Hospital Runs (when ya gotta go)

It's beginning to look a lot like summer. Everywhere we go.

People are taking off their jackets, tossing the hot hand packets, and best of all the snow is on the go! 

Coming to ya live in Spokane Washington. It's 46° degrees out and the snow is going home.

I'm happy of course. Already the days are getting longer. The sun is shinning, The blessings are coming and my companion still thinks it's freezing cold.

I don't know if you all know this, but when someone requests a blessing, from the local major hospital is in our area, we are usually the ones to go and do it.

Already we have been able to be there for several individuals who were having medical problems. One kid had landed on his bike wrong after trying to go for a jump, he landed with one of his handle bars going straight below his sternum. This caused major damage to his pancreas among other important organs. So we were told that we had to come in soon because his surgery was going to be in just a couple of hours.

Upon arriving at the patients room we found the mother and some other close relatives. The mother had been taking lessons from missionaries for months and she had been on the fence about becoming a member for quite some time. 

We were able to give the child a blessing, it was a wondrous experience, the spirit was so strong in that room and all the close relatives held back a tear or two. We gave our number to the mother to make sure everything was going to be alright and just in case she needed anything else. The next day it was reported that the boy had a successful surgery, and would be on the path for recovery soon. 

We had high hopes for the number of people we are teaching to come to church this week. We had advertised that I was going to give a talk about the Book of Mormon, that it would help answer any questions they might still have about it. (By the way, I gave a talk in church yesterday.) None of the people we made sure to invite came . We still had our usual Swahili class. This week we had a special lesson. We taught about priesthood and authority. We were focusing on trying to get them to understand that they must be baptized by proper authority. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to finish, but they told us that we would talk later. So far so good.

We met with this one lady we have been trying to get with for the past few transfers. It really is hard to tell when she would be available. We can only really catch her when she goes out for a smoke. 

With our most recent visit, she asked all the hard questions, I guess she thought we were a cult at first. Upon answering her questions, she told us that she was beginning to like our church more and more. Hopefully this means we can actually schedule some time to meet with her now.

Lately a bunch of the Swahili people we are teaching are being found by other missionaries. A few of them have taken it to themselves to teach those Swahili (a few of them can speak enough English to get by). Ultimately we get them all referred back to us eventually.

There are a few new families that have been found, they seem to like missionaries, until we come by, then they yell NO! Then drive away (rude).

Anyways the work is going good.

I talked about how I gave a talk, so here is an excerpt of me talking about the Book of Mormon. 

As the Bible teaches us in 2 Corinthians 13:1. "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." God will give us more than one witness of His Gospel.

The Book of Mormon is a companion to the Bible. In no way does one overshadow the other. They are both accounts of man's dealings with God. They both testify that Christ is the the true Son of God, that He is our Savior and Redeemer.

The Lord himself spoke to Lehi talking about these different records. 

2 Nephi 3:12 " Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.

The Appocalypse

It's Cold Up Here,
but Next Week All This Snow Will Melt,
as it will be 40 degrees

Don't worry, I spelled it correctly.

Not it's not about the world ending, or about the later days. This is about the apps on our missionary phones. 

So we have an app on our phones that controls/restricts what we can do. To be more precise, it make our phones, Corporate phones, meaning the head of the Corporation AKA the church can see everything on our phones at all times and has only approved certain apps for missionary use. One of the most important apps in the missionary work is what we call Areabook. This app in particular contains the records of all the people we work with like: lessons, contacts address, phone numbers, a map of the area with dots that show where people people live and much more important stuff that we need for the work.

So here is the problem. I don't know what they were doing, but for some reason we all got an update that took all of the apps except Gospel library (our scripture app) off. This made our phone about as useful a paperweight with additional scripture reading resources. This lasted for the majority of the day. None of the missionaries I know could have even look at their schedules or even call to confirm appointments for that time. It really frustrated the work. It is all fixed now and we were lucky to not have anything too important during that time.

Not the best bathroom picture, but it works

Besides the Appocalypse, some good things have been happening as well. Not much in the English work, besides the people telling us that we have helped revive their relationships with Heavenly Father. Many of them have started reading the

 scriptures on their own now, and even pray daily.

Swahili work is doing great! They have all been diligent in their scripture reading, and when we ask what happened they give us details of the parts they read. They have no problems coming to church as well. In fact, one of the family's we work with are apart of a singing group back in Africa and they do special numbers at church once every so often. It's Amazing! 

We were able to get a lesson with a person who has been hard to track down. He just has such a busy life and struggles to find time for his family. (I guess that applies to all the Swahili people we are trying to teach. They work way too hard and end up not having enough time for other things) Anyways finding this guy, at this time was a miracle.

We had a cookoff today. 
Rice was the theme. 
Ours was the favorite.

We had a lengthy conversation conversation with this guy, many times him asking us for honest answers. Most of his questions included: "Why are you guys doing this?" or "What is the dark side of the church?". At the end we asked him what he thinks we could help *him with. He told us that his faith was failing him, that he was afraid go wayward in the world of today. We were able to secure more visits for the future with him. He is now more exited to meet with us and will soon be making covenants with heavenly father, becoming more and more prepared for the next life.

There seems to be a recurring scripture this week. It is the story of Alma, when he lead his people out of king Noah's land. They got captured by the Lamanites and were made slaves. Given heavy burdens and hard labors to perform, they tried to pray for God to help them, but the leader of their captors commanded that they should be put to death if they were found praying.

New elder in the apartment has a fake face -
the pranks will soon begin

So instead of praying outloud, it says that they prayed in their hearts, pouring out their souls in hope that God will help them. Mosiah 24:13-14

13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

For what we read here we know that even when we are having a bad day, the lord will still visit us and comfort us. He will still even lift and ease our burdens. I know he certainly has been there for me when I am having a bad day. What a blessing it is to know that someone understands you perfectly, and can perfectly comfort us in any and all affliction. As you come to rely more and more on him, you will see more and more of His hand in your lives. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

It's Raw Meat Again...

It's Snowing Sideways

I don't know why this keeps ending up to be the theme of this transfer but... I ATE MORE RAW MEAT.

Last P-day we had sushi (raw fish), literally the next day, when we were tracting, we found an Ethiopian family about to eat dinner, and they invited us in to dine with them.

They called it Ingera, it is basically African Crepes that you use as a glove by grabbing the other food you are going to eat, then you eat it all in one bite like a badly made burrito. It was delicious! They had a big assortment different things you could choose from, two of which were like ground beef, one being cooked the other being raw. I had told them I have never eaten raw meat like this before, and I asked them if it was safe to eat. They told me that it was tasty and fine to eat. Being honest about what It tasted like, I can't really define it, almost like it had been already Chewed or like some type of chip dip. The cooked meat was much more tasty.

Me - Looking Dapper in My Dad's Trench Coat

We knocked on some college doors. Mostly because all the kids that have family's leave for this time of the year, meaning the majority of those who would be left might be married couples or people who don't have anything to go home to and could use the Gospel in their lives. 

The first person we found was Julian.

He was a strange guy, when he first opened his door, he gestured for us to come in. Then walked away. Confused my companion and I hesitated for a couple seconds, then we walked in and closed the door. He was hunched down in a desk chair in his kitchen, he was at the counter (because an outlet was close enough to charge his phone I guess) and his fingers were flying all over his phone. He didn't talk much, even when we asked him questions. We found what was occupying all of his attention, it was a an online role role play I guess. He then got a call from one of the people in the game then proceeded to "Role play" with him, and I must say it was the strangest thing I have ever seen in my life.

Service in the Food Bank

I have not done a good scripture thought in a while, so here is somtehing I found recently. 

In 1 Nephi 7-8.

They were returning home, and Nephi's brothers were furious with him, so they bound him with a rope and left him to die in the wilderness.

Nephi responds by first praying. 

17 But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound.

18 And it came to pass that when I had said these words, behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet, and I stood before my brethren, and I spake unto them again.

Snow Angel

Notice his prayer was not answered in the way he

 wanted, but what I want you to focus on is Nephi.

 He prayed with faith and his cords were loosed, they did not break like he wanted, God did not pick him up dust off his shoulders and push him towards his brothers. The fact is the cords were loosed and it was his choice whether or not he wanted to stay tangled up in them.

Raw Food Meal

God may loosen our cords on life, and sometimes we don't even realize because we may have already given up, but that is a lie from the adversary, he wants you to give up. The Lord will never allow you to suffer a trial without giving you a way out of trouble you may have found yourself in. 

Biggest Bible I Have Ever Seen -
with 4 Different Translations

It's Been a Little While

One of Many Similar Apartments
in Another Missionary's Area

Wow, I haven't been able to talk to anyone since last year.

I hope you all have been good, I have been doing great. 

We had a great Christmas, and we were able to enjoy the few days of work we had before New Years Eve, which also was kinda a P-day.

Much like Christmas Eve, the first half of the day was normal, but the rest of it was us relaxing, because it won't be a good idea to go out tracting when everyone is partying and drinking to come celebrate.

I'm thinking that this might be a little shorter this week, I am not really sure what I should write about this time around. 

(Mostly, we sat around and enjoyed time with members during the holidays. Also all the people to work with tell us to come back next year.)

I Thought They Looked Cool

One of the couples we are teaching have really opened up to us. We brought the right fellowship I guess, because they opened up their guts to us. We learned that they had been struggling for years with certain life issues, and that no matter how much they work to overcome them, they still fall short, and their conscience keeps convicting their souls. They even told us when they tried their hardest and even got baptized, they still felt as if they were still (spirituality) filthy, it was almost as if they were going to start giving in soon. After they had opened up their hearts to us, we testified to them saying "We all make mistakes in life, and these mistakes create feelings of guilt and shame. These feelings cannot be relieved without repentance and forgiveness. They can be fully healed through the Atonement of Christ." and "Each person we teach has personal challenges and concerns. No matter what your needs or concerns might be, the Savior and His teachings—the gospel—will help you."

Once we had told them these things their eyes were bright and with hope. They told us " your words pieced our hearts" I'm not kidding they said that. From that point they were ready to listen to the message we had to share with them, and apply our promise to them, that they would be able to change their lives. 

On a more secular part of our week, yesterday one of our spare light bulbs (the long office ones) fell on the floor, and at this point did not shatter. It all happened when my (fully protected feet, I'm doing fine mom) boots came crashing down on it. Now normally in life, once we break or spill something, we get out our broom or vacuum and clean it up, but we broke this light on carpet, and our vacuum is out of commission (the belt needs to be replaced, but we are getting on that soon).

Happy New Year!!! 

Starting yesterday I have been around for 2 centuries and 3 decades! That's right I'm a 90s kid.

A Little Bit of New Year's Fun -
Don't Worry Mom, I Haven't Had any Oreo Cereal Yet

I hope you all had a good year last year, I know I did. We are all trying our best to help people make this year the best one yet. The way we do that is, asking people what they will do for the new year to come closer to Christ; this could entail being a better parent for your kids or reading the scriptures among many more options that are available. The point is, what are you all, this year, going to do to come closer to Christ, to deepen your conversion, and strengthen your faith? I want you all to write down your goal, and put it somewhere you will always see it, so that you can keep it in mind at all times and try your best to make it real.

I love you all and I hope you have a Merry Christmas Christmas at the end of the year. 

BYE!