from another email:
(from my mom's journal from when I was 2)
-wow!!!! I loved hearing about me as a little kid! I am going to see if I can print that here at the library.... If not I might be asking for a copy of it soon...
-Thank you so much for the package! the APs made a very special delivery (I don't even know if they usually do this) and delivered the package to me on a street corner in my area....
-I cant believe Cole is already using the Melchizedek Priesthood! WOW! I gave someone a blessing last night too! I love doing that. It really strengthens my testimony.
-Thank you so much for the package! the APs made a very special delivery (I don't even know if they usually do this) and delivered the package to me on a street corner in my area....
-I cant believe Cole is already using the Melchizedek Priesthood! WOW! I gave someone a blessing last night too! I love doing that. It really strengthens my testimony.
I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!
Thanks Sarah for the package! I am so excited to eat the salsa with chips! I am surprised you remembered that was my fav! (or did you just pick it out luckily?)
Q:(from Dad) how does it feel to be 20?
A: AWESOME! but in truth not any different. Same as any passing of a year. I just love the fact that I am not a teenager even though I don't feel any different.
I got to celebrate my birthday by
1) performing a baptism!
2) eating AMAZING homemade tacos and come cake (that I actually liked because it was from a bakery and it was just angel food cake, whipped cream and strawberries...
3)opening up the packages and having a small nerf fight! and testing out the vacuum bags (so cool!)
Having such a chill birthday helped me to stay focused on others and the service/why I'm out here rather than myself.
I also ate lunch with a TV star! yay! Her name is Chelea Hightower from Dancing with the Stars... the story: Elder Ellett (the AP/my good friend - who I just told to look up Kenzie at BYU because he goes home this week) randomly invited me to go on splits with him to a lunch appointment while everyone else continued to work on the Temple grounds as part of our zone service activity. So I got to duck out early and go way up in Beverly Hills (on the way he pointed out the back gate of the Playboy mansion...) ANYWAY, she was very cool, I loved having a lesson (on the power of testimonies) slash talking about the gospel with a pretty cute and famous girl in Beverly Hills (and her female roommate and the male Ward Mission Leader...) I love how she can be a strong member despite all that...
WHAT IS UP IN MY AREA....
We have been exceedingly busy these past weeks between working two areas (every other day) because I went on splits because Elder Franson was at those leadership training meetings all day and preparing for baptisms-which is never something to complain about! We also got to go to the visitors center- which was very cool!
I am excited to go to the trainings this week even though they will be from 9AM-3PM Tues-Fri this week. I have heard a lot about them from Elder Franson (they got trained this past week by President and Sister Baker and now they will be training us this week) Anyway worldwide the missions are going to be more focused on the person and the spirit, asking QUESTIONS by the spirit, getting to know them and their doubts. All in all the General Authorities feel like most missionaries are not really good teachers because while they can explain the doctrine amazingly and the check off everything on their teaching record, they just don't help the investigators, as real people feel connecting to the gospel, they just don't help their personal testimonies progress, they are afraid to ask Qs and let them talk etc. I feel like I need to work on following the spirit more but Elder Franson said that I was ahead of the game in terms of being personable and asking Qs etc. I feel like I need some training at what a lot of the other missionaries are good at- just expressing their thoughts in an organized manner...
Investigators:
-Jamson Chuc was baptized on Aug 8th! You went to his baptism. It went very well! I think I already wrote about it in last weeks email so I don't think I will do so again here.
-Sergio Avila was baptized on Aug 15 and I was lucky enough to be chosen by Sergio to perform the actual ordinance on my birthday. Obviously I could not ask for a better gift to see a baptism. We always like to have people in the ward to be the ones to form that bond between the person being baptized and the person performing it that comes from baptism because they stick around and we don't. Anyway, he would not have it and he insisted that one of us do it.
We were a little worried about his preparedness for baptism. He had to have two interviews with President Guiliani but in the end he passed him and both he and Sergio were excited for his baptism. We were nervous only because his testimony is not as strong as we would like (only strong enough to basically answer the baptismal questions but we know that he doesn't really truly understand or believe) that wasn't the biggest concern though because we know it is a journey and that Elder Franson and I did not have any stronger testimony at age 8 than he does. The real concern was that just the way he was talking to us about some things that we confronted him about and from the stuff that his friends were saying about him, we believed that he is lying about some of his worthiness. We did the best we could though and there is no use trying to call him out after we directly confront him about it. If he was lying than it is on him, as bad as that sounds...
Anyway, after much praying and talking to our leaders we decided that we cannot hold back a baptism based on suspicion of worthiness and lack of testimony, as long as they understand why they are being baptized (even if they don't understand 100% because none of us do, but if they understand enough...) and as long as they have that desire. We know that it will probably be more of a struggle to keep him active because he does not have too much support from his family (although we heard just this past Sunday that his mom is trying to leave her spirit worshipping religion that sounds to be heavily Satanic influenced... so we are going to try to start teaching her...!) Anyway, I am sorry I am rambling so much, we will work hard to have him have a good relationship with the bishop, the young men and his leaders to get him that support that he needs...
Less-active work:
We continue to work with the less active members and 5-5-5 people. They regretfully got pushed pretty far back on the back burner this past week because of the limited time we got to work in our area and because of preparing for Sergio's baptism. We are seeing some success there- a couple of members have come back to church for the first time in many years and some we are close to having them come back.
We did go to the Visitor's Center with Jamson and his family and Alex (who has a baptismal date of Aug 29) and his family. I am so excited to be able to have it as such a powerful teaching tool! I was thoroughly impressed!
My studies:
I have recently revamped and organized/planned/outlined what I will study each day and for how long. I am excited to keep putting it into practice and follow-up with myself, just like I do with investigators (I find that helps...)
Investigators:
-Jamson Chuc was baptized on Aug 8th! You went to his baptism. It went very well! I think I already wrote about it in last weeks email so I don't think I will do so again here.
-Sergio Avila was baptized on Aug 15 and I was lucky enough to be chosen by Sergio to perform the actual ordinance on my birthday. Obviously I could not ask for a better gift to see a baptism. We always like to have people in the ward to be the ones to form that bond between the person being baptized and the person performing it that comes from baptism because they stick around and we don't. Anyway, he would not have it and he insisted that one of us do it.
We were a little worried about his preparedness for baptism. He had to have two interviews with President Guiliani but in the end he passed him and both he and Sergio were excited for his baptism. We were nervous only because his testimony is not as strong as we would like (only strong enough to basically answer the baptismal questions but we know that he doesn't really truly understand or believe) that wasn't the biggest concern though because we know it is a journey and that Elder Franson and I did not have any stronger testimony at age 8 than he does. The real concern was that just the way he was talking to us about some things that we confronted him about and from the stuff that his friends were saying about him, we believed that he is lying about some of his worthiness. We did the best we could though and there is no use trying to call him out after we directly confront him about it. If he was lying than it is on him, as bad as that sounds...
Anyway, after much praying and talking to our leaders we decided that we cannot hold back a baptism based on suspicion of worthiness and lack of testimony, as long as they understand why they are being baptized (even if they don't understand 100% because none of us do, but if they understand enough...) and as long as they have that desire. We know that it will probably be more of a struggle to keep him active because he does not have too much support from his family (although we heard just this past Sunday that his mom is trying to leave her spirit worshipping religion that sounds to be heavily Satanic influenced... so we are going to try to start teaching her...!) Anyway, I am sorry I am rambling so much, we will work hard to have him have a good relationship with the bishop, the young men and his leaders to get him that support that he needs...
Less-active work:
We continue to work with the less active members and 5-5-5 people. They regretfully got pushed pretty far back on the back burner this past week because of the limited time we got to work in our area and because of preparing for Sergio's baptism. We are seeing some success there- a couple of members have come back to church for the first time in many years and some we are close to having them come back.
We did go to the Visitor's Center with Jamson and his family and Alex (who has a baptismal date of Aug 29) and his family. I am so excited to be able to have it as such a powerful teaching tool! I was thoroughly impressed!
My studies:
I have recently revamped and organized/planned/outlined what I will study each day and for how long. I am excited to keep putting it into practice and follow-up with myself, just like I do with investigators (I find that helps...)
