Tuesday, January 29, 2013
"The land of entrapment, come on vacation and can't leave on probation"
Hello there!
Sounds like ya'll are doing fine and dandy. Thank you for watching the tennis in my honor. Of course Djokovich ruined the fun for everybody again. Also, that's way sweet that Levi made the tennis team for Whitworth. What a guy! I don't know how the kid does it but he just beats everybody somehow and it doesn't make any sense. Levi is the man, I was infuriated everytime he beat me because I always thought I should be able to beat him. Let him know I'm pumped for him! That's sweet that Maren is going on a mission too. She'll love it and do a great job. All the sister missionaries I have met are way good and they just seem to have the spirit stronger with them than Elders. They do a bossome job. Maren will too.
So this week was a good week just like last week and we found some more investigators who are totally prepared by the Lord. They were super easy to find too. There were a few disappointments this week but that's nothing unusual. There are disappointments almost everyday with missionary life. One of the disappointments is that Cowboy told us to stop coming and reading with Malachi. He told us that they need to fix some family issues and that they need the time to resolve all of their issues and whatnot. We told him that the things we have been teaching them would help them with their problems more than anything else but he still doesn't want us to come by for a while. That was a bummer. Basically Cowboy's situation right now is that he wasn't his probation stuff with his probation officer so he's either going to jail today or he is running away up to Colorado and living life on the edge even more than he is right now. It's pretty sad and we tried to help him get his life on the right track but he just kept getting into trouble. But who knows if he'll even go to jail or run away because like 5% of the things Cowboy says actually happen. But he said some funny things to us. New Mexico is known as the land of Entrapment to some people and he said that he came here in vaction and he can't leave because he's on probation. That was one of the funniest things I've heard Cowboy say. Anyway, we also weren't able to meet with Tina this week. She kept having family emergencies going on and we kept pushing appointments back and we're hopefully going to be meeting with her tonight. She didn't come to church either. Nobody made it this week =( Shariy's appointment with Bishop apparently went well but we talked about marriage with her again and she said that that isn't what they are focused on right now. She says that Geno needs to focus on healing and they don't need to think about marriage much right now. I was super bummed when I heard her say that. Hopefully a miracle will happen and her and Geno's eyes will be opened and their hearts will be softened. But those are the disappointments for the week!
The awesome things that happened this week mainly came through finding our 2 new investigators which like I said wasn't too difficult to find them. One of them was that part-member family I think I talked about before. Their names are Casey and Meghan, Casey is the member and he is way awesome. He grew up in an active family and somewhere along the lines just kinda fell off and got into some of the worldly things. Meghan comes from a family where she was asked to go to do a dance with an LDS boy in school and her mom wouldn't let her so her family is basically way anti-Mormon. Anyway, we were able to go over to their home (which is like 100 yards away from our apartment) and teach Meghan about the Restoration. Casey had to leave early and we just continued to teach Meghan with the member we brought with us. She was just way open to everything and she talked about how she and Casey need to both love God more than eachother so that they can have a happier marriage. So we talked about exactly how she can show her love for God and her willingness to do what He asks of us and that is by being baptized by someone who holds the Priesthood. We invited her to be baptized and she said that she would as soon as she knows if the BoM is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet. It was awesome. One of our standards of excellence is to invite all investigators to be baptized on the 1st lesson and with a baptismal date no later than the 2nd lesson and sometimes it's scary to invite them to make that commitment because you don't know how they will react. It takes some faith but it's worth it. That's kind of how that was with her. I was super nervous to ask her to be baptized and I've done it a bunch of times with other people but for some reason I was just more nervous this time but I took a leap of faith and it went great! All that really needs to happen for them is for Meghan to get a new work schedule because she works on Sundays. Once that happens things will really pick up with them! I was super excited about them. That was probably my most exciting moment of the week.
The other new investigator that we found is a woman named Paige who happens to live in the apartment next door to ours. She moved in in November or sometime close to that and we talked to her like once or twice. One day we were heading out for the day on our steeds and she was outside walking to her car and we just thought that we should talk to her so we did and we set up an appointment to meet with her later in the week. Paige goes to this way big church that everybody goes to around here called Sagebrush. Just so ya'll know, everyone in Rio Rancho is either Catholic, Jehovah Witness, or goes to Sagebrush. Anyway, she joined that church and was baptized into it like 2 or so years ago but she has grown less and less fond of it as time has passed. She said that people just seem judgmental and stuff and it's changed since she first joined. She is a super smart woman too. We taught her the Restoration and talked about how important it is to have a living day prophet and the Priesthood authority on the Earth. A lot of people don't understand those things no matter how clearly or simply you explain it. It just all made sense to her and at certain points as we talked about this message she was just get a big old grin on her face and I just knew she was feeling the spirit even if she didn't know it. We invited her to read and pray about the BoM and to be baptized on February 23rd and she accepted all of those things. It was great! The only thing she didn't want to do at least for right now is to come to church. That's a pretty important thing. She said she wasn't ready for that yet but I know that she will get there through her faith.
This week, we were teaching a woman named Melissa and she asked us "what makes your prophet and your church different from other churches that claim to have prophets and be the true church?" There are so many differences. Through Joseph Smith the Priesthood is once again on the earth and we can be sealed as eternal families. We also have the gift of the holy ghost to lead and guide us to comfort us. It also testifies to us of truth. The prophet Thomas Monson receives revelation directly from God for our benefit. I know that all these things are true without a doubt in my mind because I have kneeled and asked God if this is the truth more than once. It took a while to get my answer but I got it and it has changed me. The elders quorum president in our ward (who is a boss) said that the biggest difference with our church and others is that we don't want or ask anybody to take our word for it. Take your questions to God and he will answer you. Go experience this great thing that we have experienced for ourselves. These things are true and have the power to change anybody's life and I know it's all true!
Peace and love ya'll!
Elder Black
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DAD
Greetings ya'll
Dad is 55. That's super cool because he is in better shape than any of his children and he is pretty much the most studly man I've ever met. Right up there with Ray Lewis as far as the beast factor goes. All jokes aside though, happy birthday Pa. I sent a letter a couple days ago so if it's not already there it will get there in time so don't worry. I still know when your b-day is. I didn't send any cool gifts though because there is nothing cool here to send you. Except green chili. That stuff is good but I don't really know how to send it to ya'll. You can order it online though. Anyway, I love you dad and I appreciate your example in my life. My life would be waaaaaaaaay less amazing without you. Thanks for being the man. It blows my mind.
So yesterday was MLK Jr day so we get to email today instead of yesterday. I think it's kinda cool that the super bowl will be 49ers vs. Ravens. The Harbaugh bowl. That could be pretty cool. Also, I appreciate the other updates from Jake in the sporting world. You, Cam, and Dad are the only way that I have even the slightest idea of what's going on. Thanks for filling me in. There should be a letter on the way for Jake too before his birthday. I haven't forgot about the letter so don't worry. Also, thanks Kait for the package! I already ate all of the 100 grand and the goldfish because it's so good and addicting. That package was a welcome sight. Love you lots sis, I'll write you a letter soon!
This week was super productive and awesome. We found new investigators, we taught a ton of people, and the Lord was able to work through us to help people to make progress! We have our mission standards of excellence for our mission which are teaching 20 lessons a week, having members with us at 80% of our lessons, finding 4 new investigators, and inviting people to be baptized on the first lessons. This week was the first time I've been at 20 lessons and that totally pumped me up. We found 2 new investigators which was cool also. We should be able to find some more this week as well. I know it's not all about numbers and percentages or anything but it just goes to show that the Lord has been blessing us this week. Also, numbers and goals "reflect the righteous desires of our hearts" so I hope ya'll don't think I'm number hungry. I'm just glad things are coming together and our teaching pool is increasing! More people to invite to come unto Christ=happy missionaries. But in a nutshell, this week has been one of the best weeks of my life.
One day, we had about 10 minutes before our dinner and we didn't know really what to do so we went by the missionary saying of, "when in doubt, tract!" Tracting isn't usually the most fun thing and especially that day because it was insanely cold and windy. Anyhow, we knocked on an apartment complex near ours and nobody was interested and it was about time to head back to our place to be picked up by a member for dinner. The spirit told us to knock just one more door so we did. It was way cool. The family that opened up the door were a part member family that had been living there since September and nobody in the ward knew about them. They were super awesome and friendly and invited us in. They told us we were crazy for being outside and said we could come back another time so that was way cool. The spirit really does guide us and the Lord leads this work. We will start teaching them this week and it's going to be awesome. A part member family will become an eternal family. I was super excited when we found them though. We knew the Lord would bless us for toughing it out in the cold weather.
We also had interviews with President Miller this week. He asked us how we feel about our work and if we feel we are "successful missionaries." I told him that I get disappointed a lot with the people that we work with. He told me that disappointment is natural but that I can't let myself get discouraged or else my faith and my testimony will weaken. That kinda scared me but he's totally right. I think one thing I've learned a lot about in my mission so far is how to deal with disappointment. We've got to always be positive thinkers and trust that the Lord will lead us in this work. In our interviews, we also taught Sister Miller the word of wisdom in 3 minutes or less. That was a humbling experience. She told me everything that I could've done better because I really didn't a super good job. It was good though. I've also learned a lot about accepting criticism and trying to become better at everything I do. I have definitely been taught a lot.
Now I have to tell you about the coolest/most spiritual experience that I have had with any of our investigators/less-actives so far on my mission. It was with Tina who we found out is 17 and she has a 1 year old son. That's not relevant right now though. We met with her twice this week and she made so much progress it was crazy! Since she hadn't come to church yet, the first time we met with her we talked a lot about church attendance and why coming to church and partaking of the sacrament is so important. We read 3 Nephi 18 with her because that's where the Savior brings the Sacrament to the Nephites. It was mega cool and then we invited her to come on a church tour later in the week. Church tours are awesome. If we had keys to our chapel and a car we would do them all the time but we don't so thats kind of a bummer. Anyway, we had already taught Tina about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation so we decided to teach her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we went through the church tour. It was so great! The whole time she was just talking about "butterflies" that she was feeling inside and we kept telling her repeatedly that that was the Spirit that she was feeling and everytime we told her that she would just have a big grin across her face. Towards the end of the tour we opened up the baptismal font and talked about baptism and the importance of it. We asked her how she felt about baptism on Feb. 2nd and she said that she still wants to. We promised her that that is what the Lord wants her to do. At the end of the church tour, we did something that neither of us were planning on doing because we didn't think we had the time. We sat in the foyer and asked her how she feels about the BoM and if she has received an answer to her prayers whether it is true or nor. She told us she prayed but didn't get an answer yet but she also told us that she wants it to be true and that she believed she would eventually get the answer that it is true. We read Moroni 10: 3-5 with her and told her that she met all of the qualifications for being able to receive an answer. Then we asked her to kneel right then and to pray to know if these things are true. We promised that that she would receive an aswer. So, we all knelt down together and Tina prayed and asked God if the BoM is true and then she listened to the spirit and we all did too. We listened for about 30 seconds and then Tina closed her prayer in thanks to God and then just broke down. She received her answer right then and there that this is all true. The spirit was so strong. It was amazing. All of that was purely by the spirit and Elder Jones and I were just the Lord's chosen servants to voice all that we said to Tina. I have never felt the spirit working through me quite like that. After we dropped Tina off with the member who was with us (who just got back from his mission and is the bishop's son) he said, "elders, that's what I call a golden investigator." It was so great! To top it all off, we were able to get Tina to church as well and she loved it! Now all she needs to do is get her word of wisdom issues straightened up and then she will be able to baptized. I'm so pumped!
Nobody else really progressed that much this week but Shariy is slowly progressing too. She is ready to be married and is willing to do it for the Lord but Geno isn't sure quite yet. Shariy is meeting with the bishop tonight and said that Geno might come with her as well. Hopefully he does and bishop marries them right then and there. That would be super cool. Miracles happen when we are exactly obedient and Elder Jones and I are being as obedient and hard working as possible. Sometimes being obedient isn't always convenient but being obedient will always reward us! I saw that this week for sure.
President Miller challenged us to read through the BoM and higlight every reference to Christ, his words, his doctrine, his attributes, and glad scriptures. I have been doing that and it has been a great experience. The BoM testifies more plainly of Christ than any other book on the Earth. I started doing this activity where I was currently reading in the BoM and I finished the BoM this week. I took up Moroni's promise again. Good news, the BoM is still true. With all my heart I know that and it has seriously changed my life. It will change anybody's life who is humble and sincere enough to find out for themselves if it is true. The work rolls on!
Love all ya'll and thanks for everything!
Elder Black
P.S. these pics are from last Monday. It was snowing super hard and it was awesome. The snow was all gone about 24 hours later =(
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Nubs
Hello there world,
How are ya'll? I'm doing great. Being a missionary is a pretty slick life, that's for sure. Dad's email to me reminded me of something I read one day as a cashier at the water park in one of John Bytheway's books. Basically he said that you are going to have companions you have nothing at all in common with but if you look at the big picture, you have one thing more important than anything, that you both have in common. That is that you have both been called to be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ in the same place. That's a pretty big similarity and that's enough to keep me satisfied for sure. One of our differences however, is that Elder Jones has 9 fingers and 1 nub. He pokes me with the nub sometimes and it's really weird. He thinks it's super funny but it's not that funny to me. Oh well, we're both missionaries here doing the same work and that is all that matters.
As for some of your questions. Those pictures of Troy sum up his personality. He's a pretty funny guy and we would probably be good friends outside of the mission. I'll always appreciate that dude. As for my best spiritual and scriptural experiences for the week, I'll get to that a little later on. It was pretty cool though. I do have one question though. How is bryce perez doing on the basketball team? Is he playing at all or what's going on there?
Anyway, this week was pretty good lessons wise. We taught more people than I've taught my entire mission so far so that was pretty cool. One thing we struggle with is finding new investigators though. That's something that we need to work on a lot this week because we basically have 3 investigators (none of which are progressing at the moment) and a ton of less-active work. We have 5 referrals from Shariy that live way out the boondocks by her that we need to contact. It's just kinda hard to contact them since she lives way the heck out there but we'll get'r done. Next time we go out there we are hoping to contact them and hopefully we will see some fruits come forth from them. We also have some pretty decent potential investigators that we have appointments with this week so that should be sweet. President Miller kind of threw down on the entire mission this week and basically told us that we are all doing a bad job of finding new and more people to teach. We're gonna make him proud this week. This week we also did a ton of tracting and everybody basically hated us except for one door. Maybe that guy will come around someday. We'll see. We also met this guy who lives in the home of where a less-active guy used to live. He had a CR450 fourstroke dirtbike outside so we went and talked to him about dirtbikes and stuff and he apparently has a mormon background but is not a member. We will hopefully get to meet with that guy this week too. We're working hard for sure so the blessings and miracles will hopefully come soon because I think I'm ready to see one now at this point.
This week we met with our new investigator Tina again we taught her about the Plan of Salvation. She loved it and said it made more sense to her than any other explanation about life that she'd ever been given. That just so happens to be because the Plan of Salvation is true. We told her that and she knows it's true too. Tina is solid all except for the fact that she hasn't come to church yet. She said she would make it there and we arranged for a ride to pick her up and everything but she didn't show up so that was a major bummer. It's all good though. We will get her to come next week and she will love it and all will be well. She has a really sweet spirit and she needs the gospel in her life for her and her son. She will see the blessings of the gospel and be baptized also and it will be boss to the max.
This week we threw down on marriage with Shariy and Geno again but this time it was more bold and blunt than we've ever thrown down on them. They knew it was coming so the prepared themselves. Basically, we told them that baptism is a commandment from God and it is something that Shariy really wants in her life. We told her that she is limiting the blessings she can have in her life by not being married and then baptized. She told us she knows all of that and she knows it's all true. Geno said he even knows that they need to be married so then we asked them what the holdup is. Basicallly, the conclusion is that Geno is the holdup here, and he is afraid of being married again because his last marriage ended so horribly. We told them that this marriage won't go wrong because they already love each other and this marriage would be being married in obedience to one of God's most important commandments. They both said that they know that is true as well. We told them that they need to pray about marriage and whether it is the right thing to do together and they said they would do that. A couple days later, we went back and only Shariy was there. Her words really disappointed me and broke my heart. She said "Elders, I don't think this marriage is going to happen for a very long time." I was so disappointed. After she said that I kind of felt lost and didn't really know what to say so I just didn't say anything for a while. Then it came to me. I remembered a scripture mastery in 2 Nephi 32:8-9 where it says that the evil spirit teaches us not to pray but we MUST pray always. We asked Shariy if they had prayed about marriage and they didn't so then we shared that scripture with her. Shariy looked at us and said "that scripture was for me wasn't it?" Of course, we told her that it was and that it was something that she needed to hear. We recommitted her to pray about that concern with Geno and told her that a miracle can happen and that his heart can be softened enough to except marriage. It's gonna happen. Maybe it won't when I am here but I am confident in saying that I know they will eventually be married and they will have the blessings of the gospel in their life. I am also confident in saying that I know I was sent here specifically to Rio Rancho New Mexico for Shariy and Geno. All I want is for them to embrace the gospel in their lives and someday they will.
I also know that this work is true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It is how God speaks to us, it answers our questions, and it comforts us in times in our lives when we need comfort. Joseph Smith is and was the Prophet of the Restoration. Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today. I know that God lives and that He is our loving Father in Heaven. I know that I am exactly where I need to be sharing this message to all who will hear it. I love it. I remember one day back in the ML singles ward Elder Zubek got up and bore his testimony and said something to the effect of "according to the world I'm not doing anything fun or worthwhile but I am the happiest person I've ever been and I'm having the most fun I've ever had in my life." I second that. This has been the greatest thing that I have ever been a part of and I haven't been at it for very long. My life is solid right now.
Thanks to all ya'll for everything. Thank you mommy for the pictures too! I appreciate it! I love all ya'll. Thanks for the prayers that have been coming my way!
Peace and Love,
Elder Black
It's 2013!
Howdy Ya'll
So it's another year, another transfer, and another companion. My companion is Elder Jones from Newton Utah so basically Logan. He is nuts. We are very different in every sense of the word different. His hobbies are pretty much everything that aren't my hobbies and my hobbies are pretty much everything that aren't his hobbies. He is just a really interesting guy and this transfer could get pretty interesting with him. He's also not in the best biking shape and sometimes needs to walk up the hills. But he is my companion nonetheless and will remain so for at least 6 weeks. I think as long as we are completely focused on our purpose all the time we should do some pretty good work together but if not I don't know how it'll turn out. I hope and pray for the best, that's for sure. It has also been interesting being the only one who knows the area at all. Even though I am the junior companion in this companionship I have totally felt like the senior companion this week since I have been making all of the plans and whatnot and I know who lives where and stuff. This very well could be the most stressful week I've ever had in my life because I am just not very good at making decisions and planning stuff but it will be ok. The Lord will help me and the Lord will help Elder Jones and the people whom we are serving. That's what it's all about. I will admit that I was pretty sad to see Elder Jacobs leave. He is now Troy. Not Elder Jacobs anymore and he is now attending UVU. Today is actually his first day of school so that is nuts. He really jumped back into life. That's for sure.
Anyway, I was pumped to see those pictures of your sweet snowman. What was his name? I wish I could've made a sweet snowman too. That would have been for the best but our snow melted like 2 hours after we took our jump for joy in the snow pics. It's all fine and dandy though because I would imagine it would be pretty difficult to bike in the snow. I haven't every really tried that out before. It's getting cold though. Last night it was like 12 degrees and we didn't have a member out with us so we were freezing but it's all good. My sweaters, coats, gator, and gloves are keeping me warm! Dad had a sweet scruffy look going on there! Someday I will be able to pull off a sweet scruffy look like that but I probably won't be as buff as dad so it won't be quite as cool. All those pics made me way happy to see. My one request that I have at the moment is for ya'll to send me pictures because the only pictures I've got are those 3 family pictures you sent me a couple months ago, a picture with a member in our ward, and the Bruneel's Christmas card. Every other missionary has like 89078689879 pictures. So that is my only request at the present time.
This week was crazy though. And like I said it was probably the most stressful week of my entire life. It was hard. This week I've relied on the Lord probably more than any other time of my life and I have received help and strength for sure. One of the many blessings we received was a solid new investigator. She was a referral from missionaries in another ward in our district and we went over to her house about a week ago and she said she was definitely curious and looking for answers in her life. we told her that we believe we had solid answers to her questions (like where there are so many different churches and why they teach way different things). So, later that week we went over and we taught her about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was boss. The spirit was mega strong and after we related Joseph Smith's first vision we asked her how she felt. She said she felt something different. Something happy that she'd never really felt like that before. We told her that that was the spirit and that she could have that feeling all of the time if she is baptized and confirmed by someone who holds the Priesthood authority from God. She agreed to baptism on Feb. 2nd and we hope that she will make it. We also invited her to read from the BoM to know if what we taught her is true and she said that she would start reading it as soon as we left and she did! It's so awesome to see people excited about this message we share. The only disappointing thing is that she didn't come to church. Actually, none of our investigators came to church so that was a major bummer but that's all right. We'll get them there next week.
Malachi is not really progressing. He still won't read and pray about the BoM and I don't think he really understands the importance of it. That's disappointing. We have tried really hard for him to understand all of this and it's just not coming. It will come in time though. Also, we weren't able to talk to shariy a whole lot about marriage either and that was a bummer. Geno was never there and we need to sit them down and tell them what's up and what needs to happen. I hope they will both understand that this is what God wants them to do when we sit them down and talk to them about it this week. We probably will tomorrow night so hopefully that goes well.
Anyway, we've got to get going but I'd just like to bear my testimony to you all. I know that the Lord lives. If we turn to Him and pray for strength the Atonement can lift burdens in our lives. I have come to realize that this week more than any other week in my entire life. God lives and He loves us and that is why He sent His son Jesus Christ so that we don't have to go through life utterly alone and lost. This is the greatest truth that anyone can come to know of. I love all ya'll and am so grateful for your support through your prayers and letters. Ya'll are awesome.
Peace and Love,
Elder Black
So it's another year, another transfer, and another companion. My companion is Elder Jones from Newton Utah so basically Logan. He is nuts. We are very different in every sense of the word different. His hobbies are pretty much everything that aren't my hobbies and my hobbies are pretty much everything that aren't his hobbies. He is just a really interesting guy and this transfer could get pretty interesting with him. He's also not in the best biking shape and sometimes needs to walk up the hills. But he is my companion nonetheless and will remain so for at least 6 weeks. I think as long as we are completely focused on our purpose all the time we should do some pretty good work together but if not I don't know how it'll turn out. I hope and pray for the best, that's for sure. It has also been interesting being the only one who knows the area at all. Even though I am the junior companion in this companionship I have totally felt like the senior companion this week since I have been making all of the plans and whatnot and I know who lives where and stuff. This very well could be the most stressful week I've ever had in my life because I am just not very good at making decisions and planning stuff but it will be ok. The Lord will help me and the Lord will help Elder Jones and the people whom we are serving. That's what it's all about. I will admit that I was pretty sad to see Elder Jacobs leave. He is now Troy. Not Elder Jacobs anymore and he is now attending UVU. Today is actually his first day of school so that is nuts. He really jumped back into life. That's for sure.
Anyway, I was pumped to see those pictures of your sweet snowman. What was his name? I wish I could've made a sweet snowman too. That would have been for the best but our snow melted like 2 hours after we took our jump for joy in the snow pics. It's all fine and dandy though because I would imagine it would be pretty difficult to bike in the snow. I haven't every really tried that out before. It's getting cold though. Last night it was like 12 degrees and we didn't have a member out with us so we were freezing but it's all good. My sweaters, coats, gator, and gloves are keeping me warm! Dad had a sweet scruffy look going on there! Someday I will be able to pull off a sweet scruffy look like that but I probably won't be as buff as dad so it won't be quite as cool. All those pics made me way happy to see. My one request that I have at the moment is for ya'll to send me pictures because the only pictures I've got are those 3 family pictures you sent me a couple months ago, a picture with a member in our ward, and the Bruneel's Christmas card. Every other missionary has like 89078689879 pictures. So that is my only request at the present time.
This week was crazy though. And like I said it was probably the most stressful week of my entire life. It was hard. This week I've relied on the Lord probably more than any other time of my life and I have received help and strength for sure. One of the many blessings we received was a solid new investigator. She was a referral from missionaries in another ward in our district and we went over to her house about a week ago and she said she was definitely curious and looking for answers in her life. we told her that we believe we had solid answers to her questions (like where there are so many different churches and why they teach way different things). So, later that week we went over and we taught her about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was boss. The spirit was mega strong and after we related Joseph Smith's first vision we asked her how she felt. She said she felt something different. Something happy that she'd never really felt like that before. We told her that that was the spirit and that she could have that feeling all of the time if she is baptized and confirmed by someone who holds the Priesthood authority from God. She agreed to baptism on Feb. 2nd and we hope that she will make it. We also invited her to read from the BoM to know if what we taught her is true and she said that she would start reading it as soon as we left and she did! It's so awesome to see people excited about this message we share. The only disappointing thing is that she didn't come to church. Actually, none of our investigators came to church so that was a major bummer but that's all right. We'll get them there next week.
Malachi is not really progressing. He still won't read and pray about the BoM and I don't think he really understands the importance of it. That's disappointing. We have tried really hard for him to understand all of this and it's just not coming. It will come in time though. Also, we weren't able to talk to shariy a whole lot about marriage either and that was a bummer. Geno was never there and we need to sit them down and tell them what's up and what needs to happen. I hope they will both understand that this is what God wants them to do when we sit them down and talk to them about it this week. We probably will tomorrow night so hopefully that goes well.
Anyway, we've got to get going but I'd just like to bear my testimony to you all. I know that the Lord lives. If we turn to Him and pray for strength the Atonement can lift burdens in our lives. I have come to realize that this week more than any other week in my entire life. God lives and He loves us and that is why He sent His son Jesus Christ so that we don't have to go through life utterly alone and lost. This is the greatest truth that anyone can come to know of. I love all ya'll and am so grateful for your support through your prayers and letters. Ya'll are awesome.
Peace and Love,
Elder Black
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
December 31
PHowdy ya'll!
First of all, that's super crazy that Brittany and Chelsea are both already engaged. I heard that Chelsea was getting married but not brittany and now I am just astonished. It's crazy. I agree with Tyler's viewpoint. That's crazy. What is happening to my world? Everything is going to change real quick. When I read what you said about what Tyler said I almost busted up laughing. I miss that kid. He's a stud. I miss Levi too. It was awesome dominating kids in tennis back in our glory days like 5 months ago. You should tell those kids to write me a letter or something but not come visit me because that's not smiled upon but I'm sure ya'll knew that.
Every morning when I wake up I say my prayers, go to the bathroom, drink some water and then walk to our front door and look out our little peep hole. This morning I looked out the peephole and what did I see? SNOW! It was actually enough to cover most of the ground and make snowballs! It was super sweet and I literally leaped for joy. The sad thing is it will all be melted in like 3 hours but it was boss. Boss to the maximum amount. I am so happy about that!
Anyway, tomorrow is transfers. I am staying here in Rio Rancho and I did not get a call by president telling me that I am training or district leader or anything like that. Hallelujah. I am not ready for either of those things. Also, there was a dying missionary who had his departing interview a couple days ago in President's office and he took a gander at the transfer board and told everybody the transfer news and what is going to happen basically throughout the whole mission. So I basically know everything that is happening in our zone and I know who my new companion tomorrow will be. I'm not gonna tell you his name or anything though. All I will tell you is that I think it should be a sweet transfer with him because I hear he is a crazy hard worker and we are gonna work smart and hard and make some legit things happen here in the Star Heights ward!
This week was pretty good though. In our little white handbook it says to take advantage of holidays and sundays because families will be home and whatnot and that it's the best time to proselyte. My analysis is that the handbook just says that so missionaries aren't being lazy and sitting around because this Christmas and New Years week has for sure been one of the slowest weeks we've had so far. It was pretty disappointing especially since the week before we had sweet week and taught more lessons in one week than I've ever taught. That week was boss. This week was slightly boss but as for how many people we were able to see and teach it was a pretty slow week.
One of the highlights of our week was one of the times we were able to meet with Shariy. On this particular visit we were reading from Alma 34 (which is basically the coolest chapter in the BoM for sure) and it was going really well. Then Geno showed up. He had just been at a funeral for his uncle who had recently died and he told us some really neat spiritual experiences that he had this past week involving the death of his uncle and whatnot. He started crying and then started reading from Alma 34 with us and some things really stood out for him while he was reading. Geno received some revelation and recongnized the power behind the BoM on that day and realized what it can do for anyone who will carefully study it and pray about. I think this will be a turning point for the Shariy and Geno. We set a baptismal date with shariy for the 9th of Feb and when we invited her to baptized on that date she said that she was thinking a lot about baptism and the month of February stuck out to her and that that is when she thinks she should be baptized. Shariy and Geno also had some really good conversations and Geno told her that he might be ready to baptized when she is ready. They still need to be married though. My new comp and I are going to drink some boldsauce this week and tell them what needs to happen and what they need to do. We will ask how we can help them to be married and it will be amazing. Miracles happen especially when we are exactly obedient to what we are supposed to do and that's what we are going to do.
Also, we reset a baptismal date with Malachi because he is just not ready for baptism. He really wants to be baptized but he hasn't read or prayed about the BoM and Joseph Smith. His new baptismal date is on Feb. 1st. He should be able to make it by that date. Miracles happen, I know that they do.
I know that this is the Lord's work and He is in control of it. I am more sure of it each and everyday and my excitement also grows for it each and everyday. The fact that the BoM is the word of God is something that has changed my life and can change everybody's life. At this time of year I am more grateful than ever for the Savior and His Atonement. Only through Him can we become perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. This is the greatest truth that we can find in this life. I love this gospel, I love the Savior, and I love all ya'll!
Peace and Love,
Elder Black
P.S. the pictures are me with mleap for joy because of snow, me and my dad with our ultra fat MEGA windsor knots and the last picture is a pretty horrible picture of the missionaries in rio rancho. That's me and Elder Jones being excluded.
First of all, that's super crazy that Brittany and Chelsea are both already engaged. I heard that Chelsea was getting married but not brittany and now I am just astonished. It's crazy. I agree with Tyler's viewpoint. That's crazy. What is happening to my world? Everything is going to change real quick. When I read what you said about what Tyler said I almost busted up laughing. I miss that kid. He's a stud. I miss Levi too. It was awesome dominating kids in tennis back in our glory days like 5 months ago. You should tell those kids to write me a letter or something but not come visit me because that's not smiled upon but I'm sure ya'll knew that.
Every morning when I wake up I say my prayers, go to the bathroom, drink some water and then walk to our front door and look out our little peep hole. This morning I looked out the peephole and what did I see? SNOW! It was actually enough to cover most of the ground and make snowballs! It was super sweet and I literally leaped for joy. The sad thing is it will all be melted in like 3 hours but it was boss. Boss to the maximum amount. I am so happy about that!
Anyway, tomorrow is transfers. I am staying here in Rio Rancho and I did not get a call by president telling me that I am training or district leader or anything like that. Hallelujah. I am not ready for either of those things. Also, there was a dying missionary who had his departing interview a couple days ago in President's office and he took a gander at the transfer board and told everybody the transfer news and what is going to happen basically throughout the whole mission. So I basically know everything that is happening in our zone and I know who my new companion tomorrow will be. I'm not gonna tell you his name or anything though. All I will tell you is that I think it should be a sweet transfer with him because I hear he is a crazy hard worker and we are gonna work smart and hard and make some legit things happen here in the Star Heights ward!
This week was pretty good though. In our little white handbook it says to take advantage of holidays and sundays because families will be home and whatnot and that it's the best time to proselyte. My analysis is that the handbook just says that so missionaries aren't being lazy and sitting around because this Christmas and New Years week has for sure been one of the slowest weeks we've had so far. It was pretty disappointing especially since the week before we had sweet week and taught more lessons in one week than I've ever taught. That week was boss. This week was slightly boss but as for how many people we were able to see and teach it was a pretty slow week.
One of the highlights of our week was one of the times we were able to meet with Shariy. On this particular visit we were reading from Alma 34 (which is basically the coolest chapter in the BoM for sure) and it was going really well. Then Geno showed up. He had just been at a funeral for his uncle who had recently died and he told us some really neat spiritual experiences that he had this past week involving the death of his uncle and whatnot. He started crying and then started reading from Alma 34 with us and some things really stood out for him while he was reading. Geno received some revelation and recongnized the power behind the BoM on that day and realized what it can do for anyone who will carefully study it and pray about. I think this will be a turning point for the Shariy and Geno. We set a baptismal date with shariy for the 9th of Feb and when we invited her to baptized on that date she said that she was thinking a lot about baptism and the month of February stuck out to her and that that is when she thinks she should be baptized. Shariy and Geno also had some really good conversations and Geno told her that he might be ready to baptized when she is ready. They still need to be married though. My new comp and I are going to drink some boldsauce this week and tell them what needs to happen and what they need to do. We will ask how we can help them to be married and it will be amazing. Miracles happen especially when we are exactly obedient to what we are supposed to do and that's what we are going to do.
Also, we reset a baptismal date with Malachi because he is just not ready for baptism. He really wants to be baptized but he hasn't read or prayed about the BoM and Joseph Smith. His new baptismal date is on Feb. 1st. He should be able to make it by that date. Miracles happen, I know that they do.
I know that this is the Lord's work and He is in control of it. I am more sure of it each and everyday and my excitement also grows for it each and everyday. The fact that the BoM is the word of God is something that has changed my life and can change everybody's life. At this time of year I am more grateful than ever for the Savior and His Atonement. Only through Him can we become perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. This is the greatest truth that we can find in this life. I love this gospel, I love the Savior, and I love all ya'll!
Peace and Love,
Elder Black
P.S. the pictures are me with mleap for joy because of snow, me and my dad with our ultra fat MEGA windsor knots and the last picture is a pretty horrible picture of the missionaries in rio rancho. That's me and Elder Jones being excluded.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Elder Black visits Santa
I love this picture! What a cute kid! I just wish he had his Ernie the Elf suit :) love seeing his cute happy face! Love this missionary so much!!!!!
December 17
GREETINGS
Howdy ya'll. First of all I would like to inform you that yes I will be able to skype on Christmas and Bishop Caldwell's house. His skype address is brian.caldwell473 so you'll need to send him a request-a-majig-thing. We don't know for sure what time it will happen yet because they have a son who is also on a mission and we're probably gonna work around when he is skyping and stuff. We should have a time for sure by next Monday but if not I'm sure the necessary arrangements will be made. Father, I'm super jealous that you have already been skiing. That's one of the things I'll miss quite a bit. I'm definitely jealous about surfing too, that sounds like something I'm going to have to do someday for sure. Make sure you dedicate your greatest run of the day each day to me.
We had an awesome Christmas Zone Conference this week which was at the Rio Rancho stake center so we didn't have to travel anywhere really. It was really great. President and Sister Miller did a training on how we can make relating the first vision with our investigators (and anybody) a very sacred and spiritual moment. They did a roleplay with some of the Elder's and had us all say prayers in our hearts for them to bring the spirit into the room as they taught some sister missionaries. The spirit was so strong. Half of the mission all praying for the same thing makes a pretty awesome experience. I also got to see a lot of the missionaries who came out into the field with us. Elder Kendall is in a bike area and has lost 30 pounds since the MTC so he's looking sharp. It was really cool though. We got fed awesome food, gained weight, and felt the spirit in grand abundance. Now that's what I call a killer triple combination. Not a cool triple combination, a killer one. Remember that. We have two Christmas trees. They young men in the ward came over to our apartment and decorated a tree so we had to hide our other tree in the back room so that they couldn't see it. It was pretty funny. So now we have a tree in our front room and the other one is in the kitchen. I don't really know why it's there but that's where it is. We might give it to the ZLs. Remember how in Mazatlan we eat at Pancho's and they feed you those stuffed jalapenos? Well, a couple nights ago we ate a stuffed green chili. They pretty much look exactly the same but green chili has way better flavor. I have not received any boxes yet but I will be impatiently waiting for those to arrive.
Anyway, it snowed really hard one night here in Rio Rancho. We were down in the ghetto and it was time to go home and we started biking up the hill home and all of a sudden it just dumped on us. Mother nature destroyed us and annhilated my face with the snow. It stung. I couldn't look straight ahead it was that bad. We were planning on biking up the whole hill and not getting a ride but when we were covered in snow we decided to stop at the John's and get a ride the rest of the way up. I love snow, but not so much when you have to bike in it.
This week was a decent week as far as the work goes. One of our highlights was teaching a part member family named the Harney's the night we had our zone conference. Chris is the member and he has a solid testimony of the BoM but because of work he hasn't been able to attend church for quite a while. In January his work schedule will change and he will be able to come to church every Sunday so I'm way pumped for that! His wife Justyne is very Catholic and knows her stuff about Catholicism. Catholics are either hardcore or don't go to church ever but she she is staunchly Catholic. Anyway, they've been married for like 2 years and they're in their early twenties and have their first kid on the way. The first time we saw Chris we asked him if he would be willing to hear the lessons and he said he would be glad to but then he warned us that Justyne is Catholic and might not want to hear us out but when we went there she was all for listening. We brought a member with us who was a former Catholic and I'm not kidding when I say this but this dude could probably logically, scientifically, theologically prove that the church is true. That doesn't really matter but this guy is just crazy and knows pretty much everything. Anyway, to get back on track the spirit was definitely there as we talked about the Restoration of gospel and the first vision. I know that everyone felt it there for sure. We asked Justyne what it would mean to her if Joseph Smith was prophet and the BoM was true and she basically told us that she is content where she is at. Elder Jacobs and I apparently drank some bold sauce that morning because we said some of the boldest things I've ever heard either of us say. One of the things we told her was that we know for sure that this message is true and that. It's either the biggest lie ever or the greatest truth to ever come to the Earth and we made sure she knew that. Then out of nowhere, Chris bore a super powerful testimony about the BoM and how everytime he picks it up and reads from it he knows it is true. Chris wants his wife to know that this is true as well. We're not sure where this all will go but I'm so excited to work with the Harney's. They are gone till about January but it will be awesome. That was one of the coolest lessons we've had but I don't think my description really did it justice.
As for the Malachi and Cowboy situation, this week nothing much happened there. We tried by their house almost everyday during the week and they were never home until Saturday night. All we had time for was to re-invite them to church and they said that they'd be up and ready. We had arranged for a member to go and pick them up yesterday morning and when he got there and knocked on the door nobody answered... Later that night we went back over and they both said they were really sorry but they slept in. Malachi was pretty sad and the first thing he asked us was if he could come to church with us next week. Of course he could!
I forgot to mention that we both spoke in church yesterday too. We spoke about giving and receiving gifts so naturally as missionaries, we talked about giving the gift of the gospel to others and receving spiritual blessings for that. We invited like 10 people to come to church and hear us speak and they all said they would come and that they were excited to come but in the end only Shariy showed up. Gordon was super sick so he wasn't able to make it. We taught Gordon the word of wisdom this week and he knows that he needs to quit smoking and he really wants to. Gordon loves the BoM and has his copy of it all marked up. He's the man. We also kind of touched on the law of chastity a little bit but we definitely need to go over that more in depth with him.
We had a lot of other cool things this week too but I don't have much more time. We're gonna go play some tennis and bball. I'm excited for tennis but I'll probably be horrible. This week I was reading in 3Nephi and what really impressed me was chapter 19:28-29. It's when Christ prays for those who have been given out of the world as His servants. I know that Christ pleads for all of us and wants what is best for us. He wants us to feel the power of the Atonement which makes it possible for us to become like Him and our Heavenly Father. I know the Savior lives. I know our Father in Heaven loves us and answers our prayers and pours out so many blessings on us that we can't even notice them all. I love the gospel and I love this church. I'm so grateful to have been born into it!
Now it's time to go smash the ZLs in tennis!
Elder Black
Howdy ya'll. First of all I would like to inform you that yes I will be able to skype on Christmas and Bishop Caldwell's house. His skype address is brian.caldwell473 so you'll need to send him a request-a-majig-thing. We don't know for sure what time it will happen yet because they have a son who is also on a mission and we're probably gonna work around when he is skyping and stuff. We should have a time for sure by next Monday but if not I'm sure the necessary arrangements will be made. Father, I'm super jealous that you have already been skiing. That's one of the things I'll miss quite a bit. I'm definitely jealous about surfing too, that sounds like something I'm going to have to do someday for sure. Make sure you dedicate your greatest run of the day each day to me.
We had an awesome Christmas Zone Conference this week which was at the Rio Rancho stake center so we didn't have to travel anywhere really. It was really great. President and Sister Miller did a training on how we can make relating the first vision with our investigators (and anybody) a very sacred and spiritual moment. They did a roleplay with some of the Elder's and had us all say prayers in our hearts for them to bring the spirit into the room as they taught some sister missionaries. The spirit was so strong. Half of the mission all praying for the same thing makes a pretty awesome experience. I also got to see a lot of the missionaries who came out into the field with us. Elder Kendall is in a bike area and has lost 30 pounds since the MTC so he's looking sharp. It was really cool though. We got fed awesome food, gained weight, and felt the spirit in grand abundance. Now that's what I call a killer triple combination. Not a cool triple combination, a killer one. Remember that. We have two Christmas trees. They young men in the ward came over to our apartment and decorated a tree so we had to hide our other tree in the back room so that they couldn't see it. It was pretty funny. So now we have a tree in our front room and the other one is in the kitchen. I don't really know why it's there but that's where it is. We might give it to the ZLs. Remember how in Mazatlan we eat at Pancho's and they feed you those stuffed jalapenos? Well, a couple nights ago we ate a stuffed green chili. They pretty much look exactly the same but green chili has way better flavor. I have not received any boxes yet but I will be impatiently waiting for those to arrive.
Anyway, it snowed really hard one night here in Rio Rancho. We were down in the ghetto and it was time to go home and we started biking up the hill home and all of a sudden it just dumped on us. Mother nature destroyed us and annhilated my face with the snow. It stung. I couldn't look straight ahead it was that bad. We were planning on biking up the whole hill and not getting a ride but when we were covered in snow we decided to stop at the John's and get a ride the rest of the way up. I love snow, but not so much when you have to bike in it.
This week was a decent week as far as the work goes. One of our highlights was teaching a part member family named the Harney's the night we had our zone conference. Chris is the member and he has a solid testimony of the BoM but because of work he hasn't been able to attend church for quite a while. In January his work schedule will change and he will be able to come to church every Sunday so I'm way pumped for that! His wife Justyne is very Catholic and knows her stuff about Catholicism. Catholics are either hardcore or don't go to church ever but she she is staunchly Catholic. Anyway, they've been married for like 2 years and they're in their early twenties and have their first kid on the way. The first time we saw Chris we asked him if he would be willing to hear the lessons and he said he would be glad to but then he warned us that Justyne is Catholic and might not want to hear us out but when we went there she was all for listening. We brought a member with us who was a former Catholic and I'm not kidding when I say this but this dude could probably logically, scientifically, theologically prove that the church is true. That doesn't really matter but this guy is just crazy and knows pretty much everything. Anyway, to get back on track the spirit was definitely there as we talked about the Restoration of gospel and the first vision. I know that everyone felt it there for sure. We asked Justyne what it would mean to her if Joseph Smith was prophet and the BoM was true and she basically told us that she is content where she is at. Elder Jacobs and I apparently drank some bold sauce that morning because we said some of the boldest things I've ever heard either of us say. One of the things we told her was that we know for sure that this message is true and that. It's either the biggest lie ever or the greatest truth to ever come to the Earth and we made sure she knew that. Then out of nowhere, Chris bore a super powerful testimony about the BoM and how everytime he picks it up and reads from it he knows it is true. Chris wants his wife to know that this is true as well. We're not sure where this all will go but I'm so excited to work with the Harney's. They are gone till about January but it will be awesome. That was one of the coolest lessons we've had but I don't think my description really did it justice.
As for the Malachi and Cowboy situation, this week nothing much happened there. We tried by their house almost everyday during the week and they were never home until Saturday night. All we had time for was to re-invite them to church and they said that they'd be up and ready. We had arranged for a member to go and pick them up yesterday morning and when he got there and knocked on the door nobody answered... Later that night we went back over and they both said they were really sorry but they slept in. Malachi was pretty sad and the first thing he asked us was if he could come to church with us next week. Of course he could!
I forgot to mention that we both spoke in church yesterday too. We spoke about giving and receiving gifts so naturally as missionaries, we talked about giving the gift of the gospel to others and receving spiritual blessings for that. We invited like 10 people to come to church and hear us speak and they all said they would come and that they were excited to come but in the end only Shariy showed up. Gordon was super sick so he wasn't able to make it. We taught Gordon the word of wisdom this week and he knows that he needs to quit smoking and he really wants to. Gordon loves the BoM and has his copy of it all marked up. He's the man. We also kind of touched on the law of chastity a little bit but we definitely need to go over that more in depth with him.
We had a lot of other cool things this week too but I don't have much more time. We're gonna go play some tennis and bball. I'm excited for tennis but I'll probably be horrible. This week I was reading in 3Nephi and what really impressed me was chapter 19:28-29. It's when Christ prays for those who have been given out of the world as His servants. I know that Christ pleads for all of us and wants what is best for us. He wants us to feel the power of the Atonement which makes it possible for us to become like Him and our Heavenly Father. I know the Savior lives. I know our Father in Heaven loves us and answers our prayers and pours out so many blessings on us that we can't even notice them all. I love the gospel and I love this church. I'm so grateful to have been born into it!
Now it's time to go smash the ZLs in tennis!
Elder Black
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