Week 39. How many spiritual thoughts can you find?

 So y’all probably don't remember this but sometime ago I talked about how in my journal I accidently skipped two pages because they stuck together. We'll it happened again. So when they say learn about the past so it doesn't repeat, they are wrong. It'll repeat no matter what. 

That's why we need the Lord's help to change. But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Here are the highlights:

Dodgeball - so we have these training meetings and they always try to make them fun so we got to play dodgeball and so that was super fun. 

Elder Schow b-day - That was on Wednesday and it was super fun. I made brownies and egg rolls and arroz con gandules for lunch before district council and we all had fun and the sisters made a cake and decorated it. 

Destiny's apartment complex- I say apartment complex because she invites everyone and so we had like 4 or 5 random children there for our lesson. I'm still not the best at teaching children but we had a pretty good lesson on praying for peace and safety. The others joined in and answered some of our questions so it was pretty awesome. 

Splits - not really, but we took a youth with us to a lesson with Miles. We talked about Fasting and he shared his testimony on Fasting for others and remembering the reason why we are giving up food. Isaiah 58:6-9 is also pretty fire. 

Mission Devotional - we had an awesome mission devotional this week and I loved all the speakers. One thing I wanted to share that I hope you can all feel was this Sister who said she struggled coming out on a mission and she heard God say, "If I have asked you to do this, I will help you with it."

I hope you can all have a personal testimony of that with whatever you're doing to follow Christ. 

Miracle this week - the one I'm going to share didn't actually happen this week but I heard about it this week. So a few weeks ago I gave a blessing to this less active who was hurting real bad. (I didn't know this then but apparently ER room bad if it didn't change) and so I gave him a blessing and blessed him that his arm would stop hurting so he could sleep because that's what he needed. But I told him that it was based on his faith. 

So this Sunday he came since the beginning of Covid I think, and told me that that night he hurt a lot and couldn't sleep, then remembered what I said and prayed and asked God for help and his arm stopped hurting that night and since has been pretty manageable. 

It was super cool hearing that

Transfers  - so on Saturday for lunch we went to the Mongolian Grill and got fortune cookies. And mine said, "A fun social event is in your near future. Be outgoing."

That night we got the transfer text and Elder Albright is leaving the area and I'm staying. So we are going to transfers which is kind of a social event so that was crazy. I won't know my new comp til Wednesday but he isn't a trainee so that'll be new. Y'all will have to wait til next week to find out. 

For the spiritual thought I just wanted to share an experience I had this week. We were talking with our Bishop and asking him questions and he explained how much work and time he puts into being a Bishop and how sometimes it can be hard balancing his family, church service, and work. 

It made me realize how much Bishops sacrifice and made me appreciate them more. So I wanted to challenge you all to think about someone in your life who sacrifices for you and may not be recognized for it often and tell them thanks. Whether it be a Bishop, your parents, teachers, or our Heavenly Father.

Let them know that you care about them because they care about you. 

I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week!!!

Pics

1. birthday party

2. It wasn't me

Week 38. No bike problems, it's a miracle

 More stuff happened this week, I promise. This week we did a lot more door knocking and maybe some new people to teach. We'll have to see. But next week is transfers so I'll let you know Monday if anything changes. One thing that will be changing is our mission President which is crazy. It's so weird to think that he's only got a week left.  But here are the weeks highlights:

Anand - so we still haven't met everyone which we are trying to work on. Anand was someone that was being taught but hadn't responded back since December. So we just stopped by and he invited us in and heard his crazy story of getting covid then getting hit by a car and destroying his jaw. And so he had braces on and something was keeping his jaw closed so he couldn't speak. He's had a crazy 2022. But he wants us to come over and he's super nice so pray that his desire to learn can grow!

YM - Bishop asked us to support the priests and this week was the first time we've actually been able to go to their activity and their Sunday class because all our friends canceled at the last minute. 

But for their activity they are doing a "no rules" pinewood derby which sounds super cool and we even got challenged into doing it but because we're missionaries we can't really devote a lot of time, also possible transfers so we'll see how it goes. 

Exchanges - so went on exchanges with ZLs and drove around in a car for a day. It was pretty good and it was nice to mix it up for the day. Sadly we exchanged back before the planned volleyball activity so that was sad. But during the exchange I was encouraged to upgrade my bike. Pic below

Kris - one of our friends who we knew over the phone but had recently ghosted us so we knocked on his door and found out this super quiet, timid dude was 6'7". Absolutely crazy. We came back the next day and taught the armor of God which was fun because I made little origami representations for each peace. I didn't take a picture so sorry. But thanks for the idea Bryton!

So for the past little bit I've been studying humility and one thought that I wanted to share wasn't from what I studied but sitting with the priests in class. The question was brought up. Who benefits more from gratitude: You or the person you thank?

I thought about it and it hit me that us worshipping God, thanking Him for the countless blessings He's given us, and thanking others isn't necessarily for them to feel happy or needed or good about themselves. It's for us. It's for us to be more humble. In Matthew 5:3 it says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 

God is literally telling us the way to enter His kingdom, it's by being humble. And so He's given us these blessings, this opportunity to live on earth, and other things so we can be grateful and grow that humility needed to enter the kingdom of God. Cool thought. I challenge you all to thank God for one thing everyday and really mean it. 

I love and miss you all and God feels that way too so He really loves it when you talk to Him. Just like I love your emails. Guess I got a few attributes from Him 

Pics

Cool scenery and sunset, and the bike I should upgrade into

Week 37. Your name is Elder?

 Hi, something amazing happened this past week. We did a service on Tuesday and the lady we helped read my tag and was like, "Elder.. what an interesting name, I like it. Is it from your family?" It been almost 9 months and finally someone has thought my name was Elder. Anyways, here's the rest of the week:

Trainer - my trainer Nathan Herbst came and said hi while visiting the mission. It was fun seeing him again. And he remembered to take pics on my phone because he knows I'm bad at it. 

Bikes - it was my fault this time. So new bike and switching between two certain gears was a little rough. So I tried fixing it myself. I epically failed, then fixed it. But I don't think I fixed it in the right way because it would work sometimes but not others. So we took them back to get fixed for free and the dude got kinda mad at me. But I felt like I did a pretty good job for not having YouTube or Google. 

Portuguese - So we were at a complex because we were asked to help this lady move some couches, but it turned out to be half her house. Luckily these two Portuguese Elders from the Seattle mission happened to be there and helped out. It was super fun talking with them. And then while they were helping us the lady they had come to teach got there so that was cool. 

More Service - later that day we had an unexpected service come up so we arrived and then 4 other Companionships showed up for some reason. So we unloaded this small uhaul in 20 minutes. It was so fun. Hopefully we can teach the new family and see if they are interested. 

Tammie - on our way home from church I felt prompted to visit Tammie. We found her sitting outside talking with someone. Then we started talking and it was a very good visit. We left her with a prayer and I hope things go better for her. 

Hemming - right after that we went to the Hemmings and taught them the plan of salvation along with the temple prep curriculum. It was super fun and afterwards I had a super spiritual experience giving brother Hemming a blessing. Then we biked home in the rain. It was awesome. 

I can't remember the actual quote but it said something like: help people draw closer to Christ because they know you. Christ asked us to be lights to the world. To spread His light. I really liked that quote because we can all be examples of Christ. And still be all different. Each person you meet might need your specific light and so don't be afraid to be who you are. You are all amazing sons and daughters of God and you have His light to shine forth. Be the light. 

I love ya, God loves ya, and Satan loves your misery, "so cut it short."

Here are pics

-My trainer

-breakfast this morning

-Zone Conference. Zoom in on my face

-district lunch with STLs

Week 36. Me gusta Comer Los libros

 Hi, this week I was reading Revelation 10, and in it John eats a book so hence the subject line. But this week we got some great news from our mission President: we can go to the temple every 3 months now!Anywho here's the week:

Last  day- so we got a ride to a bike shop and I bought a new bike. It's pretty nice. Then we went back to the church and a new member came over and we celebrated her 1 year mark. 

Tuesday miracle - so we went to a lesson and she actually just got called into work and so we walked around and knocked a few doors and actually bumped into a friend we hadn't seen in a bit. So that was cool. 

Wednesday Miracles - so we have to teach these children and so the miracle was that we came up with an object lesson to do with them and it went pretty good. Then that night we called a bunch of people and some actually wanted to meet with us so that was cool. 

Sister Akers - it's not the Washington flag but she is a "true" Washingtonian. And when she says that she's only referring to those in Seattle. So Rip the rest of the state. Usually we talk about her work for 28 minutes and then share a scripture, but this week I asked her to come with a question and we had a good 15min talk about it. She also got me a kraken lapel pin so that's kinda cool. 

Mohamed - We had a super long conversation and he had a ton of questions and it was super cool but I don't know if he felt the Spirit. He did like talking with us and even more so when I told him I played soccer. 

Rain Showers - it rained hard on Saturday and we got soaked. So that wasn't fun 

Cookies  - I decided to make cookies for mothers day and give them to a few families. And as most people know I'm not the best cook. I usually burn things. So staying true to myself. I forgot sugar until halfway through, I made a cookie rack out of knives, and I broke the electric mixer and the oven. All in a good days work. While waiting I did read the whole book of Job tho. Very interesting. 

Sunday Night - I didn't plan well and so we weren't able to drop off the Cookies today so it'll be a late mothers day gift, but we ate dinner at Destiny's house and for the lesson we had 3 extra people decide to come over and one was Michelle it was such a surprise. I love that family and how awesome they are at missionary work!

I wanted to continue that thought for my spiritual thought. Doing missionary work as members is not supposed to be hard. You're not expected to make every person you talk to a member. You are supposed to make every person you talk to know that you love them. Elder Stevenson gave a great talk on it called Love, Share, and Invite. As he said it's not something new, and it can be pretty easy, if you don't get in your own way. So I wanted to encourage y'all to read his talk and really think about what you can do to follow the Lord's invite to "love one another" and "to declare [His Gospel] to every kindred, nation, and tongue."

I hope y’all have a good week and I want you to know that I love ya and so does the Lord. 

Here are pics 

- New bike

-soaked

- knife cookie rack + broken oven

-what I imagine Sister Akers house to look like

-rando

-a pic where my leg looks unnatural long

Week 35. Numbers 22:30

 OK y'all... going on 35 weeks and I have no clue how to make these emails better so if you have any ideas let me know. Also something new I learned this week was from the scripture in the subject line, apparently donkeys can talk. Shrek was right. 

Miles - He's continuing to do well and learning more. This last time he remembered a bit from when he had been taught before and it was very funny. He was like, so after I'm baptized I could be called to be the Prophet? It was very funny but he is really getting into it and I can't wait until he's more comfortable with our ward 

Khimani - So we finally saw her again and she'd love to keep studying with us but doesn't want to go to church at the moment. I'm really happy she didn't completely leave but please pray that God will open up a path for her to return to church. 

District Council - so I wanted to share this just because we talked about Spiritual Gifts and they are so awesome. I encourage all of you to try digging a little deeper into it. Here's a quote I found that I really liked:

       “If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make us perfect. … No man ought to say, ‘Oh, I cannot help this; it is my nature.’ He is not justified in it, for the reason that God has promised to give strength to correct these things, and to give gifts that will eradicate them. If a man lacks wisdom, it is his duty to ask God for wisdom. The same with everything else. That is the design of God concerning His Church. He wants His Saints to be perfected in the truth. For this purpose He gives these gifts, and bestows them upon those who seek after them, in order that they may be a perfect people upon the face of the earth.” (Millennial Star, Apr. 1894, p. 260.)

So seek those gifts that can help you change and be better. 

Also for lunch afterwards we went to Taco Bell and that's the first time I've been. It was good. 

Rashi - So after teaching him the Restoration, we get a text the next day that asks how he can believe in a church that discriminates. And me overreacting sent back a long text explaining that God loves everyone equally and shared a bunch of scriptures and talks. Then Elder Albright asked him where his question came from and it was actually a question he got from reading about the church from reading anti-LDS material. It was really cool tho because when we explained the verse, he completely understood it and could see how that material was just negative and false. 

The next day we went over again, he had no problem and so we taught the word of wisdom. 

Stalkfleets - so for all you missionaries reading this:please update your area books. I came prepared with this object lesson to find out that they had already done it so... it still ended up pretty good and everyone had a good laugh. 

More bike troubles - need I say more. The tire we had just replaced got punctured by a big nail and so it was game over. Then the other bike had somehow gotten a slow leak and so we just kept pumping it up before each trip. 

Sunday - we had an awesome fast and testimony meeting. I loved all the testimonies but for some reason, even though I've  been out 8 months now, I still get nervous when I go up. The rest of the day was packed with back to back lessons and it was so good. Our lessons were definitely led by the Spirit and it was an awesome day. 

Spiritual thought/challenge : your testimony grows as you share it and it can help others. My fast Sunday wouldn't have been as good if it wasn't for some people standing up and bearing their testimonies. So please do and they blessings come of it. A great scripture is Doctrine and Covenants 63:3. So please, next fast Sunday, share your testimony. 

Pics