Your Serve

This week was full of miracles and lots of amazing events. We were able to pick up 8 new investigators this week. The Lord is really pouring out blessings to us. It’s truly amazing to see! I love being a part of this work. I think it is fantastic. I feel like we are getting to be better friends with the ward and they are trusting us with a lot more now. We were able to speak in church and we received a few referrals after the meeting from it. The signs are good. Things are going to be getting crazy here.

Spiritual: One of the more unusual parts of the California San Jose mission is the fact that we do a lot of service. Oh it is so much fun to be a missionary and ride up on your bike to someone who you know is not looking forward to talking to you and bracing himself for the religious confrontation that is about to occur and then ask him if we can serve him and see the reaction on his face go from being hostile to confused. I love it. We do a lot of service here. Roughly ten hours a week. A lot of this service can come from planned regular service but around here there are not too many places for us to go and give service in our area. To achieve our goal we often times will go pick up trash on the streets or we will help active members with service projects. I really didn’t have a super strong love for service before I came here but doing so much service has really helped change my mentality about it. I love service! You just feel good. This week we got a call from a member to help him move some wood chips out of his back yard and onto the curb. There were a lot of wood chips. We went in with an open mind and a willing heart and low and behold miracles started to happen. The neighbor across the street started to venture out and he wanted some chips for mulch so we were able to go spread them for him and strike up a religious conversation with him. It didn’t produce much fruit other than the fact that we are now his friends and he knows that we are approachable. Then his next door neighbor poked his head over the fence and started to talk to us. He asked if we could come over the next day and help him with some stuff. OH YEAH!!! We went over and helped him go through some old WW2 relics and look for a few special pieces. He really just wanted someone to talk to and we were there to be a friend. We are going to invite him to an emergency preparedness fireside tomorrow night. We are so excited about it! That is missionary work right there. Even though we were not wearing ties and we were sweating like pigs while hauling wood chips, the Lord was with us and He gave us an opportunity to not just talk about what we believe, but to show it. One of the sayings that I use in the mission is "Just because you sit in a garage and drink gasoline, doesn’t make you a Cadillac." The same applies to church goers. You need to get out of your seat and do something good. That is what true Christianity is all about. This church is built on the premise that we help each other out. We are Disciples of Christlike Action. This blesses us and the people we serve. If you want to see if I am right, try it! Results speak for themselves.

Funny: The funny contacts we have in this area are really choice. The highlight of the week was the man with the huge beard and who was a little portly who saw us coming on bikes and just took off running. He was sprinting away from us as fast as he could. Unfortunately we were on bikes so it was a pretty easy catch. He was not interested.

Where I am at: Things in this area are awesome. I am loving the work and miracles are flowing like butter on my toast. Things are going great and I really can’t complain. We are teaching a lot of people and finding more every day. I love you all! You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Pants or No Pants

Things have been going well this week. The ward is starting to trust us and we are making family and friends while being here. It’s been really good to see how we can help the work progress here. It feels good. This area reminds me so much of home it’s crazy. It’s really quite a different area from anywhere else I have been. It’s really unusual to be so normal. It’s got its fair share of quirks and oddities but for the most part it’s actually very much like home. I think the Lord is preparing me for missionary work back home. I like it! Granted that missionary work at home is a little bit different than anywhere else. Missionary work thrives on the poor in spirit and in wealth. Because there is stability here, repentance or change is hard to come by. There is still hope though! We are teaching several people who want to change and we are really excited.

Spiritual: This morning we were studding to the sounds of the couple next door arguing. They were just going all out at each other. Yelling, screaming and making snide remarks about each other. There were several times where we wanted to lean out the window and tell them to grow up. When you are yelling about your Facebook page, something just isn't right in your relationship. It was very hard to study and we ended up reading the same page of scripture over and over getting nothing out of it. Finally the ex-husband left and it was just the woman and her roommate left. Then they started to argue and scream at each other. We were concerned about her safety at this point and we were having the dialogue of "should we go over and talk to them?" "No way man! It sounds like she just threw something!" "All right. Let’s wait awhile." We waited about half an hour then we decided to ask Heavenly Father if we should go over and visit her. This was a tense situation because we didn't know how she would react or if it was a hostile place we were going into. Yikes! So we went down on our knees and humbly asked if we needed to go visit our neighbor. The answer was a reassuring yes. So we hitched up our britches and headed over. She answered the door and the feeling was that she was a wreck. She was crying, and short of breath and just not having a good morning. We talked to her a little and offered her a blessing. She accepted and so we went in, shared a few scriptures and then were able to give her a blessing. We ended by giving her a Book of Mormon and telling her to read it and pray about it. She was super open and very interested in learning more. We set up times throughout the week that we could go and see her and she was very receptive. I wish you could have seen the change that happened in her. When we first came in she couldn't breathe because she had been yelling so much and crying so much. Even the first part of the lesson she was still making stabs at her ex and her room-mate. After the blessing though we asked her what she had felt as we had been talking to her. She described the spirit perfectly. We emphasized that she could have that same spirit to be with her always through the ordinance of baptism. She accepted! We are so excited to teach her and share more of what we know to be true with her. Now, it would have been so easy to ignore the arguing and just leave it as someone else’s problem. Forget that we had made covenants to comfort those that stand in need of comfort and move on with our day. It would have been so much less frightening to just leave and ignore that. I have noticed that God does not want us to walk in easy paths. It takes a great amount of courage to do the right thing. It takes a great amount of Faith to believe and follow the promptings that you are given but because you have been given the gift of constant revelation, the path that you covenanted to walk is not easy. It’s full of awkward situations and strange encounters and even some times when you are not sure. The path though is right. By following those promptings and honoring the covenants you make at baptism you are fulfilling your commission to be a disciple of Jesus Christ! It is the best way.

Funny: Visiting less active members is fun. We are going through the ward list and finding out who is active and who we can work with. We were finding new people to teach this week through the ward list and we went over to this one member’s house. I unfortunately got the address wrong and we went up to the door, knocked and waited. A man came walking up to the door with the biggest grin on his face. We were a little taken aback because that is a bit unusual for the city at 8:00 at night. All was well till we looked down and realized that he in fact did not have any pants on. "Oh! Well, we have to be going. DO you know where the _____ Family lives? Right next door! Thank you so much. Have a good night!" Yikes.

Where I am at: As you can tell from my long winded miracle this morning things are going well. We are teaching some interesting people. It’s always an adventure being in the city! I think that the ward trusts us and we are learning to love this place. There are great things happening here and we are excited to be a part of them. We are having a General Authority come tour the mission on Tuesday and we are pumped for that. Things are going well. I love you all!

Mr. and Mrs and Mrs and Mrs Yikes!

Spiritual: When we came into the area there was a note on the board that said to call a man named Matt. He had a baptismal date but there were no other records about him at all. We called and called and called and never got a response. We finally made contact and decided to meet up at the church one night. We had no background on this man other than at one point in time he had been taught by the missionaries and had agreed to be baptized. We grabbed one of the members that we had eaten with a few nights before and we headed out to teach him. No idea what was going to happen or who this man was. We arrived at the church and saw this guy standing outside. We met him and he introduced himself as Matt. We pulled him into the Relief Society room and began to talk. We talked about his background, about how he just got out of jail, about his family life and his two kids that have some behavioral issues. We talked about his spiritual health and what the missionaries had talked about. Finally we read out of the Book of Mormon with him about the Doctrine of Christ. We told him that most people and even members of the Church don’t understand the Doctrine of Christ. Most members don’t even realize what it is! Having an understanding of the Doctrine of Christ is critical for not only our salvation but for our personal peace and happiness here on planet earth. Faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end are the simple steps required in the Doctrine of Christ. We drew the steps on the board in a circle and told him how one thing leads to another. Faith leads to repentance, repentance leads to baptism, baptism leads to receiving the Holy Ghost. (I was thinking of doing my Yoda impression when I told him that but I decided against it.) This doctrine is not just a one time thing. It’s a continual process throughout our lives. Enduring to the end is not a step  but an action that needs to be taken continually throughout each of our lives. Having and utilizing faith, continually repenting, renewing our covenants by going to church and partaking the sacrament, feeling the presence of the spirit in our life and by courageously following the promptings that we receive from the Spirit we are then led to have more faith in Jesus Christ. When we told him this and expounded on it a little, he truly recognized that this gospel, this doctrine is not a one time thing. It’s a lifetime of change and improvement. It’s meant to be hard! I saw a quote on a members wall, "If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you." I would add, "If it doesn’t challenge you to do better, It doesn’t change you to be better." Our next lesson with this man will be to set a baptismal date. He is close. I know that without Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us, we would not be able to change. I am so eternally grateful for his unconditional love and sacrifice for us that makes it possible to change. If you are finding that maybe there are times when you are coasting, go back to the Doctrine of Christ. Find out what step you are on and then find a way to be challenged and change for good.

Funny: There was a family we met this last week that was a little crazy. We went over with a member who had been in the area for a long time. When we went over we met the father of the family who was in his mid-60s who was not a member of the church. The house was decorated hoarder style with piles and piles of stuff round about. We talked to him for a while then asked him why he wasn’t a member of the church. He responded that he was upset that the government took away polygamy. We thought we had heard him incorrectly. Nope! He was upset that the church took polygamy away. Yikes! Obviously he had more concerns than that and after digging a bit we found out he hadn’t prayed about the Book of Mormon. Okay. Now we know where to start. We didn’t quite know how to respond to the polygamy issue. We are really good at addressing the fact that that it did exist at one time, but we had never had anyone who was upset that it was taken away. Welcome to California!

Where I am at: This ward is awesome. The ward council ran like butter on my yam. Smooth and well-polished. It was really neat to sit in and see how it’s supposed to run. That was really amazing. It’s been good being here. I really enjoy it. Darrell who watched conference came to church and liked it. He almost got offended, but due to some good damage control all was well. Things are good! I am figuring out the area and things are going well. We meet some really interesting people. I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support!

Green is Growing

It happened. My wildest dream came true on my mission! I did “bear a man child in the wilderness!” (Just in case you were wanting the scriptural interpretation I am in fact whitewash training.) Yay!!!! This is so much fun to start out in an area and have it run just the way we want it to and do the things that we like. This is a stellar ward and there is so much potential here. Elder Giles is a STUD missionary and a hard worker. This whitewash thing has been a little tough during the first parts, but thanks goodness for personal revelation and following the Spirit! There have been miracles happening due to our faith and the Lord’s mercy. It’s been a spiritually transforming week so far. Due to the fact that I have really had to rely on the Lord for everything so far. It’s been amazing. I have really loved the work. It’s been hard. It’s been hot. It’s been full of crazies and I have loved it. 

Spiritual: Coming into this area was a whole crazy adventure. We came into the area and on the board was a list of names that the other elders had been working with, a pile of papers on the desk, and a whole lot of work to be done. We really didn’t have much to work with. With a brand new missionary at my side and the feeling that the Lord was with us we took off to give an accounting to the Lord for the ward. We are in the process of visiting every single member of the ward and seeing if they are active or not, angry or subdued. We went to go visit a less active that lives a fair ways away from our apartment. We visited the LA and she was definitely not very interested in talking to us. I handed Elder Giles the ward list and the map (his third day here) and told him to find someone to visit and that I was going to talk to a lady over yonder. I contacted the lady who said that she did not in fact need any help moving and that she was perfectly capable, but she did accept a copy of the Book of Mormon and make a commitment to read it and pray about it. Successful contact. I talked to Elder Giles and asked him where we were going. He told me and then we took off on the bikes. (Full bike area yay!) I unfortunately got the house number wrong and so when we went over there he pulled into the right driveway while I was in the wrong one. He told me to come over this was the right one so I was in the process of turning the bike around when out of nowhere a voice from the sky said "Hey! What are you doing?" It was slightly accusatory so I was a little freaked out. But being the friendly missionary that we need to be I told the voice that we were missionaries looking for a friend in our congregation. At that time I saw where the voice was coming from. The blinds of the house right in front of me. He told us that he had received a copy of the Book of Mormon in Santa Cruz and that He had lost his copy and would like another one. I had just given my last one away. NOOOOOO!!!!!!! So we set a return appointment with him to come back and give him the book. Awesome! What a miracle! But it gets better. That night we called him up and asked if we could come over and give him the book the next day. He said yes then proceeded to tell us how that same day (Saturday) he was channel surfing with his roommate and found the BYU channel. He told the roommate to go look it up what it was and by golly it was from the church! He then sat down with his roommate and WATCHED the Saturday session of GENERAL CONFERENCE. Boom. It doesn’t get much better than that. He called us and told us that the guy with the last name of Holland was really really passionate when he talks and he really liked his talk. Wow. What a miracle. We met with him yesterday and watched the last session of conference with him. He went through a lot as a kid and had a hard life. He is now trying to be an earnest seeker of truth. We know that if he reads and prays he will definitely find the truth here. It was such a mercy for the Lord to give us someone to teach. Many many miracles came from that small interaction. The ward has started to trust us because we found someone to teach, Elder Giles finally got some real teaching experience, and many many more tender mercies. The work of the Lord will go forth. It takes a lot of work, tears, and heartfelt prayer but the Lord blesses us for obedience. It’s been amazing.

Funny: We meet lots of crazies here. Lots of them. From the talking to herself roller-skate lady at 8:30 at night, to the crazy old people in the reflective vests. We met Jean the other night who was a referral from a guy working on his car in his yard. We asked if there was anyone who might need some help in their yard and he told us that Jean needed "lots of help." so we asked. She opened the door and she told us that we were absolutely Gorgeous. She asked if we were on TV. We said that we were not. She asked us this three times that visit. We just smiled and said thank you. We told her she was wonderful and shared a short message. She didn’t accept the message or the offer for service so we said that we had to go and made a hasty retreat. Oh, the city is a different animal.

Where I am at: Elder Giles is a stud! He is a good missionary and a good guy. It’s really amazing to be here in the mission and doing the work. I love this ward already and am having quite the adventure serving here. It’s really fun being here where most of the guys in our ward are working for LinkedIn, Apple, or IBM. Super cool guys! Conference was incredible. Some common themes I noticed were: Follow the Prophet, Take the Sacrament and make it meaningful, the Atonement, and what it entails have faith in Jesus Christ. I love this conference. We all need to take the challenge that the prophet gave to make Christ the center of our life. I love you all and you are in my thoughts and prayers.