September 17,2018 Good Lessons!

This last week was a good week. We were pretty busy with meetings, tradeoffs, and lessons but still had a spirit filled week. Probably the highlight of my week was all the lessons we were able to teach. A lot of times, we set lessons and people will cancel and we end up finding people the whole day which isn't the best! This week almost every lesson went through and we spent most of our week teaching. We were able to give a blessing on Monday last week and it was super spirit filled. We were able to teach a lesson to Jimmy and his family who we havent been able to set up a good time since we got here and we have another lesson with them tonight. We were able to go out with a few members and they were able to fellowship some of our people and invite them to church. It all in all was an amazing week!

One crazy thing that happened is I went to the dentist to get my filling replaced. The dental office is part of a Dollar General building which was weird. We went in and I filled out paper work and they gave me a tour of the place. When they took me back to my room, they gave me a tour of the place which was weird and there really wasn't much there to see. I sit in my chair and the dental assistant is Hispanic and doesn't speak a lick of English. She took x-rays of my teeth with a super ancient machine and she prepped my mouth for the filling. When she was doing this, she was having me hold her machines and tools as she went back and forth between each side of me. She didn't know too much of what she was doing or at least it seemed that way. After she finished prepping me, I sat with my mouth open for around 45 minutes before the dentist came in and did the filling. She left the sucking hose hanging out of my mouth and I was able to snag a picture while they were gone. It was a crazy experience but at least I got my tooth fixed! Haha 

This week I was reading in Ether and there was a scripture that really stuck out to me... 

Ether 12:

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

We are given weakness so we can become strong. As we are humble, we are able to grow from our weakness. Christ knows us perfectly and as we turn to him, we can grow from our shortcomings. Hope you all have an amazing week! I love you tons and are so greatful for my mission! 

Pictures:

1. We ate at bigwood and I got a steak! It was awesome!!! 

2. A super sketch vending machine that has rappers and empty things as the display. 

3. Grilling with the boys

4. At the sketchy dentist

Big Trees

Elder Adair Photo bombing my picture

Guy sleeping in church

Check out the plate in the window

Elder Elgaaen

 

 

September 10, 2018 The Swat

This week was a good one. We had some cool miracles happen and really felt the spirit. This week, we had some conference which is always a spirit filled meeting. The focus was on using all the tools we have been given. We also talked about being organized and doing everything with order. The Lord works in order and that is how his church is organized so as we show the Lord we care by taking care of the tools he gave us we are blessed. It was also stake conference which was another meeting filled with the spirit. The stake President talked about the Lord's work being hastened. The Lord is ready to give us personal revelation but we are what can hold that back. We need to put in the work to see the miracles and guidance we need. He challenged everyone to attend the temple, have the Missionaries in your home, and read out of The Book of Mormon in the next 6 months. As we do these things we are opening our hearts to Receive revelation and spiritual guidance. 

Some awesome things that happened this past week are: 

1. We found 4 awesome new people to teach

We had a great week of finding new people. We tried by some potentials that were further away trying to clean area book up and be organized. In doing so, we were able to find 4 awesome people. 

2. I played some kids in basketball

When we were knocking in a area, there were some kids. One of them was wearing some Stephen Curry basketball shoes and so I asked if he liked basketball. He told me he did and he was better than Curry. I asked him to show me how good he was and then after a few shots, recited to humble the kids. Haha or just play them in a short game. We played to 3 and I won but we had a good time. I'll send a video or two of us playing. It really made the kids interested in what we do and they wanted us to come back and share more about Christ. 

3. A 7 year old kid was spreading the word

So we were working in an apartment complex and there was a little kid that asked who we are and so we told him that we shared a message about Christ. We offered to give him a pass along card and his friend wanted one too. We gave them one and started on to the next house. The kid zooms around the corner on his scooter and asked us for 4 more cards because some more of his friends want them. We give him the cards and he goes on his way. We are talking to a lady and the kid comes up to us again. He asked for more cards! We give him 20 cards and then he presumes to scoot over to the neighbors house and knock on his door and start talking to him and give him a card. Then he says, on to the next one and goes to the next house. Haha it was super funny. Me and Elder Adair were like we should probably go before people think we put him up to it. Kids are awesome! Haha

4. A members kid got baptized 

One of the members kids got baptized. The service was awesome and he had a lot of support. Bradley (the one getting baptized) knows a lot about the Gospel. It wax funny when the lady was giving a talk on the Holy Ghost. He was answering all of her questions before she even finished asking. He is an awesome new member! 

Well, I hope you all have an inspiring spirit filled week. Continue to read the scriptures, participate in missionary opportunities and make the temple your goal. I know as you do you will learn and grow spiritually so much. You all are awesome! Love ya a million!

 

Elder Adair and Elder Elgaaen

Patrick Patterson & Jacob Elgaaen

 

September 3,2018 The Beard

 

Hello Friends and Family!

My first full week in Life Oak is complete! This week was a very interesting one and a lot of crazy stuff happened. There were also many miracles. So on Monday night, we had a lesson with one of our people and we were talking about the restoration. About 1/2 way through the lesson, we could see she wasn't completely focused and so we brought up Family History. She was super interested and excited to participate in doing family history work and is planning on coming to the Family History Class on Wednesday. 

 

On Tuesday we went to an area and were knocking on a few doors. As we were going around, we met some awesome people. One in particular was Teri. We knocked on her door and she told us she had met with the Missionaries in the past and knew a member that lived close to her. We fell prompted to offer her service if she needed any and she accepted. We went by on Friday and were able to help her clean her porch. After helping her, we shared a scripture and she really opened up to us about how she has been going through some hard things. We shared a little bit of our message with her and promised her that it could help her find joy in her trials. She is super elect and open to learning more. Later on Tuesday, we found Jennifer and Ron. We were trying to find s member of the congregation and found them. They are super desirous to be baptised and act on the message we shared. We went back Friday as well and they had read from the Book of Mormon and were excited to learn more. 

Wednesday was a weird day. A lot of crazy things happened and Elder Adair and I laughed a lot. We met a blind guy who is a member and he was super nice. He is in a wheel chair and his care giver brought him to the door. He listened to a scripture we shared and then we were leaving and his care giver had left somewhere in the house. So we closed the door and he just sat there. It was kind of weird. We also met a lady who had a full on beard. It was super crazy and pretty gross. Then just to put a cherry on top, we met a guy who thought that a rock formation called devil's something in Arizona is a giant tree trunk that when giants came to the earth, they cut it down. He believes that giants would bring different races of people to the earth as their slaves to mine resources and that is why there are lots of different types of people on the earth. He was pretty crazy! He also said that there were two creations and that Adam wasn't the first man on the earth. After today, I am so glad that I know what I know about the restored fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is such a blessing that each of us need to remember to not take advantage of and be so greatful for each day. 

Well, I hope you all have amazing weeks. Remember to look for the blessings in everything we do. I love you all and am greatful for every day! I am greatful for my testimony of Christ. This is one of the most essential things to being eternal happiness. I love you! 

 

Spider eating spider

Spider

The Elders

Tracting in the rain

Water Pressure