you were all able to see it! It started at 9 o' clock here, which was a little weird, but it was so awesome. It was great to hear the voice of the prophet of God along with two other apostles and prophets of the Lord. I loved the messages they shared about focusing more on the Savior for Christmas instead of all of the physical things. The program was amazing and as we left the church I was expecting to feel the chilly December air and the sound of snow crunching under my feet. It was a little weird to walk outside and feel the 85 degree nighttime air with a nice ocean breeze. Sorry but as much as you say you hate the snow, Christmas just isn't Christmas without being bundled up and freezing your butt off so enjoy it! haha!
Thank you to all of you for your emails and I am so excited to get your letters tomorrow at the zone conference. Anyways here in Aruba things are going great and to answer all of your questions . . . Yes I am still loving it! I love it here! It's so awesome! It was a little difficult to adjust to riding our bikes all over the island, but now it's great. I love it.
It's such a joy to be able to be working here in the service of the Lord. And it sounds like some of you have more questions so I will try and clear up a few of those.
First off . . . dad asked how long the missionaries stay down here. I will probably be down here on the islands for 6 months, but really it's up to the Lord so there's no set time. But the deal is with our passports we can stay on Aruba for 90 days and Curacao or Bonaire for 90 days, so all in all that's a total of 6 months. So yeah, I will probably be down here until my year mark in the mission which is in May! I can't believe that it's that close, haha!
2nd . . . Jenny asked how many elders are on the island. I didn't know this but she said that the island is like 6 miles by 13 miles, and so yeah, the island isn't very big. But on this beautiful island there are 10 elders and 2 sister missionaries along with a senior missionary couple. So yeah, even though the island isn't very big, the word is being proclaimed loud and clear. Even though none of us can speak Papiamento very well. (haha) But that's OK. It's not your language that converts people it's the spirit of the Lord.
So yeah, those were some of the questions that I got this week. If you have any more just send them along and I would love to answer them!
This week went absolutely amazing! We are working really hard to find some great people who need the gospel in their lives. And the work continues to progress. The biggest news from this week is that our investigator with a baptismal date, named Vivian, is progressing great. She has such a strong desire to change her life and become a disciple of Christ. It's so awesome to teach her. We taught her on Saturday night. We had passed by basically every day that week to try and teach her and every time she had an emergency and had to go or something like that. It was Saturday night and we went to visit her. She wasn't there again. We were so discouraged it was pretty bad.
We decided to visit her neighbor who is a member and teach him a quick lesson. As we were living his house I told him we were sorry that we hadn't been able to teach Vivian with him this week (we had taken him to every dropped appointment that we had). I told him that my goal this next week would be to teach her with him.
We began to ride off and me and Elder Bailey stopped by her house one last time to see if she was there . . . and she was! I know that it doesn't sound like a big deal but to us that meant the whole world. All of those silent prayers that we had been saying that she would be there were finally answered and we had an absolutely amazing lesson with her member friend by our side. Elder Bailey did a great job of teaching her about following the prophet. We committed her to following the prophet and then we moved into teaching the Word of Wisdom. As I began to teach the Word of Wisdom the member was so excited that he jumped in and started talking about coffee!
We were both shocked because usually we talk about coffee last because it's the one that people have the most problems with and we knew that Vivian had troubles with coffee. But he jumped right in and started to teach about coffee! We were a little worried but it turned out perfectly. Vivian told us that she has had an addiction to coffee for years and that she has been trying to quit but she just couldn't do it. She told us that this commandment from a prophet of God was a blessing from God. She said that it gave her the desire and the will that she needed to take that step and cut coffee out of her life. It was so awesome to see how choice she really is and what a desire she has to change her life and follow God.
She says that she doesn't have faith but she is one of the people that I have talked to in my mission that has the most faith. Faith is having works along with your beliefs and she is one of the first people that I have met that is honestly willing to change her life and make the changes that the Lord asks her to make. It's so amazing to see how truly prepared she was to receive her message and I know without a doubt that she will be ready to enter the waters of baptism on the 19th.
I have one more story for you and then I have to get going so we can do everything that we need to get done. This week we were teaching Aileen, a recent convert from San Marteen. She speaks English so it's really different to teach her, and it's actually really hard. But we went over on this day to ask her if she had anyone that needed the gospel. We read her the scripture in Matthew that says those who lose their life for the gospel will find it, and she said that's so true! She said if I don't share this gift that God has given me then I really don't deserve it!
I learned such a great lesson from Aileen (like i always do from investigators and new converts). We truly are blessed to have this amazing gospel. I did a horrible job of sharing the gospel before my mission. But really we are given an incredible gift by the Lord to have His message. I thought that was an awesome insight by a lady who has her head screwed on right.
I hope all of you are doing great and that all is going well. I got to eat fish eyes this week and they were pretty good. It was like sucking salty bloody slime off of a small pebble, but it really isn't as bad as you would think it is :) hahah!
I love you all and I hope that everything is going well back in Utah. Here in Aruba the work continues to progress and we are finding and talking to everyone we can so that this message can cover the earth. Thank you for all of your love and your prayers. I really do feel your support, even if you don't think I do. I do! I promise. Have a good week, good luck! Be safe, be healthy, and a big good luck wish to all of you who have finals this week! Make sure to get lots of sleep!
Good luck . . . just one more week to go and you'll be done!
Monday, November 30, 2009
YES! GO COUGARS!!!! My First week in Aruba
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!!
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!!
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.
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