April 23,2018 New Companion Elder Hansen

Hello!!!!!!!

This has been a great week! I have received my new companion and he is super awesome. He doesn't like germs and does a lot of weird things but he loves basketball and he is super nice and happy. This week was an eventful week. There was a lot of good things that happened this week and the work is moving along. This week we had a lot of weird things happen. One thing in particular was when we were teaching Bob and Glenda It was going good. We were having a great time teaching her. we said a prayer and were asking if we could share a video. Glenda was going to move to a different chair because the one she was in was a wood stool and there was a recliner open. She stood up a little and was shaking her coffee. I thought she was shaking it to spill some for her dog to drink because he was standing right in front of her. She spilled it and the dog continued to stand there. She started bending over, continued to spill the rest of her coffee and started falling to the floor. It was weird so I asked if she was okay. She went limp and was in a super uncomfortable looking position. After a minute she told us she wanted help up because the position she was in hurt. We asked if we should call 911 and bob said no. We helped lift Glenda into a chair and she lay limp for a few minutes before she started to move. It was a weird experience. I learned that service is awesome. We need to serve others and help them. It makes us experience joy as well as helps others. We latched a Mormon message called Lift. It is super good. I want to share my testimony about service. Jesus Christ went around serving everyone. He never complained or did anything for himself. it was all about others and he did it out of love. I know that as we serve others and help them in every way we can, we will magnify Christ more fully in each of our lives and be an example to all of those around us. Please take time this week to serve. It will bring such blessings and help us to become more like Christ. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Thank you for everything you do. I learn so much from each of your examples. Keep the faith and keep and keep smiling! 

 

April 16, 2018 Transfers

This week was transfer calls. I am staying in High Springs and getting a new companion Elder Hanson. It is going to be exciting.... I hope! haha This week was also our Stake Conference and we had one of the 70's come and speak to us. It was super cool. We removed a huge tree from a neighbors yard and got 3 new potential investigators from that experience. We had a couple good lessons and all in all it was a good week.

Transfer calls were a day early because President Lee was asked to speak in our Stake conference. I was fine with anything happening. I am going to be the senior companion and will be staying in High Springs so my address is the same. I am excited and hope to move the work along. I also hope to try some things that Elder Gibby was against that will make missionary work more enjoyable and hopefully bring some good success. 

At our Stake Conference, we had some good talks and the spirit was strong. They focused a lot on ministering and doing it one by one. It was good to get more on the changes and have them better explained. The organist during the adult session on Saturday night was crazy! He was playing like he was in phantom of the opera. He was moving all over and playing in a flat key and putting a bunch of extra notes in. It was super funny and really brightened the mood. The messages were very powerful and one that I really liked was about looking to children as an example and ministering in a loving way. There were many different ways we can minister that were discussed. A few were.... Church callings, In our home, Neighbors, Sick and afflicted, less active... It was cool to hear some stories of how we can better minister. Miricals will happen as we implement the gospel into every aspect of our lives and use it to bless and be an example to everyone around us. What are some ways that you can implement ministering this week in your every day activities? 

 

On Saturday, we cleaned up and removed a huge tree. I sent a picture last week of it. It took about 3 hours but out of it we found an potential that was walking down the street. Also the neighbors that had the tree fall asked how they could repay us and we said invite us into their home and learn why we do what we do. We should meet with them in the next week or so. Its awesome how miricals happen as we serve others. Later that day, we got asked by another non-member if we could help her move her couch to the 3rd floor of her apartment and she also wanted to repay us. Boom another potential! Haha. While helping her move, we met one of her coworkers who was a member and has been less active for a few years. Another miracle! 

This week was super good and the main message I got out of it is that as we serve and love those around us, the Lord will bless us in so many ways. I challenge all of you to find one way to serve/minister this week in some way or another. I can promise that you will recieve blessings as you do so. I love you all and am greatful for all that you do! Thanks for the letters, emails, and encouragement that you give! Love Ya!

 

Once I set God loose on somebody, it's on!

-  Stephen Lillard, High Springs Florida

$3 dollar bill

$30 pure silver coin worth $600

Chess game we were given for doing servie

Fireworks

Jacob being crazy

New pants and tie for Easter

Large tree we helped clean up

weird caterpillar

 

 

April 9, 2018 Tradeoff's and Teaching

This week was a good fast week! Not much went on because we had 2 tradeoffs so I was only in my area with Elder Gibby on Thursday. We had a good time on tradeoffs and got some good finding in. On Thursday, we had a great lesson with Jimmy and Carol. On Friday and Saturday I was in Gainsville on a tradeoff with Elder Sorenson and on Saturday we did farm share.

I was first with Elder Carter (District Leader) on Tuesday and Wednesday on a tradeoff in our area and it was good. We had our scripture class where 2 mission bound young men were there. They went on a exchanges after with us which was good. On the exchanges, we were able to heart attack a bunch of doors of members and investigators. After we did that, we knocked a few doors around the area and talked to some awesome people. It was super fun. We finished our tradeoff and traded back Wednesday afternoon. On the tradeoff, we found a potential investigator and had a really good time.

 

On Thursday, we were able to go out with a member to a lesson with Jimmy and Carol. Ralph has been spending a lot of time in a different area and working so we haven't been able to meet and continue teaching him but something has really opened up his mom and her boyfriend and they are anxiously investigating. It is very cool to see how much they love to feel the spirit and how they are so engaged and willing to listen and learn. We have felt the spirit so strong in their home as we go there and as we teach them. They have such a desire and we are doing all we can to love and help them come to Christ. 

 

On Friday we traded off again and I spent the day with Elder Sorenson. We had a good time and spent a good time cleaning their appartment because it was super dirty and unorganized. We also did some family history and we found some names to take to the temple which was super fun and always brings joy. If you haven't done it, try it! Its awesome. We had to trade back super early in the morning because we had Farm Share.

 

Farm Share was super fun. We bagged food and other donated materials and then handed the to people in cars that would drive up. It is all donated food and it is awesome to serve and give it to people in need in the community who don't have food. There were a bunch of first responders there serving as well which was super fun. Defiantly a blessing to serve. They gave us a bunch of "Breakfast boxes" that have different foods and treats in them because they had extra and it was starting to rain. It was fun! I am glad that I was able to serve.

 

This week was super eventful and I am glad that I was able to serve those around me. We can all serve and do our best to help those in need. I know that as we look for opportunities to serve we will bless those around us and be blessed as we do so. I am greatful for the spirit and the comfort we can feel as we strive to have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion in our lives. This week I challenge all of you to serve someone around you and to also strive to have the spirit with you each day! I know you will be blessed as you do so! I love you all and am greatful for your support and love. Have an awesome week! Love Ya!

Handle to fix member's car

Selfie

Fixing car in the dark

Lady Viping?

Rain

Fallen Tree

 

April 2, 2018 A Prophet of God for Sure!!!

This week was such a good week. The highlight, was defiantly General Conference! We also went on splits for the first time in my mission, Had interviews by President Lee, had an awesome game night, and met a cool guy who was from Ghana.

I will save the best for last so I will tell about Splits! Splits are where the 2 missionaries in a area split up and go with 2 members. The 2 members we went with were 2 soon to be missionaries. I went with Jeff Jacobs and Elder Gibby went with Colt Mills. We decided to do some tracting which was unusual especially for going with others. We have some events coming up at our church for a 4 week counting so me and Jeff decided to invite people to church. In about 1 hr., we invited over 20 people to church. It was a good experience for Jeff to get to talk to people and get out of his shell in a way. I remember taking to people being one of the hardest things to do and it still is. We defiantly felt strength from the Lord as we went out of our way to talk and invite people. It was awesome! 

 

Once a transfer, President Lee will interview all of the missionaries and make sure they are doing good. Our district has 16 missionaries and interviews usually go from 5-20 min. After 2 hours, we were just starting on the 6th missionary! It was going so slow. We started our district meeting at 11:00 and finished around 4:00! It was such a long meeting and to make it even better, I got to give a training. I think it went well even though thoughts were a little scattered. I trained on why Members of the Church need Investigators. There are so many blessings from doing missionary work and Investigators give us the opportunity to receive those blessings and feel of the spirit more in our lives. One quote from power of every day missionaries that is talking about balancing Church Callings and missionary work said: 

 

"I decided to search the Doctrine and Covenants to see what guidance it might offer our ward and stake leaders for balancing these trade-offs to achieve proper focus. We found that the Doctrine and Covenants, as the instruction that God gave us for building the kingdom of God in the latter days, is filled with remarkable promises that God has offered to those who accept His call to share the gospel. Far from putting the kingdom out of balance, if our ward and stake leaders were to focus on leading their members to share the gospel, many of the other problems that fester in our hearts and homes, and in our wards and stakes, would resolve themselves through the blessings that come from accepting the call that God has given each of us to be missionaries"

This really stood out to me as why missionary work is so important. We all except the call to serve the Lord as we are baptized. Do we fulfill that call every day? I know that as we do, our problems in our day to day life will in time solve themselves and decay into nothing. It is so important to do missionary work. Also, we are able to practice teaching what we are living and practice the gospel more fully as we teach it to others. Lets all make missionary work the focus of our every day lives and I know our lives will dramatically improve and flourish

 

On Thursday, we had our 2 monthly game night. It had around 30 people and it seemed as if everyone was having a great time. We only had 1 investigator there but we had a lot of members who got to know each other better which is always good. It was a fun time and I almost memorized how to completely solve a crazy 12 sided Rubik cube. 

We met some people from Ghana as we were going to a dinner appointment. We were 2-3 minutes early so we started talking to this guy and his wife. They were moving apartments within the apartment complex because their old apartment flooded. They had just finished moving all of their stuff over so we weren't able to help in that way. We got talking about something and it lead to talking about wood work. He mentioned that he was trying to find a space to set up his machine shop and get some wood working done. This guy was really into lathe work and so we got talking. He had built his own lathe and made a living from making chair legs and vases. It was cool to get to know him and talk about a common interest. He invited us back to come talk with him any time we are in the area. Awesome experience! 

So, last of all General Conference was so spiritual. For me the most spiritual part was the sustaining of the Church Leaders and The Prophet. As I stood and sustained the Prophet, the spirit hit me so strong like a huge wave. At that very moment, I had gained a witness from Heavenly Father that Russell M. Nelson is called by him to lead the church today. The spirit was so strong. It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. I have a testimony of Latter day Prophets. President Nelson is a Prophet and I sustain him with all my heart. I hope you all were able to feel a similar spirit as you sustained President Nelson. There defiantly is a sweet spirit that comes from General Conference and I know that as we study and ponder the talks given throughout our daily lives, that we will find power and peace as we live by the council of the Prophets and Apostles of the church given to them by the Lord himself. Please heed the words of the Prophets and keep them alive in your hearts and homes. They will bless you and your family in every aspect of your lives. I know this to be true and leave you my testimony In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

 

I love you all and hope your weeks are full of the spirit. Keep pressing forward and working each day to be the best you can. That's all the Lord asks.

Quote of the week:

"Look after the man behind the one in front of you."

- Harold B. Lee

caterpillar

Fat Dog

Fat Dog 2

 

March 26,2018 Almost Conference!

This past week was a great week! We had a lot of opportunities to serve and help which in my opinion is one of the best aspects of missionary work. I also had the opportunity to listen to a few General Conference talks each day leading up to the upcoming General Conference. This week we also saw some tender mercies and miracles. But one of the best things was we got a little bit of bacon and also we started a new "challenge" of how to read the Book of Mormon. :)

And the best thing was we had great church attendance and a great lesson with Ralph, Carol, and Jimmy 

One thing I have grown to love more and more on my mission is serving others. This past week, we had a lot of opportunities to help some people. We helped Brother Luthie pack up some things and get ready to make the drive to Utah. We also got to help Brother Barber a lot. I had been wondering how I could best use my talents and abilities to serve those around me and hasten the work. This week as I prayed for opportunities, I was given many. A few opportunities I had were fixing Brother Barber's car window that was rolled down and wouldn't go back up. On his other car, he broke the handle off and I helped him get it apart so when he gets a new handle we can put it back on. I helped him change his battery, helped him load some fire wood in a guys car, did other small things... but most importantly, I was able to help give him and his grand daughter a blessing. As I prayed for opportunities to serve in greater capacity, I was given many opportunities. Some things I have been reminded of is as we pray for things, God will provide. As we serve with no desire of reward, we get the greatest reward of Joy and many other blessings. Imagine if everyone took 1 hour a week to serve someone else with no desire of reward. The world would be a better place in just 1 hr.! 

Now about General Conference... I wanted to better prepare for the upcoming General Conference so I decided to listen at least one General Conference talk a day. As I have done so, it has been such a good opportunity to renew and increase my spirituality and better have the words of prophets on my mind. Something that I have recently been able to practice and learn is that as we put in the effort to study and prepare for messages given to prophets and apostles by God, we will get a lot more out of what is shared and said. Also as we continue to study and apply what we learn, we will receive blessings. If we put in the effort to show we care about what the Lord wants us to learn and know, he will enlighten our hearts and minds and bless us even more. 

This week was filled with tender mercies and miracles. Some weeks as Missionaries, life seems like it is just falling apart. We can't seem to get anything to go right no matter how hard we try. We invite 15 people to church and 0 show up, we have 8 set lessons and they all fall through. This week was an odd week when things just worked out. We had a bunch of different lessons happen, and it was super good. We started inviting people to have a question and read a chapter from the book of Mormon while praying and writing inspiration to Receive answers for themselves. We met with an investigator who hadn't been contacted for months and had an awesome lesson with him. We set up a lesson to meet with Ralph and it fell through twice! It was very sad but he said he would be at church with his Mom and her boyfriend. And miracles happened! He showed up to church with his whole family. They loved it and had a great time. Our mission leader had a good chat with them before they left and set up an appointment for that night around 6. We went at 6 and had an amazing lesson with Ralph. He said he wants to be baptized and is willing to put in the work to make it happen. He was smiling the whole time we were having the lesson with his mother (Carol ) and her Boyfriend (Jimmy). You can tell he was filling the Holy Ghost which was something he loves. The lesson we had was super powerful and the spirit was so strong. Carol and Jimmy could defiantly feel the spirit and many tears were shed. 

 

Last of all, Sister Grieve gave us some bacon. We were expecting a box or 2 of the 12 piece bacon you buy for campouts. She ended up giving us a 10 lb. bag of bacon! We can now eat bacon every day for every meal and never run out! Haha. The members here are super awesome! 

 

I hope you all have an awesome week and continue to prepare for General Conference and be open to inspiration and prayerfully ask questions. I know you can Receive answers as you do so. I love you all and appreciate all you do for me! Make this week the best week yet! Love ya!

 

“Success isn't given, it is earned. On the track, on the field, in the gym. With blood, sweat and the occasional tear.”  

- Nike

Apartment Sunset

Bacon Donated by Member

Driving home from church

Elder Gibby?

Bowl and Marble Slab from Tongan Temple

Protein

 

March 19,2018 Short Week

What a WEEK!

This week we had a lot of different things going on. I will just highlight a few which are.... 

1. Many much referrals

2. Patriarchal Blessing Revelations!

3. ‎Elementary School Fair

4. Brother Barber and Purgatory

5. ‎Migraine Sunday

So this week was a very good week with the missionary work. We have received an explosion of referrals this past week. The best part is they are all from members or other missionaries so they are super promising and have a desire to learn! Something I feel really contributed to this was our preparation as missionaries. This week I have been refocusing my studies and studying for my investigators instead of myself. Selfless study! HAHA! Anyway, as I have prepared myself and searched for the best ways to teach and searched for the guidance of the spirit in how I prepare, I feel that I am better prepared to teach. In doing this, The Lord has trusted me more and is putting more people in our path that are ready for the message. Each of us can do a similar thing in our own lives.

 Self Evaluation:

- What are some things I want in my life (More of, Less of, Change, Improve....)

- ‎What is my specific plan to prepare myself to accomplish these things

- ‎Are my "Goals" in line with Heavenly Fathers Goals (Pray and Ask!)

- ‎As we are blessed, What will we do to show our appreciation and build our trust with Heavenly Father so he can continue to bless us

I think in about every aspect of our lives we can use a very similar process and it will help us align our will with Heavenly Father's ultimately helping us achieve our end goal of Eternal Life with our Father in Heaven and our families.

Something I think everyone should try that I saw awesome results from this week was thinking of a life question, Praying for inspiration, and reading your patriarchal blessings and writing down things that stick out to you. Sometimes I wonder if parts of my Patriarchal blessing have been fulfilled and "Pass Away" or don't apply to me any more but in doing this exercise I have received new levels of inspiration and guidance in my day to day struggles and found answers to every question I've tried it with so far! Try it!!!!

On Friday, we had a opportunity to volunteer at a children's fair for a elementary school. Something that really stuck out to me was the impression people had of the missionaries as we served in the community. There were many comments similar to this, "Whatever group your from is awesome! We really appreciated your kindness, willingness to serve, and your example." As members, we may take this lightly but it really shows that there is something different about Those Mormons. We have a light about us and as we go out and follow the example of Christ in all we do, others will see that light radiate from within us and some may rub off on them. Service is powerful! 

So probably the highlight of the week was Brother Barber! On Saturday, we offered to help him with some service after we ate lunch and he offered to take us to lunch. We drove around for a few minutes trying to decide where to go and in the end he decided McDonalds would be fastest and we were short on time. We pulled up to the drive through and there were probably 10 cars in the line waiting to split into one of the drive thru lanes. Brother Barber started driving past all of the cars so I was assuming we were just going to go in. While passing all the cars, he said in his low raspy voice.... "All those people choosing the left are choosing purgatory." I then realized that he was passing all of the cars that had been waiting and cutting into the right lane. Me and Elder Gibby were laughing so hard. Brother Barber didn't even realize what he was doing which made it funnier. He proceeded to tell us that his uncle told him that "When everyone else in the world is going left, go right!" It was defiantly a good time!

On Sunday, I woke up at 4:30 with a killer headache. I tried going back to sleep and just sleeping it off but I couldn't! I finally got up at around 5 and took an Advil and tried going back to sleep. After around 30-45 minutes I was able to sleep for a little until the alarm went off. It wasn't the best morning and for the rest of the day I had the worst headache right behind my eyes where if I turned to fast or bent over I would get light headed. It wasn't the best but its life. Just imagine how much of a Headache Christ had to feel as he did suffer for all of our pains and afflictions. I know that Christ is the one person who knows what each of us are going through in our lives second to second and has been through our pains. We can turn to him and as it says in 

 ~ Mosiah 24: 15 ~

     And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

Lets all remember to turn to the Savior in our hard times and look to him. He will help us through them as we submit to his will!

A Short week has come to a close. I am so grateful for each and every one of you. You make my life so much easier and help lighten my loads and I hope I can do the same. If you ever need anything, feel free to send me a email(Spiritual Message, Diet/Workout ;), Some Hot Weather, Want to share testimony w/ me...) Keep on following the example of Christ in all you do and it will bless you and those around you and don't forget to always choose the RIGHT! (Not Purgatory) Haha. I love you all and hope your weeks are spirit filled and full of laughter and smiles! 

Biking Elders

Cool Wooden Moose

Truck with bench

Fish



Flag

Flower

Flowers

Free Pizza



Jacob Elgaaen

Shrimp

Weird Florida Door mat

 

March 14, 2018 Wowzers!

This was an interesting past week and a half fish. We had a lot going on and a lot of weird things happening. First off, the highlight was probably listening to Lynn G. Robins talk to us at our zone conference. What a guy! Some other things that happened were making medical trips to Gainesville 2×, 2 awesome lessons with GoPaul, a bunch of exchanges, going to bed early, and EGGS! 

To start, Elder Lynn G Robins came and spoke to us for our zone conference. The main topic that he spoke on was Hope. He shared how the Lord knows all things. He knows the past, present, and future. We each experience hard trials and have sorrows in this life and need somewhere to look and make our goal. He gave an example. Imagine you were stranded in the middle of the ocean. There was no indicator of where you were and nowhere to go. You have close to 0 motivation to paddle because you could be traveling further away and quickening your death. But if in the horizon you see a island, you will have 100% motivation and 5× the strength to work to get to that island. I really liked this image and it really explains each of our lives. Some feel lost with nowhere to go. In this situation there is little encouragement or excitement to act. But as we set that end goal and desire to get there, we will work our hardest and be motivated to take the journey. He also talked about repentance. Here are some notes from that:

REPENTANCE

     - Doing anything that brings you closer to God is repentance 

     - Blessing

     - Repentance can be tough. Temptation enters a door that may intentionally been left adjar or open(Having rated R movies available on Netflix even though we may not watch them)

     - Repentance Requires The Redeemer; Alma 34

     - Any way other than the Lord's way is multiple choice misery 

     - Signs That Are on the road to repentance (Stop, One Way, HOV) 

     - ‎Alma 34:15-18; Celestial Repentance

     - Repentance doesn't erase consequences 

     - We can strive to have a perfect day but we will fall short daily. Repentance is a lifetime curriculum. We don't have repentance because we might sin, we have repentance because we will sin. There is no other way, repentance is the only way!

Medical stuff loves Elder Gibby! 1st, we had to go to Gainesville for Elder Gibby because of counseling. He has been stressing way to much and so he has to meet with some lady every other week. We were suppose to be an hour at his appointment and had to be super strict with time because we had someone dropping off dinner at 5 and she had somewhere to be. Also we had an exchange starting at 6 so we had to be at the church by then. Gainesville is about a 30 minute drive from Alachua where our apartment is and our apartment is 15 minutes from the church. We got to Elder Gibby,'s appointment at 3:30 when it started. I sat outside in the chapel and waited. Come 5 i was tempted to go knock on the door and tell him were late. Soon after he came out. We got our food delivered to one of our neighbors and ended up having a 5 minute dinner so we made it to our exchange on time. Very stressful day! On Saturday, Elder Gibby's eye was hurting and we ended up going to the Insta-care to get it checked out. He had scratched his eye and that made our day very limited. After we got back from Gainesville, it was about 7:30 and Elder Gibby eye was hurting so we turned all the lights off and still any light hurt so we ended up going to bed super early at 8! It turned out to be good because daylight savings was the next day! Anyways, we our both doing okay... or at least I am! Haha. 

We had a bunch of exchanges this week were a member goes out with us and helps us in our missionary efforts. There is an awesome spirit present when members come. We got to meet with one of our investigators, GoPaul twice during the past week and ended up inviting him to baptism. He said yes! We still need to set a date with him which we plan to do tonight at dinner. 

And last of all, EGGS! I had asked some members if they could spare some eggs because being out in the country, there are tons of chickens. I ended up getting 108 eggs from church and it was awesome! Haha I usually eat 8 Eggs a day which can get expensive so the more eggs the better! 

Well I hope you all had a great spiritually filling week so far. Remember Christ in all you do and you will be blessed. I love you all and am so grateful for your love. I feel your love for me and find strength in your testimonies. Keep on keeping on! Love ya! 

Random Thought: 

Remember it's hard for Heavenly Father to steer a parked car! Faith without works is dead!

Freezing Again

Dog who wanted to go tracting

over 100 eggs donated by the members

Elder Gibby's new look after an eye exam

Frog by the library

Moldy Gatorade

Treats made by the Relief Socity

Notes from the Relief Socitey

Treats from the Relief Socity