Christmas Conference

Dear Family and Friends,

I am so excited about the Christmas Zone Conference coming up on
Friday! Every time I think about it I just want to scream and jump up
and down like a little kid! I love zone conferences and I am so
excited for this one because I will only have one Christmas in the
mission field and I need to make it better than any Christmas so far!
We have lots of plans with the families in our wards and it is great
because I have been here since August so I know everyone well and I
love them like family!

I am so excited to be with Sis. Mecham on Christmas too! It will be
like watching a little kid on Christmas morning! haha! She is such a
sweetheart, I love her so much! We had a really tough comp inventory
the other day. She said some things to me that I was not expecting and
it threw me for a loop. With all of my former companions we had always
gotten along fine and I felt the same with Sis Mecham. She informed me
that it was not the same on her side of things. We were able to talk
about the things that I had done or said that had unintentionally hurt
her feelings or made her uncomfortable or anxious. I explained some
things about myself that helped her understand that I didn't intend to
do the things that she didn't like. We shared a lot of things that I
think brought us even closer as companions. We have a more open
communication with each other that she felt was lacking before. I felt
so terrible and was blindsided by the things she was telling me that I
was baffled and speechless for quite awhile, while I thought about
her concerns. We are great with each other now and we look back at
that conversation and thank our Heavenly Father for it. I am
constantly working on the things that she said I needed to, in order
to make this work a little bit easier for her.

On to the next topic, in my personal study of The Book of Mormon, I
just so happened to be at the end of 2 Nephi today. I read chapters
29-33. I obviously loved being able to read these wonderful chapters
that talk so much about The Doctrine of Christ. In the very last verse
of ch 33 it says, "...for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must
obey. Amen" Since Sister Greer unpacked 2 Nephi 31 at the The Doctrine
of Christ training I have really been focused on the word "must". This
phrase struck me deeply today. Nephi did not acknowledge that the Lord
gave him commandments and it was his choice to obey or not. He said
that he must obey them. How often do I think that yes the Lord has
commanded me in all things... but I still have my agency. I NEVER want
to think that again! I always want to think as Nephi did. The Lord
commands and that means that my agency should be gone. Not because He
takes it away by His command, because he would never do that, but
simply because I have already made up my mind that anything the Lord
asks, I will do it because I MUST do it. I am so grateful to be a
representative of the Lord Jesus Christ because I must share the truth
with those who lack the fullness of His gospel.

This week was kind of rough! I have been sick with a very nasty cold.
I felt like I wanted to die or just sleep all the time and since
neither were a luxury that would be allowed to me I was able to suffer
through it. I am thank goodness feeling better but still not 100%.  We
had a big district lunch this week since it was transfer week so that
we could meet all the new missionaries in the area. I probably looked
like death so our zone leader Elder Peterson offered me a blessing. I
accepted and the Elders all stood around me a gave me a wonderful
Priesthood blessing of healing and comfort. I instantly started to get
better and better from that time forward. I am so grateful that the
Lord is mindful of our individual needs and that He loves us so much.
I still struggle in the mornings and late at night to overcome the
ills I feel but the Lord provides the way during the daytime hours so
I am thankful for that! Sister Mecham has really stepped up and helped
a lot! She is going to be a great trainer at the end of January (next
transfer). lol

I look forward to seeing you next week! Sister Combs, who we live
with, will email you tonight to figure out all the details of when and
how I will be skyping home! Sorry for not being more on top of things
about that! Love you all!

Sweet is the Work

Hola Familia y amigos/as,

 

This past week we had a specialized training on THE Doctrine of Christ . I absolutely LOVE The Doctrine of Christ. I can only hope and pray that I will understand it more and more everyday while I am here on my mission and after I return home. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to learn from President and Sister Greer and all of the assistants. Every time I leave a training of any kind I wish that I could teach the way that they all do. I always learn so much and at the same time, it makes me feel dumb. (haha, but in a good way, because that means that I just need to keep studying and learning more and more everyday). Anyways, enough about that though.

 

We had a baptism this week and it was just wonderful. Sister Mecham and I were on cloud nine we were so happy. Lucas was so ready to be baptized. For being an 18 year old young man, he has a quiet dignity. He doesn't talk that much but when he does it is intelligent and you can tell that he thought about it for a while! The baptism was great! We did the intermission, and the DVD player didn't work for us so we only got to show one video that we wanted to. But I think that is all we needed. The Spirit was so strong and even though it was at 8 on a Saturday night the turn out was outstanding! The Relief Society room was full to capacity and more! The only incident was that when he was going under the water he was in the font the wrong direction so he hit his head on the back wall...oops! but he went all the way under and they didn't have to redo it. :) I am so happy when we get to see these people make the commitment to be baptized. I love teaching people. We have been doing a lot more tracting lately and even though we haven't been able to find the elect yet, I am not getting discouraged by the doors shutting in our faces...It is just one more person on the list of "not quite 'white' yet" (D&C 4) and we are off to find "the one"!

 

Sister Mecham is still doing awesome. She struggles sometimes still with being homesick but she can kick it away pretty fast now days. I am excited to have made it to 10 months...It seems pretty crazy that it has been that long, and time only seems to be picking up speed. I won't even realize when it is over that I have been here for 18 months! I love you and I love the Lord and I love being a missionary preaching His doctrine The Doctrine of Christ!

           Keep up the great work back home and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

10 Month Accident....

 I am so excited that I have been a missionary for 10
months now...It seems SO unreal! Its December which seems even more
unreal, lol. This last week was great! We had a lot of lessons and
fasted for a lot of things so hopefully we will be seeing even more
success in the coming weeks. We are so so so excited this week because
Lucas is getting baptized on Saturday and he is totally ready for
this. He practically planned his entire baptism which is totally
awesome! I will be sure to send pictures next week of the event. :)
           This week we had the Festival of the Nativities. It was
almost exactly like the one we had back home but this one has been a
regular thing in this area for 12 years now. It was at my old Stake
Center so we couldn't go by ourselves. A couple of the ladies that we
are teaching (mother and daughter) took us to go and see it. It was so
neat and the Spirit was so strong. It was so awesome to be able to
remember the true meaning of Christmas with those that I get to bring
the message of the restored gospel to. I know that they really enjoyed
it as well.
           A lot of people have been asking me about the weather here
this time of year. To be honest with you it is pretty weird. It will
be rainy, windy, cold and miserable for a little bit then it will
lighten up and drizzle. Sometimes it will start off just overcast and
not raining for a bit of the day and then start to rain/drizzle later.
The sun seems to make its appearance sometime during the day but never
for very long. It gets light outside about 7ish and gets dark outside
about 4:30-5ish. It is very hard to have the desire to go and knock on
people's doors when it is dark and rainy and cold. lol...But you gotta
do what you gotta do.
            I am going to try to send some pictures to explain the
reasoning for the title of my email. Do not be alarmed. It was an
accident and ALL IS WELL in the Kingdom. :) I will also send an
individual email to you mother with a list of things that I have thought
would be nice to receive for Christmas. Please share it with others as
you wish.
          I am so excited to be a missionary at Christmas time! It is
going to be the best! People seem to have a more open heart when the
Christmas Spirit is in the air. I know that it is not going to get any
easier but it is definitely going to get more exciting and meaningful
for me as well. The Lord is hastening His work. I hope you can feel
it. The end is near, we may not know exactly when He will come again
but we know that it not much farther away. I am so happy that I chose
to serve and that I came here to Washington. It obviously wasn't my
first choice but I know that the Lord needed me here. I love it here!
I love everyone that I have met here and I love everyone that I
haven't met here. It is such a different feeling...haha!
         I hope you all have a wonderful week and I look forward to
hearing from you and skyping home for Christmas. We will be doing it
from the Comb's home (where we live). They have high tech stuff so
we'll please try to have a better connection this time! ;) lol I love
you all! Happy December!

PTSD--Post Turkey Stomach Disorder

So I am still full from Thanksgiving, haha! But It was GREAT!
Here is the low down of what happened that day....6:30 wake up as
usual and exercise/lay on the ground, 7:00 get ready, 8:00 personal
study, 9:00 big breakfast with the Combs family (family we live with),
then we help her prepare Thanksgiving dinner for her family, 12:00
Appitizers and visit with the Wood family (family in the Lacamans
Creek ward), 2:15 go to a random persons house and knock on their door
and no one answers so we pull out our rake and rake their leaves and
bag them and put them in our trunk (random act of service for the
day), 3:00 Thanksgiving dinner at the Reid's home with the Lefevre's
(so much fun with Harmony ward) 5:00 Go to Rodger and Yvette's (in
Lacamas Creek) -- I eat again to be nice and Sis Mecham doesn't because
she was about to puke lol 6:30 go back to the Ried's for pie 7;20 go
to the awesome Roberts' family home in Harmony to eat more pie and
drink sparkling cider :) (SO GOOD) and then we went back home and
planned and crashed! Haha, it was a day full of fun and way too much
food!
        Also this week we had exchanges and I got to go back to my old
area of Mountain View ward and the Clark YSA ward. I got to work with
Sis Ireland who was in the same MTC district as Sis Mecham. Sis Brown
is training her. So exchanges were fun, Its interesting to see how I
have only been gone from that area since August and yet eveyone that
they are teaching has changed it seems. We had some super awesome
lessons with people that neither of us had met. It was great! We got a
lot done and I got to say hello/bye to a few of my favorite people
from that area again.
        I am so grateful to have Sis Mecham as my baby/trainee...She
is such and awesome missionary. I tell her that all the time but she
doesn't seem to believe me. She is so solid and a wonderful teacher.
Her testimony is powerful and she is so sweet and has such a tender
heart. I know that that she will be training a lot on her mission.
         So I am running out of time, sorry! But some quick
updates...I will be skyping from the Comb's home on Christmas. I will
send a hand written wish list. I will attach more pics soon,
(hopefully). We have a very very awesome baptism coming up on Dec 8th
so please pray for Lucas and Sabrina :) They are definitely a couple of
my favs! I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!
       I was thinking earlier last week about how it was a year ago on
Thanksgiving that I announced to everyone that I would be serving a
mission and that I had turned in my papers. It is so weird to think
about that because it doesn't seem like it was that long ago. But I
will be home before we know it! Love you and miss you and I hope to
hear from you all soon!