Even Crazier Week!

Okie dokie well this week was another one that went flying past! So this whole month has probably been the most opposition I've seen on the mission. Satan threw everything he had at us, and everybody we taught. We had people go awol on us, we had people be anti'd by their family right after teaching them. We had all sorts of stuff happen but this week the Lord put it all together.

This week we all received priesthood blessings from President Maluenda because he goes home this transfer. I think he is one of the three Nephites... but that was a hugely sacred experience and I am so grateful for it! Also, I will be here in Beeville for another six weeks, with Elder Riding still! #baptizeBeeville 

So at the start of last week had people lined up to be baptized and it was going to be amazing! Well at the start of this week we had no one! For one reason or another something happened to each one of them to prevent them from being baptized this week. So we were a bit discouraged, but as we met for a zone meeting we all received a priesthood blessing from president and held the zone meeting, something that we talked about was that although we may not all have people that can be baptized this month we can still do all we can as a zone to bless those in the zone who  were ready. Then a thought came to me: Steve used to say that in wrestling we weren't working to win a state title we were working to win a national title, and if we did that well duh we are going to win a state title because that is part of winning a national title. So it clicked if Elder Riding and I wanted to baptize people here in Beeville then we should focus on helping the zone do so and of course as part of that we would be blessed too if we are obedient. So we put the focus in the zone. We fasted together, prayed together, and followed the commitments given to us by our leaders. So we still had no one we could bless by baptizing them this month but we were ok with that. 

Well on Saturday morning we got a call. Rebecca had moved out for good from her boyfriend's and gotten new housing and she said "That's it I want to be baptized, I don't want to wait until the 19th of June I want to be baptized as soon as possible!" So she drove about an hour to go to an interview to see if she was ready, our mission president approved it, and the very next day Rebecca was baptized. This was a huge miracle!! Rebecca has been wanting to do this since I met her almost two months ago. And after she left the water she said "I didn't know if I wanted to cry, or laugh, or what but it was just a flood of happy emotions." Now Rebecca has the gospel of Jesus Christ in her life and a fresh clean new start. I know that baptism is the only and the true first step to finding the fullness of joy in this life and the next. Rebecca is now clean and has made the most incredible change in her life since the time I met her. This truly is God's work and God's one and only true church! It was amazing to be a part of this and I'm so excited to see what else the Lord has in store for Beeville! I love this work and I hope you all see a miracle in your lives this week:) 

Side note to explain the food pic. Grace and Scott found out some how, we didn't tell them, that we had just about no food and so they showed up at our apartment with dinner for that night, tons of food and took us out, They are true converts and truly Saints in these later days! I love them to death! They share the gospel with everyone they know, live their testimonies, teach liked Alma and Amulek, and want to serve a senior mission after they are sealed next April! 

On exchange with Elder Clayton

Huge storm blew the power!

Painting a house for service.

The sisters fed us!

Blessings from members. 

Rebecca's big day!

Crazy Week

So this week was nuts! But in the midst of it all The Book of Mormon has been awesome this week:) Elder Riding and I have had a huge focus on teaching from and through the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is true. If you want an answer or direction, open and study. 

In Lehi's vision of the tree of life there were those who partook and those who were partaking of the fruit of the tree of life. The difference is whether of not they continued to hang to what got them there in the first place. The word of God. So if we want the divinity and power of God in our lives we have to have the Book of Mormon in our lives. 

 I met a lady this week who said she was good she went to a church. We asked her if she was a God fearing person she said no. We asked her if she believed in God. She said she really had her doubts she wasn't sure but she was trying to strengthen her faith and get the answer. Well we taught and testified of the truth and simplicity of The Book of Mormon and invited her to read with us. She responded no I'm good in my church. 

Well the matter of the fact is that we can only find that fullness of faith and those answers to the the knowledge we lack by embracing the Book of Mormon. The answer is there and the conformation will always come to those willing to act. I'm sorry this weeks email is short but the message is simple. Read, ponder, pray, and live by the teachings and you will find that which you are looking for, I love y'all and have a great week,

BOM Miracles!

So this week was pretty awesome. I spent three days working with Elder Clayton a missionary from down south while my companion was down in McAllen. We had some cool miracles happen this week. Throughout the whole week we hadn't been able to get in contact with Rebecca, so we were kind of freaking out. Phone calls, texts, notes on her door, passing by tons of times, families houses, nothing was working! So on Friday we wrote down everyone we have taught and came to church and made it a priority to go see all of them before Sunday to try and help them continue to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be baptized. So we went by a bunch of people and as we taught a lesson to Amy we received a call out of nowhere. It was Rebecca! She had a ton of crazy stuff happen and finally was able to give us a call, milagros! She said she still wanted to be baptized and was still good to go!:) 

Well then on Sunday we had a good twenty people lined up to come to church, we confirmed all week, passed by their houses before church, called them the whole deal. no body came... So as we sat there we thought about it and couldn't figure out what happened. Well in the front was a young boy, about 14 years old, sitting by his grandmother who is a member. So we went up and started talking to him. Turns out his name is Trey. He actually lives with his mom outside of our mission but spends the weekends at his Grandma's house. He said he had been going to church for years. So we asked him if we could ask him a few questions to figure out how much he knew. Well he knows everything! He is a genius. So we invited him to be baptized and he told us he wanted to be baptized because he wants the holy Ghost so he can be closer to God. So Trey is working to be baptized on the 28th on this month as well! This experience with Trey made me think of this scripture from D&C 123:12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtlecraftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know notwhere to find it. Trey has been coming all this time and never received the fullness of those blessed simply because he hadn't been asked. It was a huge blessing to meet Trey. 

Later that same day we went to Grace's house to teach her family and give her husband Scott a priesthood blessing. In the past we have taught Grace's whole family but they all chose not to act for one reason or another. And for the most part we had been respecting their agency to do so, but something we have been coming to realize is the fullness of our calling to "preach repentance and baptize converts". Alma, or Aulek, or Ammon, or Aaron, or any of the great prophets and missionaries in the Book of Mormon taught solely that very principle: "Preach repentance and baptize converts". So since God is no respecter of persons we ought to preach the same way. So we have made the decision to preach the very same way. So we went to their home and read with the whole family Mosiah 3:19-25  For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child,submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. And moreover, I say unto you, that the time shall come when the knowledge of a Savior shall spread through out every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. And behold, when that time cometh, none shall be found blameless before God, except it be little children, only through repentance and faith on the name of the Lord God Omnipotent. And even at this time, when thou shalt have taught thy people the things which the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, even then are they found no more blameless in the sight of God, only according to the words which I have spoken unto thee. And now I have spoken the words which the Lord God hath commanded me. And thus saith the Lord: They shall stand as a bright testimony against this people, at the judgment day; whereof they shall be judged, every man according to his works, whether they be good, or whether they be evil. And if they be evil they are consigned to an awful view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment, from whence they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls. So we talked to them about how the time is now. The trumpet has sounded and the missionaries are here. They have received the gospel, heard the message, and felt the Spirit. We explained more but what it came down to is that the choice is simple. God or Satan, because when that day of judgment comes we will stand as a perfect testimony of ourselves standing before God in righteousness or shrinking away. So the chose is all ours. And after having been taught for five months J took us aside and he said "guys, I want to do it. I want to be baptized. That really spoke to me. I don't care what's holding me back right now I want to be baptized, and I'm going to do it." and so Jay wants to be baptized on the 12th of June. This was a huge miracle! 

I know the Book of Mormon was and is the reason for J's change of heart, All happiness in this life comes from the Gospel and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have never felt so humbled and blessed as I am now to be a part of His work in these latter days. I know this church to be the Church of God. His church in the last days. We aren't perfect yet but God has provided a way for us to be, one day. Please study the Book of Mormon everyday and pray to know if it is true, even if you already do. It is the keystone to our religion and our lives and our conversion to Jesus Christ. I love you all and hope you have a miracle packed week! 

Mother's Day was Great!

Excerpt from: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by Gene R. Cook:

Let me tell you of a young man I knew when I was a mission president who knew how to apply these principles. He was a missionary full of faith. He was Uruguayan. He had been in the mission about three or four months when I arrived as the mission president, and I noticed that wherever he served, there were people baptized. In the beginning I thought it was his senior companion because he seemed too young, too new, to be the cause—that was my mistake. He knew how to make things happen.

He was called as a senior companion and a district leader. I sent him into a city that had gained a reputation of being a tough, “no results type” city. Missionaries had not baptized anyone there for nearly a year—not one person! The members were discouraged. Only ten to twelve members were attending the branch. I didn’t tell him anything—I just notified him of the transfer. It took him three weeks, and he and his companion began baptizing. He served there about ten weeks. All of his district also started baptizing, which was most pleasing to them.

It is great to have a missionary who can baptize, but if he can teach others how to do it, his leadership can bless the lives of many.

This missionary never wrote me much in his weekly reports. He would only write, “Dear President, I sure love you. Things are going great. Sincerely,” or “President, the Lord is blessing us greatly. I love the work. Your brother.”

He was called later to serve as a zone leader and sent to supervise the whole upper area of the mission where there were some very challenging cities. As a new challenge, he would have to teach the missionaries to do what he was doing now through the district leaders. He served there two or three months and was responsible for scores of baptisms and literally changed the spirit of the whole zone and many members and leaders, as well as missionaries—one single man. They very frankly together wrought a spiritual miracle.

Then came a spiritual struggle for me, a restless feeling about him. The impression was that he should be sent to Paraguay! At that time, the work was very slow in Paraguay—an average of only 20 to 25 baptisms a month in the whole country. I wrestled with that and thought to myself, “He has really proved himself here, but to put him in that situation might drag him down in discouragement as it has so many of the others. He may have a hard time sustaining his faith there.” I had to struggle with my faith to convince myself that he really ought to go, but the promptings were obeyed.

He was sent a telegram transferring him to Asuncion, Paraguay, as a zone leader and telling him that he should leave the very next day. When he came in to Montevideo, he didn’t even come to see me. He was modest and always a little embarrassed and seemed always to avoid “the president.”

He departed from the mission home, but he left a letter, which was the first that I ever received from him. It said, in effect, “Dear President Cook, I received a telegram today telling me to go to Paraguay, and I thought you ought to know a few things: (1)You can’t baptize in Paraguay. I have had at least ten to fifteen elders tell me of their experiences there. (2) The members are not helping at all. (3) There are some real morality problems among the nonmembers there. (4) Many people live together unmarried, (5), (6), (7), (8) . . .” And he went through and listed ten to twelve of the most negative things I have ever heard in my life.

I thought to myself, “Oh, no, unbelieving people have gotten to him.”

But as he finished the list, he said, “I just want you to know, President, that I don’t believe any of those things.” Talk about faith! Then he committed himself, after expressing his faith, saying, “I want you to know, President Cook, that on Christmas Day (and the date of the letter was December 1), we are going to baptize 25 people.”

When I read that I prayed for him and thought, “The Lord bless you, Elder. You have a tremendous amount of faith, and the Lord will sustain you. You don’t know the country. You haven’t ever been there. You don’t know where you are going to live. You don’t know your companion, the leaders, or the members. You don’t know anything, and yet you, in faith, believe and are willing to commit yourself to baptizing 25 people in 25 days.”

Well, this young man was full of faith and was a real example of a great Latin leader. On December 25, he and his companion baptized 18 people. They hadn’t reached the 25, only 18, which was just about all that the whole country baptized in a normal month. It was a great privilege two weeks later, when I was in Paraguay, to participate in a baptismal service where he and his companion baptized 11 more. His district baptized about 30 that day altogether. Can you see how one righteous man can turn around a whole set of circumstances? He believed, he made the commitment, and he and the Lord did it.

You never forget that. Whether it be a General Authority, like President Kimball, who turns around the world and sets us on a different course, or a bishop, or a father, or a student, or a fine young woman—you can literally cause things to work for your good both in your life and in the lives of others if you are full of faith in the Lord. All things are possible to him that believeth. [Mark 9:23]

So that story was the highlight of my week. Elder Canfield gave a training on faith this week and read that as part of the training. Something that struck me from it was that Elder Cook said we can have anything we want in this life if we involve the Lord. That was also a promise from Elder Holland when he came. But this quote from it "Well might the Lord say to them: “How long will you kick against the pricks? (cattle driving analogy) How long will you go along your own way?”" Sometimes I think we get so excited about doing things and going for goals we don't stop to ask the Lord what He thinks. Elder Holland said missionaries have so much faith after a good rousing zone meeting the missionaries will leave the chapel running straight through the back brick wall not even using the doors. Well that sounds a lot like kicking against the pricks to me. Righteous desire or not, I think often times we get a bit excited and doesn't consult the Lord. Well when Nephi went to get the plates he tried three times to get them and it wasn't until the last attempt as he was guided by the Spirit that this happened. This young missionary knew the principle of consulting the Lord and his faith was great because of it. So that is my goal to strive to grow my faith to that which my Father in Heaven desires. I'm sorry it was short this week but I love you all and remember to always keep the faith:) 

Excellent Skype call with the fam on Mother's Day!

Almost Mama Day!

Yep a call home this coming week, what an amazing opportunity! 

So this week was great! Albert and Rebbecca are doing super good! I love them to death they are sooo great! This last week for a little bit they kept cancelling on us. Turns out their friends had been hating soooo hard and telling them falsehoods about the gospel. When we finally sat down with them again they just uhnloaded the truth and boy was it good to hear all their concerns and help them out. We explained how when you are on the right path if you stay faithful and keep the commandments the Lord will give you the strength and bless you like crazy, but on the other hand right now Satan is going to be trying super hard to get you to stop! Especially them. So that same night their friends (and the godparents of a child of theirs) called and said they couldn't be their friends since they are "Mormon" now. Well that backfired they got all fired up and called us and told us the whole story! Albert in the background the whole time kept yelling "It's because it's the true church of God! I'm fired up! I'm going to read a chapter, no Ima read the whole thing! I'm fired up!" Man do I love them to death! They have showed so much faith and love and dedication to the Lord. They want to be baptized on the 21st!!! 

Another cool thing happened this week! We had no money last p-day but the Lord provided! Normally we don't get fed a whole ton (not complaining or saying the members aren't great because they are amazing!) but this week we had like no food! This week we had investigators feeding us, random people on the streets, members calling and saying they had a box of food for us, and new converts delivering fast food to our doorstep at night!! God promises us when we seek first to build the kingdom of God, He will provide! Not just food but people who want to listen, people who will let us serve them, and much much more! "consider the lilies" 

Also this week I had this great connection come to me. In the mission when letters from family or friends come to me and they are especially dear or come to me in a moment when I most needed to hear what they had to say, which a many a time they have, I save them. Well with the scriptures we have the same thing. The God, our loving perfect Father, has saved letters He has written to us for us to read in times of need and in times of plenty. They are there for us to speak with Him in prayer and scripture study. I am so grateful for this amazing gift. For all that have labored and even died to bring forth the scriptures to us today! We are never cut off and we are never alone. We always have a way to feel heavens presence. 

I love you all and hope you have as bomb a week as I have had!