Hey hey hey. Ok, so HUGE news!
So Marcela, the lady that has a baptismal date, shes doing really good. We tried to set her boyfriend about two weeks ago and he said that he needed about a year to get baptized. Well he came to church on sunday and had to wait around for an extra hour for his ride to get out of a meeting. But we went over on Monday, and started talking about the Holy Ghost and repentance. He looks at us and Elder Zobrist goes "Isidro, are these blessings that you want?" And he looks and goes "I really liked church. I have never felt that good. I know I'm in the right path right now. You're going to have a new member of your church. And a new miembra. I know I said a year to get baptized. 2 months, 1 month, whatever it takes, I'm geting baptized. I want it!" Yeah, that's a direct quote! Not even kidding! It was SO amazing! I have never seen a conversion like that! I was just so blown away! And then Marcela told us that her fellowshippers had told them they were going to need to get married, and she was kind of nervous about that. First of all, she got married in Mexico in the Catholic church, but her husband left her with their 4 kids. Then secondly, she is nervous about marrying Isidro becasue he used to be a drug addict and alcoholic and used to beat her every day, so she doesnt' exactly trust him, but we told them we'd talk more about it the next time.
So yesterday, Elder Gleave and Elder Wiles(his greenie) came down and Elder Zobrist and Elder WIles went to see them. They started talking about the marriage again and Marcela said she had a dream where she was back with her husband in Mexico and she's just really confused. Isidro said "I know she'll marry me eventually, but even if she doesn't, it'll really hurt me, but I'll move out if I have to so we can get baptized. Nothing will stop me from being baptized." How amazing is that? This guy has only been to church once and he is already more converted than me! hahaha I'm so excited for them. They're amazing and just seeing how much the Lord was preparing them to hear this message is just such a huge testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. It's funny how we found them too. The Lord really wanted us to find them. We were knocking in this trailer park, our first day there, and we find this trailer with a mexican flag. We knock the door and nobody answers, so we leave a card, and as Elder Zobrist is coming down the stairs, he slips and goes flying into the house and almost knocks it down. Elder Zobrist doesn't just slip though. He's in really good shape and has really good balance, but his legs just went flying out from underneath him. After he almost took the trailer down, Marcela opens thedoor and we start talking to her, and she was SUPER excited to get Finding Faith in Christ. So the Spirit even goes to desperate measures to make sure these people get found.
So that's the big news for this week. I translated on Sunday again for Pres. Thomas and I was sweating bullets. He would say the sentence and I would translate it afterwards, and he was saying sentences that were like 30 seconds long and using huge words and I'm just thinking "Are you kidding me?" I also got to drive a 2010 Subaru Impreza with Tiptronic shifting all day yesterday(the zone leaders have that car) so that was way fun. Didn't have that much pick up, but it handled REAL nice :)
Also, theres this family in the branch, the Carters. They're white and they were in Norfolk 1st but they transferred to the branch to help out because they both served spanish missions. They're amazing and everyone loves them. Well Sis. Carter was about to pop she was so pregnant, and she went into labor on Sunday. Well on Monday morning we received some bad news that the baby died in delivery. So if you could just keep them in your prayers, it would really help. They're wonderful people and they're really sacrificing to come down to the branch and help out.
That's a lot of engagements and stuff going on this summer. Crazy how the world goes on when you're on a mission. So I just realized that this next week, I hit 6 months in Virginia Beach. So crazy to think that 1/4 of my mission has been here. And I'm almost at the half way point! Can you believe it? 1 year is creeping up on me really fast! I've only got 10 more weeks until I hit a y ear! Oh man, thats' insane! But thats how it goes!
The weather here has been alright, keeping just at the point where we have to keep our suits on instead of slacks, and the wool is killling me, but I'll manage. I'm going to try to send some stuff back, like my thermal garments, because they'll just take up space until next winter. But I do have a favor to ask. Don't know if it's possible, so if not don't worry about it. But if there's a way to get a new spanish Preach my Gospel and a nice spanish triple combination (the harder cover one) for relatively cheap, that would be awesome :) If not, don't worry about it, I can last. Other than that, I think I"m good for right now. Hope everything is good on your end. Love ya all. Talk to you in a week and a half.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
April 21, 2010
Hey, so everything is alright this week. Sorry abotu the $140. We were at Teo's house on Thursday night, adn we parked in the visitor's spot, so I thought we would be alright. But when we come out, the car was gone! I was freaking out! So we called the towing company, and they said yep, they towed it. So we got a ride with Teo over to the towing lot and they made us wait for about 50 minutes to open the gate, and then I asked them why they towed it when it was in a visitor spot. They told me "you've gotta have a visitor pass and be in a visitor spot." It's so stupid! So it was $135 to get it out, and they don't take card and it has to be exact cash, so they ended up screwing me out of an extra 5 dollars. I was so mad. But yeah, that was why. Sorry about that.
Last week was just wow. I can't really say that I've ever seen so much opposition in the mission. We had everything lined up perfectly for 10 people to come to church on Sunday, and just everything that you can imagine that could have gone wrong pretty much went wrong. Only 1 person came to church. Then after church, Elder Zobrist went up to say hi to one of the recent converts and they guy just turned around and said "You need to be more humble. I was talking with another member and we agreed you're too prideful. You don't do anything out of love, you only do things because you're obligated too." adn then walked away. Well, Elder Zobrist didn't take that hit too well. Then Jenry, the 19 year old, dumped us also on Sunday. Just told us he didn't want to do anything anymore. It was brutal. SO yeah, last week was really tough. Then on monday morning, the phone didn't go off at 6:20 like it should have, so we ended up sleeping in until 7:30 on accident. Just seemed like it couldn't get any worse.
But on the bright side, we're still alive, we have the gospel, what else really matters, right? I've started reading Preach my Gospel like a chapter book as opposed to just opening it adn studying something, and it's really really good! I never realized how much is actually in taht book! Can you imagine, not a single word in that book is wasted! Every SINGLE word was divinely inspired. As the apostles said of it "Written in heaven, published on Earth."
So at English class last night, we were talking to one of our investigators and we're walking to the car and he turns to Elder Zobrist and says "Why don't you go buy yourself a drink.' Elder Zobrist thought the guy was handing him like, 2 bucks, but we get in the car and we turn on the light, and its a $100!!!! This guy doesn't even have work right now, but he's dropping 100s for us to buy a drink! Needless to say, we're going to return it and teach him how to pay fast offerings and tithing with it. But yeah, that was exciting! I took a few pictures with the 100 just to prove it! Also, last p-day I was going through my old letters and I found your christmas letter mom. Turns out that I actually never opened it :) haha sorry. So I opened it, and guess what I found! My memory card! hahhahaha sorry.
SOrry to hear about the job search dad. I know i'm not exactly in the same position, but I have started to realize what Pres. Hinckley said when he said "The gospel is true. What else matters?" Keep it up, God's got something for you. We just have to expect it on His time.
Ok, so Elder Zobrist adn I have had this question for a long time, but we dont' haev access to wikipedia, so I'm gonna need some help. Did George Lucas start Star Wars with Star Wars IV: A New Hope, or was it just Star Wars and then he went back and changed them to I-VI. just wondering. So some information would be good. Thank you very much.
Well, I believe that is it for now. If I think of anything else, I'll probably forget it by next week. Anywho, thanks for the letters, love, prayers and support. Talk to you all in like, 18 days or something.
Love, SKyler
Last week was just wow. I can't really say that I've ever seen so much opposition in the mission. We had everything lined up perfectly for 10 people to come to church on Sunday, and just everything that you can imagine that could have gone wrong pretty much went wrong. Only 1 person came to church. Then after church, Elder Zobrist went up to say hi to one of the recent converts and they guy just turned around and said "You need to be more humble. I was talking with another member and we agreed you're too prideful. You don't do anything out of love, you only do things because you're obligated too." adn then walked away. Well, Elder Zobrist didn't take that hit too well. Then Jenry, the 19 year old, dumped us also on Sunday. Just told us he didn't want to do anything anymore. It was brutal. SO yeah, last week was really tough. Then on monday morning, the phone didn't go off at 6:20 like it should have, so we ended up sleeping in until 7:30 on accident. Just seemed like it couldn't get any worse.
But on the bright side, we're still alive, we have the gospel, what else really matters, right? I've started reading Preach my Gospel like a chapter book as opposed to just opening it adn studying something, and it's really really good! I never realized how much is actually in taht book! Can you imagine, not a single word in that book is wasted! Every SINGLE word was divinely inspired. As the apostles said of it "Written in heaven, published on Earth."
So at English class last night, we were talking to one of our investigators and we're walking to the car and he turns to Elder Zobrist and says "Why don't you go buy yourself a drink.' Elder Zobrist thought the guy was handing him like, 2 bucks, but we get in the car and we turn on the light, and its a $100!!!! This guy doesn't even have work right now, but he's dropping 100s for us to buy a drink! Needless to say, we're going to return it and teach him how to pay fast offerings and tithing with it. But yeah, that was exciting! I took a few pictures with the 100 just to prove it! Also, last p-day I was going through my old letters and I found your christmas letter mom. Turns out that I actually never opened it :) haha sorry. So I opened it, and guess what I found! My memory card! hahhahaha sorry.
SOrry to hear about the job search dad. I know i'm not exactly in the same position, but I have started to realize what Pres. Hinckley said when he said "The gospel is true. What else matters?" Keep it up, God's got something for you. We just have to expect it on His time.
Ok, so Elder Zobrist adn I have had this question for a long time, but we dont' haev access to wikipedia, so I'm gonna need some help. Did George Lucas start Star Wars with Star Wars IV: A New Hope, or was it just Star Wars and then he went back and changed them to I-VI. just wondering. So some information would be good. Thank you very much.
Well, I believe that is it for now. If I think of anything else, I'll probably forget it by next week. Anywho, thanks for the letters, love, prayers and support. Talk to you all in like, 18 days or something.
Love, SKyler
April 14, 2010
Hey hey hey from this side of the country. So no, I didn't feel the earthquake, but I don't doubt it. It seems that there's another one every couple of days now. The weather was heating up, but it seems to have dropped back down a little bit, which is nice. Glad to hear everything is going good with you all back home. Dad, sorrry about the lack of success in the job department. The Lord is just preparing you for when you really really need it! Remember, he doesn't forget those who don't forget him (1 nefi 21:16 or something "I have engraven thee on the palms of my hands. Thine walls are forever before me"). Just keep looking and taking care of the things that need to be taken care of. Pres. Millburn is even throwing in some prayers for you, so that's gotta add some extra swing up there, right? hahaha
Yeah, I'm so burned out on school as well. And I'm not even going to be back for another 15 months! Crazy, right? I'm super proud of her for sticking it out and pulling to the end! Who was that apostle that said that the Lord will bless us in the last 5% of our 100% effort?
Glad to hear the little girls are doing well. I have so many pictures of them all over in all my books. I just learned this week that I was saying twins wrong in spanish. Apparently gemelas( hem-el-as) is identical twins whereas mezillas( me-siy-as) is fraternal or whatever twins, the kind that bailey and reg are. Just a fun fact.
Man, grandma and grandpa are going to end their 3rd mission that fast huh? Isn't it crazy to think of how fast it goes by!? 3x in the service of our Lord. Isn't that great!? And Elder Slack has officially departed! That's way cool! What part of spain is he going to again? He's going to talk with a funny accent when he gets back! haha
Oh man, Pres. Dyer would be a great young men's president! That's way sweet!
We're not teaching anyone new right now, still the same people, and they're all way sweet. Elder Ghelfy from Mexico and I went on exchanges on Friday adn it was so cool speaking spanish the entire day. We visited Marcela and Isidro and things with them weren't going too well, but Isidro started crying and told us he wanted to change really bad, so we told him the gospel was the way. We went back yesterday and tried to set a baptismal date for him, but he said he'd need at least one year to make sure he's making the right decision, but Marcela said she's down with getting baptized as soon as possible, so we're really excited with her. She's so awesome. Her face just lights up when we come to the door, but we really need to get some member presents so it's not just us that help her to feel that way. Elder Zobrist and I have been failing with member presents lately, so that's one of our big focuses these coming weeks. We've got a correlation with our branch president today, so we're going to present our massive plan to get the entire branch moving and working again por medio de un plan misional. SO we'll see how that goes.
Dionicio is doing alright. He told us the earliest he'd get baptized is May 24th, becasue he has to wait til may 12th, the day of his saint, to see if mujer will marry him or not. I don't get it, but it really doesn't make any sense anyway. But whatever. We're going to keep teaching him and help him see why he should get baptized de todos modos.
Jenry has pretty much fallen off the map. He barely has time to ever see us, and we can only go over to his house 1 day a week now. He doesn't really like talking to us on the phone, and he works sometimes on saturday's so he can't come to church on Sunday's, and we just don't really know what to do anymore. Suggestions maybe? I just don't want to lose him when he's THIS CLOSE to being the happiest he's ever been in his entire life!
So I started the Book of Mormon over again in English this time, adn I just started realizing how many examples there are of family teaching in there. In 1 Nefi 4 I think it is, Sariah is complaining to Lehi because she thinks that their sons are dead, but Lehi just responds with his testimony and his faith that he knows God will make everything work out. How sweet of an example is that? It even says "in that manner of language did my father comfort Sariah." Then, in Chap. 8 in teh tree of life, Lehi eats the fruit and immediately wants his family to eat it too. So he turns around and calls out to them and is leading them to the tree. As melchizedek priesthood holders, we have the duty to call and guide the family towards the tree of life. Isn't that such a great and wonderful responsibility? It's funny the subtle ways in which the Lord teaches us great lessons for everyone.
Alright, well I gotta go now, got a few other emails to write. Stay strong, keep moving forward, and never give up. Love you all.
-Skyler
Yeah, I'm so burned out on school as well. And I'm not even going to be back for another 15 months! Crazy, right? I'm super proud of her for sticking it out and pulling to the end! Who was that apostle that said that the Lord will bless us in the last 5% of our 100% effort?
Glad to hear the little girls are doing well. I have so many pictures of them all over in all my books. I just learned this week that I was saying twins wrong in spanish. Apparently gemelas( hem-el-as) is identical twins whereas mezillas( me-siy-as) is fraternal or whatever twins, the kind that bailey and reg are. Just a fun fact.
Man, grandma and grandpa are going to end their 3rd mission that fast huh? Isn't it crazy to think of how fast it goes by!? 3x in the service of our Lord. Isn't that great!? And Elder Slack has officially departed! That's way cool! What part of spain is he going to again? He's going to talk with a funny accent when he gets back! haha
Oh man, Pres. Dyer would be a great young men's president! That's way sweet!
We're not teaching anyone new right now, still the same people, and they're all way sweet. Elder Ghelfy from Mexico and I went on exchanges on Friday adn it was so cool speaking spanish the entire day. We visited Marcela and Isidro and things with them weren't going too well, but Isidro started crying and told us he wanted to change really bad, so we told him the gospel was the way. We went back yesterday and tried to set a baptismal date for him, but he said he'd need at least one year to make sure he's making the right decision, but Marcela said she's down with getting baptized as soon as possible, so we're really excited with her. She's so awesome. Her face just lights up when we come to the door, but we really need to get some member presents so it's not just us that help her to feel that way. Elder Zobrist and I have been failing with member presents lately, so that's one of our big focuses these coming weeks. We've got a correlation with our branch president today, so we're going to present our massive plan to get the entire branch moving and working again por medio de un plan misional. SO we'll see how that goes.
Dionicio is doing alright. He told us the earliest he'd get baptized is May 24th, becasue he has to wait til may 12th, the day of his saint, to see if mujer will marry him or not. I don't get it, but it really doesn't make any sense anyway. But whatever. We're going to keep teaching him and help him see why he should get baptized de todos modos.
Jenry has pretty much fallen off the map. He barely has time to ever see us, and we can only go over to his house 1 day a week now. He doesn't really like talking to us on the phone, and he works sometimes on saturday's so he can't come to church on Sunday's, and we just don't really know what to do anymore. Suggestions maybe? I just don't want to lose him when he's THIS CLOSE to being the happiest he's ever been in his entire life!
So I started the Book of Mormon over again in English this time, adn I just started realizing how many examples there are of family teaching in there. In 1 Nefi 4 I think it is, Sariah is complaining to Lehi because she thinks that their sons are dead, but Lehi just responds with his testimony and his faith that he knows God will make everything work out. How sweet of an example is that? It even says "in that manner of language did my father comfort Sariah." Then, in Chap. 8 in teh tree of life, Lehi eats the fruit and immediately wants his family to eat it too. So he turns around and calls out to them and is leading them to the tree. As melchizedek priesthood holders, we have the duty to call and guide the family towards the tree of life. Isn't that such a great and wonderful responsibility? It's funny the subtle ways in which the Lord teaches us great lessons for everyone.
Alright, well I gotta go now, got a few other emails to write. Stay strong, keep moving forward, and never give up. Love you all.
-Skyler
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
7 April 2010
Wow what a week. Conference was sweet. It went by way way way fast. I don't even remember what happened much since last wednesday. All I know is that we set this lady Marcela for baptism. We went to follow up with her reading on Friday and we didnt' have a plan for a whole lesson with her, so we got in and we said a prayer and she got her book of mormon and we started talking. I just started getting this really strong impression to start directing the conversation towards baptism, and I looked at Elder Zobrist and I could just tell he was getting the same one. So we starte talking about how baptism by proper authority is a commandment of God, and after about 20 minutes, we just asked "Marcela, will you prepare yourself to get baptized the 8th of May?" and she just says 'Yes, I will." We were really excited and this lady is SO prepared. The first time we came over and taught her she said she felt sooo good and wanted to feel that more often, and she absolutely loves when we come over, her face lights up and she jsut gets so excited. We're going to bring 2 recent converts Gilasio and Martina over there on Friday. They got baptized in July of last year adn their testimonies are stronger than most of the members in teh branch. It's amazing. So wer're really excited about that lesson on Friday. Dionicio isn't doing so good. He doesn't want to talk to us anymore and won't pick up his phone, and when we call his neice, he jsut has her talk to us. So we don't know what's going on, he got up and bore his testimony 2 weeks ago and now won't even talk to us. It's really weird. So I don't know with him. Jenry is doing good, but he's working so much taht we can never see him. I think he's starting to lose his momentum a little bit, becasue we really haven't gotten him any lessons with members. That's our bad. But we're going to get him a member lesson on Saturday. He's SO close, I just am praying sooo hard that he doesnt' fall off. Mauro is doing good. He's progressing a little bit. He came to priesthood session on Saturday and we went over and visited him on Sunday, adn he asked us about the priesthood. This was one of the things that he didnt' get before, but we spent about an hour talking about authority and the importance of authority in baptism and everything, and I think he started to understand it a little more. He's going really slowly, but he's going. Our big focus this week is to see our investigators more and not tract so much. It's tough, but I know it'll have big blessings. Our area is so huge and we don't have that many miles, adn none of our investigators live that close to the others, so we usually can't see them all as often as we'd like, but we're really trying.
The weather here has been absolutely brutal. It got up to 92 yesterday, I was dying. MOst of the trailers don't have air conditioning, so it was hotter inside than it was outside. It was insane. I got SO dehydrated.but we bought some gatorade mix, so we've been making that everyday to take with us.
The thing we're most excited about though this week is what Elder ZObrist and I learned in personal study. It was crazy. We both studied the same topic in PMG but in different sections. We've realized that we've been trying to take over too many responsibilities of the branch, when God has already given us this perfect organization to work with. Why should we try to reinvent it? So we're correlating with the Branch President tomorrow to make sure we can get the fire burning underneath a few members and help them step up and WORK! hahaha So I also have a challenge for you two this week or next. But the challenge is that within the next 2 weeks, you get the missionaries to bring an investigator over to the house and you have a lesson there. Do you think you can do it? I've seen the importance of members in the work, and I've got two of the best sitting back home! So lets get some people baptized, right? I want you to let me know how it went when it happens and see if it's not a great thing!
But yeah, that's my week in a nutshell. Pretty sweet right? Yeah, I got the easter box adn we've devoured the candy inside. The camera is working perfectly. I'm going to start taking pictures of the places that we tract so that you can get a feel for VA beach as well! But, the next time you send a box, whenever it may be, instead of candy, would you be able to send some useful food? Like, wheaties fuel cereal or something healthy and good like that? Kellogs Special K with fruit and yogurt is also a favorite over here :) It's just that we get so much candy from all the other people that send us stuff, but we could use good healthy food so much more. Just a thought :) hahahaha
Love ya, Skyler
The weather here has been absolutely brutal. It got up to 92 yesterday, I was dying. MOst of the trailers don't have air conditioning, so it was hotter inside than it was outside. It was insane. I got SO dehydrated.but we bought some gatorade mix, so we've been making that everyday to take with us.
The thing we're most excited about though this week is what Elder ZObrist and I learned in personal study. It was crazy. We both studied the same topic in PMG but in different sections. We've realized that we've been trying to take over too many responsibilities of the branch, when God has already given us this perfect organization to work with. Why should we try to reinvent it? So we're correlating with the Branch President tomorrow to make sure we can get the fire burning underneath a few members and help them step up and WORK! hahaha So I also have a challenge for you two this week or next. But the challenge is that within the next 2 weeks, you get the missionaries to bring an investigator over to the house and you have a lesson there. Do you think you can do it? I've seen the importance of members in the work, and I've got two of the best sitting back home! So lets get some people baptized, right? I want you to let me know how it went when it happens and see if it's not a great thing!
But yeah, that's my week in a nutshell. Pretty sweet right? Yeah, I got the easter box adn we've devoured the candy inside. The camera is working perfectly. I'm going to start taking pictures of the places that we tract so that you can get a feel for VA beach as well! But, the next time you send a box, whenever it may be, instead of candy, would you be able to send some useful food? Like, wheaties fuel cereal or something healthy and good like that? Kellogs Special K with fruit and yogurt is also a favorite over here :) It's just that we get so much candy from all the other people that send us stuff, but we could use good healthy food so much more. Just a thought :) hahahaha
Love ya, Skyler
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