Missionaries for YOU, YES YOU!

All of the new products coming out are all about giving the customer something that is aimed to them personally. Businesses are all about customer service and catering to the needs of the customer. Well guess what else is catered and here just for you? Missionaries! :D We dedicate 2 years of our lives to come and be your missionaries, yes YOUR missionaries. We are here for you! How personal is that? No matter how hot! No...

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Saying Goodbye's

As a missionary we get to call home on Christmas and Mother's day, so it being Christmas this last week, I Skyped home!!!! The hardest part about the whole call was saying goodbye. I really really really REALLY don't like saying goodbyes! (I'm not going anywhere, so this isn't a creative way of saying goodbye, just got to get that out of the way.) Before I came out on a mission I was sharing my dislike of goodbyes and they came up with a good...

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Am I on a Mission?

My last companion, Elder Willis, always said something that I loved and find myself saying now, "Are we on our missions?" It really hit me every time he said it, heck yah I'm on my mission!! And how epicly cool is that? No matter how hard the time we were going through at that point I couldn't help but smile. I was on a mission. Did I really have a reason to be discouraged? When we fully grasp where we are and who we are, do we really...

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'Tis the Season (Christmas Post)

Christmas time!!! This is my first Christmas away from my family. As I put up a mini Christmas tree and put up lights I couldn't help but miss putting up the lights with my brother back at home. Fun story, We would put up the lights on the edge of the roof that had a big drop off if we were to slip. Being the natural geniuses we are, we came up with this idea: The way the house came to a point, the cord/trusting rope would have stopped me...

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People in our lives

It's great how the Lord put's us with people for a reason. We all are unique and each were made differently. Think about how many people have lived on this earth and will still live, none of them are the same! Think about how many people you interact with compared to the insanely huge number of total people who will live on this earth. You are meant to be with those around you. It's part of God's divine plan! His Plan of Happiness includes...

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Well it's Snowing...

It snowed! :D It was really exciting!  Then it snowed again.  and again.   Then it got cold. Can you feel the excitement diminishing? However it made for a great conversation starter, "So, what do you think of the snow?" I've gotten a wide range of answers, there were two answers that reached the two ends of the spectrum however. It's dandruff falling from the sky and it's angels feathers falling...

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Blessings through Others

One of my greatest joys on my mission is being a tool in the Lord's hands of blessing another's life and being an answer to prayers. Time and time again we have been in the right place at the right time, very far from coincidence. We were tracting at one point and knocked on someones door. She answered and didn't seem too interested in our message so we offered our help and she was taken back a bit. She told us that she had huge stones she...

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Eternal Families

My second day in Canandaigua I met a recent convert and he touched me with his testimony. I leaned over to my companion and mentioned that we should really try to teach his mom. 6 months later: And what even was more miraculous:     The recent convert, her son, baptized her.   The whole journey has been miracle after miracle and the many missionaries that brought them through the sites on tours and the many who met...

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Hope, Even When All Hope is Lost

I was sitting in church and was trying not to be discouraged as none of the people that the missionaries had been teaching came that Sunday. About half way through the first meeting my attention was diverted as someone came and sat down next to the missionaries in front of us. One of the missionaries leaned back and asked us to save the seat  next to us so when their investigator came, he would have a place to sit. I was stunned. It...

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Famine in our Lives

The most memorable moment in the MTC was that first evening. They had 50+ missionaries all in one classroom teaching one person. We all have had been missionaries for only a few hours and we were expected to work together to teach a person the Gospel of Christ that we have a testimony of. I didn't know what to say. I grew up living this gospel and I honestly could not come up with an answer to this person's questions. I wouldn't say I was...

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Fast Sunday Miracle

Once a month the LDS church has fast Sunday, in which we don't eat or drink for 24 hours or two meals. As a kid I tended to dread fast Sundays because of the torturous pantry that would taunt me all day. However being out on a mission it has changed my view quite dramatically. This last Sunday was fast Sunday and I made it a point, the night before, to kneel down and begin my fast with a true heart and a reason to fast. With those I'm fasting...

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Boogers or Kit-Kats?

We had the opportunity to teach Elder's Quorum this last Sunday and with it had an object lesson. We had two volunteers and two cups with different candies in it. The first was a candy that looked like boogers:  and the second was a Kit-Kat bar: We gave the one volunteer the first cup with the boogers in it and told him to convince the other volunteer to eat whatever is in that cup. As he struggled to describe the "boogers" in the cup...

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Things Unseen

When I was attending BYU-Idaho, I had the privilege to have my brother come out and visit me! He came right after a snowfall so we decided to go sledding on the sand dunes (which were bigger than any hill we had in Wisconsin.) Finding a well trodden path we jumped on the sled. I watched them go down and glanced over my shoulder to see a completely untouched side of the dune. I set my sled in the snow, pushed off, and flew down the hill. I...

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Can I See Your Permit?

Walking through a town we saw a man whom we had taught before. We sat down and were helping him understand some verses in the Bible since he had trouble comprehending. As we sat there the man who owned the house walked up and asked if we had a permit. Confused I asked what he meant? He explained that in this town we had to have a permit to do things like we were doing... Realizing that I had a certificate in my pocket I pulled it out and...

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Blessings in Disguise (Part 2)

For those of you who haven't read part 1, click here. My body immediately went into shock so I don't know if the stick broke off or if I broke it off, but nonetheless, there was a stick stuck up my nose. I immediately called out for my brother and he came rushing back. I didn't know who was freaking out more, him or I! After making a phone call to my Mom and trying to explain the situation, she said she would meet us there. I managed to...

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Don't Even Go There (Part 1)

Any story that starts out with my brother and I can never be good, but here it goes! My brother and I were biking through the woods at a nearby park. We got to this huge hill and we both just went for it. At the bottom of the hill it curved off to the right and we both barely made the turn and thought it was the coolest thing ever. So we did it again. I got to the top of the hill and decided there's no way I was going to try that again....

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Seeing things as they really are

It was a beautiful day outside and we had the chance to teach a lesson out on the lawn. Mason had his dog running around and I couldn't help but smile as it spazzed out and ran in circles like dogs do. The dog finally chilled out so I averted my attention from the dog to the lesson. Mason starts laughing and I look at my companion who has a huge smile on his face, I looked down and saw that my bag was wet. I laughed and asked if the dog licked...

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Vanilla Vs. Syrup

Everybody likes a good batch of chocolate chip cookies, it's just a fact. My brother and I had a craving for them and decided to make a batch. Since my parents were out on their date night we decided to go for it with no supervision. It went really well! We were working together, having a blast, and then we got to an ingredient: Vanilla. We didn't have any vanilla. Stumped we thought about what we could do. Neither of us could drive, and...

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Manner of Happiness

I know I've already posted a blog post about happiness, but I found a scripture that really brought out a whole new point that I just couldn't help but share! "And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness." 2 Nephi 5:27 They were happy! Who likes to be happy? I guess the real question is who doesn't like to be happy?? I absolutely love being happy, pretty much the best thing ever. Earlier in the chapter it described...

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Adversity and Righteousness

In a youth stake meeting, President Mortimer whom is in the stake presidency, said a line that has really stuck with me since, "Don't let the test deter the decision." Deciding to go on a mission was a decision I made a long time ago, however the test didn't come until right before I left. I can look back now and see every test that the adversary threw my way. I have never been tested more in my life then right before I had to walk through...

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Power of God

"The Priesthood is the power and authority that God gives to man to act in all things necessary for the salvation of God’s children." The Priesthood is the result of the restoration of the true church of Christ, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, on this earth once again. It makes baptism into our church a key to salvation and allows to have a prophet of God, President Thomas S. Monson, to guide and direct Christ's church on...

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Trusting Completely

Following the promptings of the spirits are eternally important, and he speaks to each of us in a unique way. We need to heed these followings and follow them immediately. Recently, we were driving down main street and I saw that a concert was being played at the stage and I felt for some reason we should go. The music was not going to be approved for missionaries, is it really a good use of our time to go and watch a concert? It made no...

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How do you Listen?

I have felt that I never really had a big Holy Ghost prompting as an answer to my prayers. I've had a few lego story moments that I can remember, but nothing too major that I really felt was the Holy Ghost speaking and guiding me.  I learned an important aspect of how the Holy Ghost speaks to all of us by a simple experience, right at the beginning of my mission. My first day on my mission we stopped at a rest stop...

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You're Not Alone

A not so long time ago, in a not so far away state... I was in Middle School! It was an ordinary English class in which we were reading a play. We would take turns reading as different characters and it eventually came my turn to read. As I read the lines I came across a swear word and nonchalantly grazed over it with a humorous censor "beep" and continued on. My teacher stopped me and pointed out that I skipped the word and that I should...

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The 9 Mile Bike Rides

Being blessed with a truck in our area has been great, and I didn't really appreciate it until I didn't have it anymore! We had to take the truck in to the shop and were told that it would take all day. Not having anybody nearby to give us a ride on such short notice, we broke out the bikes and helmets and went on our way. A little geography lesson on the Canandaigua area, at the moment we live 9 miles outside of our area, the truck shop is...

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The Lego Moments

While we were sharing a dinner thought about prayer, one of the children of the family shared how he was missing a Lego block and couldn't find it. He knelt in prayer and asked that he would be able to find this missing piece. He stood up and found it very promptly. The father then included that his son has had a lot of significant testimony builders through Legos. I smiled, remembering a few of my own! When it comes to the eternal scheme...

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Standing our Ground

We were helping a member from the ward build fence on his horse farm and I had no idea of the lesson I would learn that day! We had a section of the fence knocked down and the horses were gathering around. The farmer affirmed us that the horses wouldn't try to get out and that we shouldn't worry. Continuing to work, the horses continued to crowd. One of his dogs nipped at one of the horses and a horse took off through the gap. Because one...

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The Lord Prepares Us

The first night in the mission field was a whirlwind, only a few things truly stuck with me from that night. Our mission president asked us all a question, "Why are you called to this mission at this time?" He didn't necessarily ask for an answer, he concluded by saying that we should always be asking ourselves this question and hopefully by the end we'll have an answer. I'm now almost 6 months out and pondering on the question I have begun...

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Happiness: A Decision

Recently I had a quite an interesting day as a missionary! We attended zone conference which is about a 25 mile drive and then we returned home. It wasn't until I walked in to the apartment that I realized we didn't have our phone, and that I left it under a tree back at zone conference. We drove all the way back and used 50 more miles just because I didn't remember the phone. We helped a family with service that night in which I shattered...

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The Title of Liberty of Our Day...

"In Memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children." I had a missionary give this lesson before I left. He read the line where Captain Moroni rents his clothing and the missionary then got up and tore his white shirt off (having another shirt and tag on under it.) Needless to say it was a pretty unforgettable lesson! At that moment in my life, as I was preparing to go on my mission, the adversary...

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Perfection

"Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." 3 Nephi 12:48 We are told to become perfect. The key word in what I just said is BECOME. "The message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is that we can and must expect to BECOME better as long as we live." -Henry B. Eyring We are saved through being perfect. How can we become perfect? Only through Christ's grace.  How...

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