The areas are progressing. The baptisms that we have for the future are still progressing as well. We are not sure if they will be able to be baptized this transfer because of issues with permission from the parents, but they will be baptized nonetheless.
These past couple of weeks have been good for my own progress as well since they have been somewhat difficult. Elder Castro and I had a good talk last night about what we can be doing better. We came to some good conclusions and we will be working on those things. We are growing together and the worries that I had at the beginning of my time with him are dispersing. I feel that we are progressing. There is still a ton more that we should be doing though. But all in all with where I am at I have been making some major progress. I know that it is thanks to your prayers and I ask you to continue praying for us that I can meet my goals and that we can have success. Any encouraging words and tidbits of wisdom are also helpful.
This week we were going to have zone conference but the president's wife is sick so they have canceled it. That is a bit of a bummer because conference is one of the things that we always look forward to the most. We'll get over it though :) haha. This p-day was pretty cool. We played soccer in one of the other areas with some of their members and a couple of investigators. It was super fun. I love you all a ton and I have you in my prayers and I wish you all luck in whatever you are taking on at the moment. Talk to you next week.
Elder Rose
25 May 2010
17 May 2010
Brrrr....It's getting cold!
Well as for the things here, yesterday they hit a little bit of a roadblock. They are still in motion but yesterday, it was raining in the morning and it had been raining all night long and when we got up for church on Sunday, the city was just dead. We left the apartment early to go pick up investigators for church and we didn’t have any luck. And the investigator who was supposed to get baptized this Saturday didn’t go either. So that was a bummer.
As for church though, it went well. Sacrament meeting was one of the better ones we have had. We had a couple visitors from the district and there was also a missionary who came back and gave her report in sacrament meeting. She is the sister of the branch president and a way good friend of one of the families that he has a problem with so maybe with her being back things will settle down just a little bit.
We ate lunch with the familia Orellana and afterwards we used their oven to make some stuff for the activity. I made banana bread and my comp made a white cake. They turned out rather well if I do say so myself. Ha-ha. The activity turned out good too. There were probably about 15 to 20 people there and we taught the lesson again and had refreshments and sat around and mingled for a little while. The home we did the activity in is of a member with a son who has a child with a girl who is not a member. They want us to work with them to get them married and see if she is willing to get baptized. So we will see how that turns out.
This last week was one of challenges, but it was good, cuz I learn a lot more from challenges than I do from the good times. As for me personally, I think I am improving in good ways. Still a lot of work to do and I still have the whole rest of my life ahead of me, but things are going well. I was reading a part of the book, "infinite atonement" today and there is a chapter called the blessing of repentance. It is super good. I encourage you all to read it if you would like to. One of the things that it says is that the principle of repentance isn’t just for sinners, but for the good and the great people in the world that want to be better. It is for all those who have not yet reached the point of perfection. So I think that includes all of us. That is what I have been thinking a lot about lately and wanted to share that with you. I love you all a ton and I look forward to hearing from you. Transfers are coming up in two weeks, so it’s time to put the bets in on where I’m going or if I’m staying. Talk to you all later. And take care.
Love
Jeff
As for church though, it went well. Sacrament meeting was one of the better ones we have had. We had a couple visitors from the district and there was also a missionary who came back and gave her report in sacrament meeting. She is the sister of the branch president and a way good friend of one of the families that he has a problem with so maybe with her being back things will settle down just a little bit.
We ate lunch with the familia Orellana and afterwards we used their oven to make some stuff for the activity. I made banana bread and my comp made a white cake. They turned out rather well if I do say so myself. Ha-ha. The activity turned out good too. There were probably about 15 to 20 people there and we taught the lesson again and had refreshments and sat around and mingled for a little while. The home we did the activity in is of a member with a son who has a child with a girl who is not a member. They want us to work with them to get them married and see if she is willing to get baptized. So we will see how that turns out.
This last week was one of challenges, but it was good, cuz I learn a lot more from challenges than I do from the good times. As for me personally, I think I am improving in good ways. Still a lot of work to do and I still have the whole rest of my life ahead of me, but things are going well. I was reading a part of the book, "infinite atonement" today and there is a chapter called the blessing of repentance. It is super good. I encourage you all to read it if you would like to. One of the things that it says is that the principle of repentance isn’t just for sinners, but for the good and the great people in the world that want to be better. It is for all those who have not yet reached the point of perfection. So I think that includes all of us. That is what I have been thinking a lot about lately and wanted to share that with you. I love you all a ton and I look forward to hearing from you. Transfers are coming up in two weeks, so it’s time to put the bets in on where I’m going or if I’m staying. Talk to you all later. And take care.
Love
Jeff
03 May 2010
Still learning and growing
Hey Family!
It has been good to hear from you. It actually didn’t even faze me that this next Sunday is Mother’s Day until the other elders started calling me and asking me about phone cards and phone numbers and all that good stuff. I’m excited to talk to you. It will be weird though since it is the last time that I will talk to you until I actually see you again. Weird, right? I don’t like thinking about it. I almost feel afraid to finish the mission because I know that I still have so much to do.
Things in the areas are looking up. We had one of our investigators that we have been working with for a long while finally go to church this Sunday. We also pulled off a pretty sweet activity with some members and investigators in the home of a family in Monteros. The familia Orellana is so cool, they help us out in every way possible, not just with the work but they look after our health, make sure that we are eating good, and all in all just help raise the animo. The activity we did with their help was a lesson from the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph F. Smith manual. We talked about supporting leaders, both general and local, and for the investigators we spoke about the importance of the power of the priesthood in our lives and the effect that it has on us as we pay attention to the prophet and heed his words. I think that it turned out really well actually. Then afterwards we played a little game and did caramel corn for refreshments. I successfully burned my figure with boiling sugar, but luckily one of the daughters in the family is a nurse so she fixed it up. Don’t worry, it’s nothing. They also have a son/brother that is serving a mission in Chile.
As for Elder Castro and I, we are doing well. We have realized that we are running out of things to talk about a bit when we are in the street, so sometimes we walk in silence. That gives me some time to reflect and think about what I am doing and things that I need to improve on. I feel like I have learned a lot in the mission, but it is still my problem that I forget about things easily in the moment and don’t realize or remember until later. For example, every time I do something that I should do, in the moment I say to myself, “no, don’t worry about it” and then later I think about it again and say to myself “why did I do that if every time I do that I feel bad afterwards.” We are like that sometimes as humans, no? We are a bit slow on the learning curve. Things are good though, there are still things that I am working on improving and I have the goal to have dropped certain bad habits or developed certain attributes before the end of the mission. I guess that is why the thought of ending the mission scares me when I think to myself that maybe I won’t be able to meet those goals in the time I have. Six months really is nothing when it comes to life goals. I took a lot of the lessons that Mom and Dad taught me as a kid for granted and am coming back to learn them now only this time it is a little harder. I like that scripture though and I think that Mom and Dad did a spectacular job, the scripture in Proverbs 22:6 that says “Train up a child in that way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” I think about the future and say that I hope such and such a thing doesn’t happen or I hope I can do a certain thing in my future, but it all depends on now really.
There is no better time than the mission to improve your character as President Northcutt told me last conference. I want to take advantage of all the time that I have. I ask for your prayers on my behalf in being able to meet the goal that I have set for myself because I feel that it really will be the turning point in my life. I know that in the end it depends on me and my desire to fulfill my objective, but I know that your prayers have worked miracles in my missionary service and I know that they still will.
The talk that was given in conference about priesthood blessings was way good and I think the principle applies in this case; that the ordinance (let it be a priesthood blessing or a prayer on behalf of a person) may be performed with all the faith possessed by a person, but if the one on the receiving end of that ordinance does not have reciprocal faith or it is not the will of the Lord, the thing won’t be fulfilled. I know that the goal I have set is the will of the Lord for me because I have asked him and I want to do it. I ask for your help.
As for everything else going on here, things are just chipper! They are tearing down the place we live wall by wall and building it up again :) so that is fun and I am trying to keep the smile on. Every time I see that written in one of your emails I smile, it brings back memories from when Alyssa Dickson told dad that she would stop using flip flops in church if he would smile and many other fun memories. I Love you all. I miss you. I am doing well so don’t worry about me too much. Keep on praying and reading the scriptures. I never heard dad’s update to see if you ever finished the Book of Mormon. I’m sure you did. Well. Talk to you later.
Ciao
Elder Rose
It has been good to hear from you. It actually didn’t even faze me that this next Sunday is Mother’s Day until the other elders started calling me and asking me about phone cards and phone numbers and all that good stuff. I’m excited to talk to you. It will be weird though since it is the last time that I will talk to you until I actually see you again. Weird, right? I don’t like thinking about it. I almost feel afraid to finish the mission because I know that I still have so much to do.
Things in the areas are looking up. We had one of our investigators that we have been working with for a long while finally go to church this Sunday. We also pulled off a pretty sweet activity with some members and investigators in the home of a family in Monteros. The familia Orellana is so cool, they help us out in every way possible, not just with the work but they look after our health, make sure that we are eating good, and all in all just help raise the animo. The activity we did with their help was a lesson from the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph F. Smith manual. We talked about supporting leaders, both general and local, and for the investigators we spoke about the importance of the power of the priesthood in our lives and the effect that it has on us as we pay attention to the prophet and heed his words. I think that it turned out really well actually. Then afterwards we played a little game and did caramel corn for refreshments. I successfully burned my figure with boiling sugar, but luckily one of the daughters in the family is a nurse so she fixed it up. Don’t worry, it’s nothing. They also have a son/brother that is serving a mission in Chile.
As for Elder Castro and I, we are doing well. We have realized that we are running out of things to talk about a bit when we are in the street, so sometimes we walk in silence. That gives me some time to reflect and think about what I am doing and things that I need to improve on. I feel like I have learned a lot in the mission, but it is still my problem that I forget about things easily in the moment and don’t realize or remember until later. For example, every time I do something that I should do, in the moment I say to myself, “no, don’t worry about it” and then later I think about it again and say to myself “why did I do that if every time I do that I feel bad afterwards.” We are like that sometimes as humans, no? We are a bit slow on the learning curve. Things are good though, there are still things that I am working on improving and I have the goal to have dropped certain bad habits or developed certain attributes before the end of the mission. I guess that is why the thought of ending the mission scares me when I think to myself that maybe I won’t be able to meet those goals in the time I have. Six months really is nothing when it comes to life goals. I took a lot of the lessons that Mom and Dad taught me as a kid for granted and am coming back to learn them now only this time it is a little harder. I like that scripture though and I think that Mom and Dad did a spectacular job, the scripture in Proverbs 22:6 that says “Train up a child in that way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” I think about the future and say that I hope such and such a thing doesn’t happen or I hope I can do a certain thing in my future, but it all depends on now really.
There is no better time than the mission to improve your character as President Northcutt told me last conference. I want to take advantage of all the time that I have. I ask for your prayers on my behalf in being able to meet the goal that I have set for myself because I feel that it really will be the turning point in my life. I know that in the end it depends on me and my desire to fulfill my objective, but I know that your prayers have worked miracles in my missionary service and I know that they still will.
The talk that was given in conference about priesthood blessings was way good and I think the principle applies in this case; that the ordinance (let it be a priesthood blessing or a prayer on behalf of a person) may be performed with all the faith possessed by a person, but if the one on the receiving end of that ordinance does not have reciprocal faith or it is not the will of the Lord, the thing won’t be fulfilled. I know that the goal I have set is the will of the Lord for me because I have asked him and I want to do it. I ask for your help.
As for everything else going on here, things are just chipper! They are tearing down the place we live wall by wall and building it up again :) so that is fun and I am trying to keep the smile on. Every time I see that written in one of your emails I smile, it brings back memories from when Alyssa Dickson told dad that she would stop using flip flops in church if he would smile and many other fun memories. I Love you all. I miss you. I am doing well so don’t worry about me too much. Keep on praying and reading the scriptures. I never heard dad’s update to see if you ever finished the Book of Mormon. I’m sure you did. Well. Talk to you later.
Ciao
Elder Rose
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