Time flies when your having fun!!!

Well, how is everyone doing? I hope everyone is doing just wonderful!!!! You are all amazing and I hope you all remember that! So  this week has been pretty crazy! I honestly can barely remember what happened all i know is we worked hard and by the end of the week i felt like i was hit by a truck.

But there is a few big highlights of the week! 1: We have a investigator with a baptismal date for Aug. 13th! His name is Josh, he had met with missionaries before and is progressing oh so nicely! I am so happy, we are working with him on coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon on his own. He prays every night and tell us every time we see him how he feels the spirit so strongly when he prays. 2: We will have 5 new investigators starting the beginning of July. We have a Family here in Hamilton, that i basically the most redneck family you could ever met and well they are having 5 new family members moving in that want to start taking the lessons. So That will be exciting. 3: on the 5th of July my companion and I will get to go to the Palmyra temple with some wonderful member's!!! We will be doing a members family names! I am so excited to go to the temple!!!! Its been a little over a year and I cant wait to be able to feel of the amazing spirit there!!!!

So we had a amazing Zone Conference all about the Atonement and Finding people to teach. It was great being able to learn more about the power of relying on our faith when we find. I know most of ya'll probably dont really care about the importance of finding new people to teach, but all i can say is that finding is one of the most important parts of the Lords work. And if we dont find people to teach then we as missionaries are not fulfilling our purpose. So the AP's explained why finding is apart of missionary work, they explained it like a 3 legged stool. How each leg represent represent the importance for each of us. The first leg represents our commitment to our calling, the second leg is our Faith in the Savior Jesus Christ and his Atonement, and the Third leg is our skill and desire. As we have all three of these things we are able to see the Lords hand more abundantly in his work and we will be able to find those in which the Lord has prepared for us.

Finally i want to talk a Little about the Atonement for just a minute. I want to share with you a story about a 1 room school house in Virgina. This story was told by President Gordon B. Hinkley;  

“Years ago there was a little one-room schoolhouse in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough that no teacher had been able to handle them.

“A young, inexperienced teacher applied, and the old director scanned him and asked: ‘Young fellow, do you know that you are asking for an awful beating? Every teacher that we have had here for years has had to take one.’

“‘I will risk it,’ he replied.

“The first day of school came, and the teacher appeared for duty. One big fellow named Tom whispered: ‘I won’t need any help with this one. I can lick him myself.’

“The teacher said, ‘Good morning, boys, we have come to conduct school.’ They yelled and made fun at the top of their voices. ‘Now, I want a good school, but I confess that I do not know how unless you help me. Suppose we have a few rules. You tell me, and I will write them on the blackboard.’

“One fellow yelled, ‘No stealing!’ Another yelled, ‘On time.’ Finally, ten rules appeared on the blackboard.

“‘Now,’ said the teacher, ‘a law is not good unless there is a penalty attached. What shall we do with one who breaks the rules?’

“‘Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,’ came the response from the class.

“‘That is pretty severe, boys. Are you sure that you are ready to stand by it?’ Another yelled, ‘I second the motion,’ and the teacher said, ‘All right, we will live by them! Class, come to order!’

“In a day or so, ‘Big Tom’ found that his lunch had been stolen. The thief was located—a little hungry fellow, about ten years old. ‘We have found the thief and he must be punished according to your rule—ten stripes across the back. Jim, come up here!’ the teacher said.

“The little fellow, trembling, came up slowly with a big coat fastened up to his neck and pleaded, ‘Teacher, you can lick me as hard as you like, but please, don’t take my coat off!’

“‘Take your coat off,’ the teacher said. ‘You helped make the rules!’

“‘Oh, teacher, don’t make me!’ He began to unbutton, and what did the teacher see? The boy had no shirt on, and revealed a bony little crippled body.

“‘How can I whip this child?’ he thought. ‘But I must, I must do something if I am to keep this school.’ Everything was quiet as death.

“‘How come you aren’t wearing a shirt, Jim?’

“He replied, ‘My father died and my mother is very poor. I have only one shirt and she is washing it today, and I wore my brother’s big coat to keep me warm.’

“The teacher, with rod in hand, hesitated. Just then ‘Big Tom’ jumped to his feet and said, ‘Teacher, if you don’t object, I will take Jim’s licking for him.’

“‘Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed?’

“Off came Tom’s coat, and after five strokes the rod broke! The teacher bowed his head in his hands and thought, ‘How can I finish this awful task?’ Then he heard the class sobbing, and what did he see? Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. ‘Tom, I’m sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!’” 

Sense our Zone Conference I have thought about this story again and again and one thing always comes to mind. Our Savior Jesus Christ took our licks for us so we dont have to feel those pains on our own. How merciful is he for going through all that he did just so we can be able to stand on our own two feet. Oh, how i love our Savior. I would like to leave all of you with a quote form a scripture and that is, " Pure love casteth out all fear."

I love you all and i am so truly grateful for all your love and support!!!!

Hello People in the West!!!!!!

So tell me how is life for all my favorite humans?!?! Life is great here in the Eastern state of New York!!!! We are working hard! This week was pretty fun me and my companion has some fun dinner appointments with the best members in the world!!! Brother and Sister Smith are probably my all time favorite people ever! They treat us as if we are there own children! Sunday Brother Smith became our adoptive Dad and took us on a nice ride around the town with his wife and then we had dinner with them. Oh what fun!!!! Then at the end of the night we roasted marshmallows and sat around the fire and talked about fun scripture stories and they told us of there conversion story and how the Gospel has truly changed their lives. It was so wonderful!!!! I am so grateful for all they do for us!!!

So this week we had a few small tender mercies, some of our investigators after 3 weeks of not getting back to us. Called us and invited us over for a lesson tonight. We were so happy!!!! They were progressing sense we haven't seen or heard anything form them we thought they wanted to stop meeting with us and taking the lessons but we were wrong. They just were out of town for the last 3 weeks and Nikki ( the wife) had surgery. So we are so happy to be able to meet with them again!!! Other then that it has been about the same just working hard at finding people to teach and bring the message of the Restored Gospel into there lives!

So i want to take a minute and have you all ponder these questions, Why do you obey the commandment that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have given us? Is it because of fear of the punishment that would come if we didnt obey? Is it because we want to be rewarded for having a good life her on earth? Or is it because you have that yearning desire to be with your Heavenly Father and Savior again and want to serve them with all your heart? .... I want you all to remember that Obedience to all of the Commandment in which God has given us will bring us the riches blessing that our Father has to offer. We may not always understand why we have to obey them but we much act in faith all follow all that he has asked of us. I have always loved the example of Nephi when he says, " I will go and do the this in which the Lord has commanded for I know the Lord giveth no commandments unless he prepares a way for them to accomplish it" We as humans may not see how we can live certain commandment in the world we live it. But I testify to you all that it is always possible to live every commandment in which we have been given. God knows what the world is like, Christ knows how it feels to be us and be a out cast when you choose to follow the will of the Father. So it is worth the hardship, because after ever challenge comes great and mighty miracles! So let not yourself fall into temptation, stand tall and stand proud your represent the Lord, Jesus Christ! My dear friends and my beloved family, continue in faith each and every day and know " The Lord thy God is with you wither so ever thou goest" You can be obedience because though your obedience you will be blessed for the eternities!

Love you all so very much! Thank you for all your thought and prayers!!!

For the First time in Forever!!!!

So guess what for the first time in my mission i am staying in a area with the same companion for more then one transfer!!!!! So that is super exciting!!! We are going to work so hard core miracles here in Hamilton New York!!!!

So this week has been crazy busy!!!! We barely had time to breath!!! We picked up 2 new investigators Sean and Jannet. They are awesome!!! Sean is about to be a father for the 2nd time and he cant wait!!! Jannet was a referral she is 86 years old and she is the funniest lady in the world!!!! She cant hear a thing and when we talk to her we have to yell but its still fun hearing all her crazy stories and sharing the gospel with her!

Also we had exchange, that was pretty crazy! I got to go back to a old area and see all the humans there! I sure do miss New Hartford at times! Even though it was a rough time i miss all the people there. While we were on exchange we tried some crazy Asian fruit that is all prickly on the outside and looks like a grape on the inside. I was so confused on what it was, but either way it was good and a new experience for me. 

I thought I would explain one of the pictures I sent. The one of me holding a Unicorn. So I have this thing of asking the people in leadership for pets even though we arent aloud pets. So usually they give me a stuff animal of something. So this transfer I asked my  Zone Leaders and my Sister Training Leaders for a unicorn. Well my Sister Taining Leaders surprised me on exchange with a balloon Unicorn!!!! I was so happy!!!! Nothing better then getting a cute little unicorn to make your day!

Today I want to focus a little on the phrase "Charity never faileth" As I have gone though my mission I have learn that the center of missionary work is Charity. If you do not have charity for the people you meet you will never see the miracles of the tender mercies of the lord. Charity is the Pure love of Christ. This work is the Lords work and we need to have charity to go anywhere in our lives to become as Christ. President Thomas S. Monson once said, " Love is the very Essence of the Gospel and Jesus Christ is our Example." I cant help but think of the Atonement when i think of Charity. The Lord, Jesus Christ so loved all of Gods Children that he so willingly sacrificed his life for us so then Gods un-perfect children can find comfort when they are in need of it. His Charity of all of us will never fail because he will never give up on us. Because he loves us all. I am so grateful for charity i know that it is though the atonement of Jesus Christ that we are able to learn of the true power of having Christ like love for all of Gods Children. 

I love you all and thank you all so much for all your loving support! My the Lord bless you in all that you do and face! Just remember he is only a prayer away and he will be there!

Wonderful week full of laughs!!!

So this week has gone by super fast!!! Like I dont even know what happen to this week all i know its that it is gone and its now my favorite day of the week MONDAY!!!! once again. But it still has been a fun week!!! So this week we were able to do probably the best service ever!!! We helped our neighbor run her TACO TRUCK!!! It was so much fun!! I got to help her make all the food as Sister Fausett was outside making the menu boards. I had so much fun!!!! It reminded me how much fun it is to cook and make people happy with the food you make them. That just brought me so much joy and i got to talk with all the people at the Antique show that was going on. Our neighbor was very grateful as well because she learned she was kinda way over her head with the Taco Truck... lets just say it is a good thing i can work very fast under pressure because i think if we weren't there helping during Lunch time she would have had to stop. Everyone that came and got tacos left happy people and it let the town know who we are as well. So it was like blessing pilled on top of even more blessings.

All of our investigator and less actives are doing wonderfully! One of our Returning Less Actives has the goal of going to the temple. So we are helping him prepare to recieve the Melchizedek priesthood and then work towards the temple so that is super exciting!!! We also were able to meet some really awesome people as we were trying to find some less actives. One was actually a referral from a member in Utah. Her name is Janet she is 86 years old and she is a spit fire!!! She is in assisted living facility. She is super friendly and willing to learn about the church. She truly i such a sweet heart. Today we also met a pervious investigator named Josh as we were shopping. We have a appointment to see him Wednesday. Boy oh Boy is Hamilton prepared!!! It truly think it is amazing to see the Lords hand in his work and see how you are just the instrument for him.

So awesome news!! I am now in 3 Nephi with my Book of Mormon reading!!! and if anyone knows me this is a huge deal because on a rare occasion have I ever gotten this far in the Book of Mormon. I have come to know and love the Book of Mormon very much! Before I left on my mission it was like pulling teeth to get me to ever want to read and now here I am a year into my mission and I feel like it is more like pulling teeth to get me to put the scriptures done. Every morning as i get to study for a hour i get so energized to feel the powerful spirit that comes from reading the scriptures and feel the spirit testify to you that what you are reading is true. It is just so amazing!!!!! 

This week we have had many opportunity to share and read Joseph Smiths first vision. It truly is a amazing time in church history. It is such a great opportunity to serve here in New York were it all began! In Joseph Smith History verse 11-17 when Joseph Smith tells of his experience and how he acted on the knowledge that he did have. I want to focus on verse 16 for just a minute it reads, " But, exerting all my power to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction.- not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being- just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, about the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until if fell upon me." Out of all the thing Joseph Smith shares with his experience this is for some odd reason always the part that stands out to me because it shows 1. how merciful and loving our Heavenly Father truly has for all of his children 2. it shows the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how infinite it can be in our lives and 3. it shows how we and children of God should never give up when times get rough because he will always be there to pull us up and help us though all of our trials. I never though about the first vision in this way till I gained a testimony of the First vision and of the Atonement. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that he did see God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. I have a shirt that I got on my mission, it has a picture of the Scared Grove on the Back and around the picture it says, " This past changed the world, now let it change your life. I would like to invite yo all to let this experience that Joseph Smith had change you life. I know that it is though knowing that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration that makes it so powerful of a experience to read the Book of Mormon. Because " no evil man would write such a book" I invite you all to watch this video and truly listen to the powerful words in which Elder Holland speaks and then to get your knees and do as I have said over and over again in all my emails and ask God if Joseph Smith is truly the prophet of Restorations and if he really did bring the same church that Christ established on the earth again.

I love you all and i am so truly grateful for all your love and support! I know Heavenly Father hears all your prayers and will answer you though the power of the Holy Ghost. 

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/testimony-of-the-book-of-mormon-2

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-03-08-testimony-of-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng

What are you GRATEFUL for?

So this week has been crazy busy!!! We have a awesome investigator Dustin!!! I really have never seen anyone more ready.... well I have but its awesome to see it again! All in one day we taught Dustin the 3 different lessons ( the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Plan of Salvation, and the Word of Wisdom) We were able to do this because he asked us to come back all in the same day!!! His Girlfriend is a Less active member so we taught him once with her and the second time just with him on the porch. He has been reading the Book of Mormon for 3 years and has never been taught by Missionaries before!!! I just thought that was crazy!!! Why would any missionary let a Golden investigator just slip though there fingers!!! So also awesome news!! Dustin came to church this Sunday too!!!! He already is trying to quite smoking and drinking, i truly love being able to see how the Restored Gospel can change someones life so much!!!

So other things that have happen this week, well we found 3 new Less actives that we are starting to teach next week!!! We are praying that we will be able to find people though them as we ask for referrals. I know are prays can be answered we just got to exercise our faith! 

Things have been super fun here in Hamilton!!! My goal right now is to not kill my companion. She doesn't have the best health and get tired very quickly so i am trying to pace the work in a way that doesn't ware her out to quickly and get her sick. All I can say is that is I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed me with good health and a strong body that can go through a lot of stress and still be able to go forth and do His work.

So no the reason for my title today... I ask what are you grateful for? simply because Sunday during church I here a very profound statement in one of the talks that were given and that was, " The things we take for granted. someone else is praying for." That statement sunk deep in my heart as i hear those words. On Sunday i had a lot of time to ponder this, because my companion got food poisoning from eating some bad Pork. Yeah that was a lovely sight to see... lol not really! So back to what I was saying, as I pondered this profound statement i quickly realized how truly blessed i am and how i need to stop and just be grateful for everything the Lord has given my and my family. So at the instant i got on my knees and just offered a prayer of Gratitude to the the Lord and all i can say is Wow!!! That was the most spirit filled prayer I have ever had in my life. I would like to invite you all to get on your knees when ever you have the opportunity and just give thanks to your Heavenly Father for everything he had given you and your family! Because seriously I know that it is just as important to give thanks to our Heavenly Father and Savior as it is to ask them for help. Alma 7:23 reads, " And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive." It is so important for us to give thanks because as we give thanks we show our love for your Father in Heaven.

Thank you for all that your do and all your loving support!! Remember you are all loved by your Father in Heaven and he is always there for you when you are in need. He is always waiting for you to take his hand and let him help you.