Words from Elder Garrett Davis in Thailnd

KALASIN!:) and monkeys:)

so this week was great but it flew by fast!!:) so this week i had the chance to go see some monkeys on pday and so we are going long and i see this monkey with a beer can i had to take the picture it was pretty funny:) but and the week goes on we had the chance to teach some investigators and recent converts which i love doing my favorite lesson to teach would probably have to be the plan of salvation:) i love it. but as the week went on church came around and we talk about fasting and everyone gave how they thought about fasting and everything and it was great i learned a lot and believe it or not i love fasting after realizing how much we can gain when we fast:) but my favorite answer is that is helps us over come the natural man:) and it helps us grow spiritual as well:) but i am sorry for a short letter but i am running out of time:) i will talk more next week:) i love you guys and thank you so much for your letters i love them:) Love 

Elder Davis:)

 

 

Words from Elder Bradon Day in

Hello Everyone!!

So I'm in my new area in Oklahoma City, its so awesome here! I hated saying goodbye to everyone in Blackwell but its been a great time here in the city. My new ward has 300+ active members so its totally different and exciting!! We don't have many investigators here yet but we are working on it, great things are going to happen here! Its so different trying to get use to an area, especially one this big. There are so many names to learn, and so many big neighborhoods, I'm going to get lost so much! My new companion is Elder Rumsey, and he is from Phoenix! So we have 2 Arizona kids running around the streets of Oklahoma City! I'll only be with him for 6 weeks though, he gets to go home then! But we've been having a great time here, and I'm so excited to serve in the city!

My new address is

3101 NW 150th ST

Apt. 35G

Oklahoma City, OK

74134

Time is running short so I'll write more next week and give more info!!

Love, Elder Day!

Words from Elder Eli Frazier in Peru

Well another week in paradise! The people here are all out in the streets getting everyone wet<! this time is when everybody has huge water fights everyday and it doesn't matter who you are you get wet! we were in a little bus going to district meeting and someone threw a big bucket of water through t the bus window and soaked me! haha but its awesome! we have a scheduled baptism for this Saturday so ill write about it next week! Love you all , all is well i am well enough off. as Joseph would say hahhah

a few pics of a service project, an exchange with elder manning from Oregon, and a sunset! 

Elder Frazier

 

Words from Sister Hannah Platt in Honduras

Well I am still here in my good ole area of Country!! I love it so much and i am so grateful i get to be here another transfer. I have a new companion named Hermana Cruz. She is from Columbia and is 29. She is seriously the most amazing missionary i have ever met. I am learning so much from her and she is teaching me how to work hard. She truly was an answer to my prayers and i know the Lord inspires mission presidents when transfers come. She spent a year in the states so she knows a little bit of English which for me is a blessing. :) she is like my older sister and i am soo grateful for the chance i have to work with her! We worked our tails off this week and it felt so good. Our zone has a goal of 40 baptisms this month, so we seriously have been running around like crazy trying to find new people to teach. I can just testify that the Lord has been preparing the hearts of the people here to recieve this message of the restored gospel. 

We had a baptism on Saturday. His name is Dennis Lagos and is truly a golden investigator. He found us and set up an appointment to meet with us about 4 weeks ago. He read every single passage we left him and kept every single commitment. Seeing him get baptized and recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost was someting i won´t forget. I am so grateful to be a missinoary. There trluy is no great joy in the world than helping someone discover their Savior Jesus Christ. The change that this gospel can make in the lives of people is amazing. I know with my whole heart that this gospel is true. There is no doubt in my mind that this Chruch is true. I don´t have a lot to offer, but how grateful i am that the Lord has allowed me to help in the work of Salvation. This mission is teh greatest blessing of my life. I wouldn´t trade it for the world. Every single experience and trial i have had, have been worth it. THank you all for you prayers. They have helpe me to get trhough the hard times. 

Well that´s all i have time for! But i love you all! Have an amzing week!!!

Love,

Hermana Platt

 

Words from Elder Jared Anderson in Brazil

Dear Family,

It is crazy how fast the weeks pass. I feel like i am dreaming. I still have so much to learn and time is coming to an end. But things are going great this week was a little tougher. One of our recent converts has fallen away for the moment. Because her testimony was not firmly planted in our Saviour Jesus Christ. We continue striving to help her but until now to no avail. I beg each of you to head the counsel in Helaman 5:12. I was asked by an investigator if this is the true and chosen church why are there people falling away. i thought a lot of this this past week and we are taught that we must have our testimony planted firmly in Christ that WE as members of the church must help those who are in need of our help, love and support. Also we MUST strengthen ourselves daily through scripture study and prayer and through our weekly church meetings. I have truly seen being a mission that it is the "small and simple things" (1'nefi 16:29) that really make the BIGGEST difference. a little effort gives great outcomes. our constant effort changes lives and will change this world. I love you all and be happy :)

-Elder Anderson

Words from Elder Adam Otto in Idaho

So this week has probably been one of the hardest weeks of my life! And I didn't even realize it until today. So it's good to stay busy and forget yourself in the work!

Found out Elder Jones and I will be staying here in Old Town for another transfer! Don't know if I can survive another six weeks in crazy town, but I know the Lord knows I can!

This week the weather has been pretty icky. We woke up one morning and there was snow everywhere! But it all melted a few hours later...so yeah. Then later it started hailing/snowing, and it looked like Dippin dots! I ate them and they tasted like snow :)

We went to the Idaho Falls temple on friday, and I was so excited. I had never been so excited to go to the temple before! I felt like a huge chunk of me was missing, and I knew I could find it at the temple. Peace. Just peace in the House of the Lord! I love it so much, and there are so many blessings that come from the temple. I am so blessed to have gone before it closes in march until october 2016. My last time in that temple as a missionary! 

We have had so many trials, and it's not worth it to write them all down, because we can't focus on the negative! But I know the Lord has a plan for each and everyone of us, even though it may be difficult to see at the moment. 

I just want to share my testimony of how much I love being a missionary. I may not be the best, in fact, not even close, but I love it so much. I can't say that I love every moment of my mission, but I love how every moment makes me grow! I love the people here, like truly! They can get sooo frustrating at times, but I just pray for charity, and things work out. These are my brothers and sisters, and it makes me so sad when they choose not to follow Christ. We all make mistakes, and so that's always important to remember! I loooovveee the Atonement!

Thanks so much for all you do! I love you all, and make sure you help out the missionary work in your wards!!! PLEASE! It's tough when the ward members don't cooperate...I love you all! :)

Elder Otto

Words from Elder Kyle James in Gemany

Liebe Familie,

This week was just amazing. So much has happened. I don't know where to begin. 

Friday, Elder Bader and I got a call from Präsident. Danger day was very dangerous for us. I will tell you about that later though.

Montag- We played soccer in the morning. It sucked. I actually won though.... I guess I am better than I thought. Haha we then played some games and ate together. It was Fasching and there was people everywhere... dressed like freaks, all over the city... the buses stopped running... due to the mass amounts of drunk partiers. We decided to stay inside that night... haha. 

Dienstag- We played soccer with some kids of the guy who got baptized. We invited lots of people... but they didn't come. Schade. I scored at least 10 goals. Not bad! I still hate soccer though. Maybe I will learn to like it in my next area! Spoiler Alert! We also met with Domingo. He is a midget in our ward. He has a pellet gun in his house... and he shoots rats. I saw a dead rat that he had shot. It was really cool. I really like that guy. We also met with Sky. 

Mittwoch- Very good day... though I can't remember much... sorry.... my thoughts are centered on the future... like where I am going. what I am doing... and so on. We interviewed Sky for his taufe and he passed with flying colors. He was ready for his taufe. I am so excited for him. 

Thursday-- we had like 3 lessons with less actives and Sky. It was also a very good day and we got a lot done. 

Freitag--- Dun dun dun. So..... right before comp study at 9 in the morning.. we get a call from president. He talked to me first. He called me as a district leader. A DISTRICT LEADER? I am only in my 5th transfer! I am still in my first area! Everyone is gonna be way older that me. hahaha Elder Bader got a call too. He is going to train in Solingen. Lucky. I love Solingen. We were both way excited. I am going to get a grandson!! Already! I will be in my 6th srea when I get a grandson!! Whoohoo!! I was the only one in my mtc group to be called as district leader. First one. But yeah... I got transferred too... but that is on Saturday.

Saturday-- We listend to transfer calls with the rest of the Solingen brotherhood. We had breakfast and listened very closely. Elder DeMass and Ashton are staying with Bader in Solingen.  I, however, got called to be District leader in the Wetzlar district. There are 10 members of my new district. 4 sister and 6 elders. I live in the nicest Appt in the mission in Gießen. The sisters live in Wetzlar. Darn it. I don't want sisters in my area. We can't hang out with them like we could with the 4 elders in Solingen haha. But yeah. I am way excited to be a leader. DL life here I come. I talked to someone here and they said I would be zone leader in a few transfers. That would be hard haha. But yeah! I will get to go to the Temple! I will be pretty close to it!! Sweet! I am really sad to leave Solingen. I leave the brotherhood behind. :( I love those guys. I love elder Bader. I love Ashton and DeMass. Dang. Oh well. I will see them again. 

I heard Wetzlar has a sweet Castle and a cool church. We shall see though. I bet you guys will look it up. I have to learn a new Dialect too. Jawohl. Hahah 

Sonntag. What a wonderful day. We got to the church and there were a lot of people there. A popular family in our ward had a baby blessing. It was very nice. Lots of non members there. I packed all of my baptisim stuff and I was all ready. The bischofschaft asked me to give a leavers testimony. I did it no problem. My German has gotten so much better. I can speak my mind now. I am so thankful for the Gelegenheit to learn a new language. It is really cool!

After the Meeting... we filled the font. Printed off baptisim flyers. Found Sky a baptisim suit... and then I changed as well. The meeting was great. I gave my testimony... and his dad gave his.... still crazy... but it works. Then we went to the baptismal font. I baptized him in perfect German...thank goodness. I was so happy. Everything went great. His non member mom came too! Maybe she will take the lessons now!! She is coming next week, too!! I won't be here though.

What a miracle. I baptize him.. and leave the area 3 days afterwards. That Is such a miracle. I am so thankful for the chance to do that. It just strengthens my testimony. 

After the baptism, everyone gave me hugs, saying good luck. All the members were so thankful for my service. They said I did a great job. Even our bischof. He hugged me like 4 times... and told me that he was so, so, so thankful for everything. Everything I did, everyone I helped. Our GML said that Bischof Pauly doesnt do stuff like that normally. I  will miss that man. 

I am so thankful for everything I learned here. All the friends I made. All of the souls I helped save. I am so thankful for Solingen. It was hard at times, it was amazing mostly. But over all, It was just awesome. I am so thankful for the people here. The members. For everything.

I believe in Miracles. I know that I, Kyle James, Was put in Solingen to baptize Sky. I know I was. I am so thankful. I can't even describe. Elder Bader was a great comp... and his funny Englisch helped my German out a lot! He had a father and Son baptisim... and I couldn't ask for anymore.

Well... Off to Wetzlar/Gießen. Off to an Awesome aparment. Off to my own car!! Thats right... I get a car now! When Frankfurt gets my license translate!!!!!! HURRY UP!!! I am so excited. If I can't drive.... I blame it on Frankfurt. I passed my test 5 months ago! But yeah. I have heard crazy good things about our appartment. Heated floors. Elavator for the car. I am over three areas. Hanau. Wederau, und Wetzlar. I am so excited!!

I love you guys so much!! Have an awesome week! I get a car... hopefully... hahaha

Oh yeah... it snowed hard last night. We got blanketed. And.. I am wearing shorts. I leave on Thursday to Frankfurt HBH and then to Wetzlar. 

Today we are hanging out with our district. Saying goodbye to me hahhaha.

Well... I need to pack and sign Tschüss books! Love you all!

Elder James. 

 

Words from Sister Brittay Platt in Colorado

Olo everyone!

What a wonderful week! We did a lot of service this past week, which we weren't planning on, but it was great to help a lot of people!

 

Jeff and Sarah are doing so so amazing! We taught the Restoration and watched the shorter video of the Restoration with them. They loved it and ended up finding the full version on Netflix and watching it. They also watched 17 Miracles and loved it! They've been reading in the Doctrine and Covenants all week this week and are almost through!! Holy cow! I don't think I've ever read it that fast. They said they loved sections 9, 25, and 76, and a few more. So amazing! They're excited to read the Pearl of Great Price and the Joseph Smith History. On Sunday, our church got cancelled because the weather was so bad and all the missionaries' cars got "grounded" (we weren't allowed to drive). So, we texted our mission president and asked if we could go over to Jeff and Sarah's home and watch "The Saratov Approach" with them. He gave us permission and told us to share a spiritual thought afterwards. When we got to their home, they gave us both an envelope that had a letter and a picture of people playing "twister" (that's like our new inside joke!). The letter told us how us coming into their lives had changed them forever. BUT, more importantly, they bore their testimonies of the Savior and the Book of Mormon. They also quoted scriptures from the Book of Mormon. It was like getting the biggest diamond in the entire world!! The Holy Ghost was so strong and I couldn't help but smile like a fool! It was such a tender mercy and something I'll treasure forever!

 

Some other miracles we've had this week is we finally got to meet with three investigators that we haven't been able to meet with the last several weeks! We're hoping to put one of them on date soon! Also, a member in our ward, her husband is very less-active and he hasn't let their two kids get baptized. We've been over there quite a bit helping them with stuff, and we asked her on Saturday if we could start teaching their two kids the lessons and if her husband would be okay with that? She was so excited about it and said absolutely!!! We've been praying a lot about who to focus on this transfer, and they kept coming to our minds. Her husband has been warming up a lot with us too, so please pray that their two kids will get baptized! Also, Krystal (the girl from Round Valley) is doing so well! We meet with her every week and although we haven't been there when her husband's been home, we've been able to teach her and her daughter (who is 11 and hasn't been baptized). It's been so wonderful and I love their family!

 

We had dinner with our bishop this week and we listened to a talk with he and his wife. It's called "The Difference One Can Make" by Larry Johnson and it changed my life!! If any of you have youth that are struggling have them listen to this talk! I'll try to send a copy home to my mom. It's so amazing and I felt the Holy Ghost so strongly. I won't tell you what it's about, but please find it and listen to it and have any and all youth you can find listen to it!

 

Well, that's it for this week. I want you all to know that I love this work with all my heart! Something I've realized this week is how nothing I am compared to God. Yet, despite all my nothingness, He loves me so much and I am His daughter. I've felt the power of Satan this week a lot more than I would like, but I know that as I remain close to God and continue to turn my will over to Him, He will make my weaknesses become strengths!! This is one of the hardest things I've ever done, but also one of the greatest! One of the best things about this mission is that I get to serve at the same time my sister Hannah! Although our missions are very different and the people we serve are different, this work is still the same and the growth and the feelings we have and the experiences we have are changing us for the better! Reading her testimony and her experiences every week strengthen mine and help me to be grateful every day for this country! Please don't take it for granted! Please share the truth that we have with everyone around you!

 

I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers! I can't tell you how much I have felt the power of them out on my mission! I love prayer! It is so powerful! Have a wonderful, missionary-moments-filled week and God bless you!

Love, Sister Platt

#Godisgood

#1,001

Words from Elder Chandon Herring in Washington DC

First off I have to say that Portugal is going to be getting an amazing missionary! Mason you are going to do incredibly well! Love you man!

Ok hello everyone! How are you? Good?  good.  I am good as well. It is
cold here and we have had a decent amount of snow. It warmed up to the
fifties yesterday so that was nice. We were snowed in Monday night, Tuesday morning and afternoon, then on Saturday and Sunday for most of the day. Boy do we have cabin fever. But that is ok. We got to nap, study, and call a lot of people.

Tuesday... We were snowed in for a while. Not allowed to even use the Metro until 2! So for lunch I made brownie pudding! Yum! We spent the day contacting. We had no appointments. It was cool though on the
metro. I was talking to this guy and gave him a small copy of the family a proclamation to the world. He thanked me and we parted. I looked back and he had put away his phone and read the whole thing! It was really cool! I hope he accepts it! He and his family need it! I
love contacting!

Wednesday... Nothing too exciting. We were able to get out and teach a
few members, all other lessons canceled. So we had a good time contacting.  Again, I thought, as i watched my kids(Elders Levi and Lematua), how lucky I am to be training them. They are good missionaries and are doing it all right. I love it! We had dinner with Jordan. He is so cool! Then we
got called in because of the roads. Boo!!

Thursday... Today was great! Bishop had us come over and his wife told me to teach her how to make cinnamon rolls. I have only made them like three times but it was fun acting like I knew what I was doing. They turned out super good! Mom your dough is sooooo soft! It was great! We
talked a lot about the ward and how to help get them more missionary minded. Bishop made six pounds of bacon and I literally had 3-4 pounds of it... I am going to have a heart attack! But it was soooo goood!
Haha. We had a great lesson tonight with a less active. His conversion story is cool. It is in two parts. The first part is converting to God. He used to be atheist. He was driving to go see his girlfriend and while he was going traffic was super bad. She was religious and had been trying to get him to read and pray but he never did. As he
sat in traffic he decided to try praying. He made a deal with God that if he could make it on time he would read everyday. Right then spots opened up for him to cut through and drive where he needed to go. As he saw his exit he thought maybe it wasn't God but I just have skill.
Right then an 18 wheeler blocked his exit and he had to go to the next one! Haha. He still made it on time but he knew God existed and that he had a sense of humor. Part two was the persistence of the
missionaries. He met with them a little then moved back home. One day
two sisters showed up and he thought they were for him. Then his dad
said they were for him because he had been attending.  Then His sister
came and said no I called them! None were members and the sisters found a gold mine! He said that if the sisters could get his family interested it must be true so he took the lessons and got baptized. He
is super cool!

Friday... Specialized training! Today we spent literally all day in a meeting! president cooke gave an amazing workshop on being faithful. He doesn't like
the word "obedient" because it makes him think of a dog. But he likes the word "faithful".  It was so cool and I love it! We met with the WML to talk more about the area and what the future holds. Then we had dinner with the Coles family. They are SOOO odd!! But they cook really well. We had fun.

Saturday... We were snowed in with a lot of snow. But we still snuck out to go give a blessing to a member and teach another. We were tired of being cooped up. It was a short day!

Sunday... Church was canceled and we had to stay in all day.  Boooo!!!!!!! We did find a way to leave and go meet some people. We set up all we needed to for a finding activity we are going to try to
do. It was funny because we offered to help a few people shovel the snow and when they saw our tags they were like, "ummm we are almost done thanks anyway!"  We were laughing. We just saw you come out and get
your shovel out of the garage!   It was humorous.

Monday... Pday again. We play more hockey! Haha

Thanks so much I love you all have a great week!

Elder Herring

Words from Sister Abbigail Waite in Texas

Hey all! :) 

So let's see... this week was certainly interesting. And it definitely did that "missionary time" thing where it feels sooo long, but looking back on it... it was so quick!

I wish I could just tell you everything that happened this week... Maybe I'll start photocopying my journal... Just know that I was clawed by a cat, was asked if I was Amish, met a dog named Cosmo that looked exactly like my dog named Cosmo, decided that Texans really like to drive Mustangs and Camaros, visited the biggest gas station to ever be built (it was literally insane... Oh Texas), made blankets for cats because apparently that's a thing, almost froze to death in my apartment because apparently Texas can get cold, found out that black licorice jelly beans make my tongue go numb, and ate dinner at Ty Detmer's house. 

Yes, Mom. Ty Detmer. ;) I wasn't going to say anything, but I guess I will... just for you. :) 

For those of you who don't know, Ty Detmer was a quarterback at BYU who won the Heisman and then went on to play in the NFL. I guess he was pretty good or something. ;) Every time I'd go to a BYU football game this fall, my mom would casually mention that Ty Detmer was the quarterback when she was a freshman, and she was so proud of it. So when I just happened to be on exchanges on the exact day that the Detmer family signed up to feed the missionaries in their area... Yeah. I'm not going to go into my reaction. Haha! But it was really cool. He puts his cornbread in his chili, just like me (which means it's totally normal and not something that people should think is weird... :) ). They even fed us pie. It was really neat to listen to his conversion story. He just always had good examples in his life. It really makes me appreciate the great examples I've grown up with in my life. :) (I may also mention that he recognized me later in the week at a stake youth missionary activity. So I guess you could say I'm sort of a big deal. ;) ) 

I'm so excited for Saturday. Why?! Because Alana and Jadon are getting baptized! I love them so much. Alana is a sweet young mother with her 8 year-old son (Jadon) and a 4 month old baby named... Abby! Yep! That's right! She's the cutest thing, but no surprises there. ...Because she's 4 months old... not the name. ;) Jadon is super awesome. He has so many great questions. They're both so great and I can tell they're both so excited! It's so wonderful to watch people take this step closer to Christ and "enter the gate"-so to speak- on their way to eternal life. :) 

This week I learned more and more that the promises of God will always be fulfilled. Especially the one found in D&C 33:10  "...open your mouths and they shall be filled..." I've definitely come to know that. I used to be silent because I didn't know what to say, but I'm finding more and more that if I'll but open my mouth to speak, even if I don't know what I'm going to say... It comes. And it's amazing. (D&C 84:85)

I was also studying about fear and faith. The relationship is best summed up in Matthew 14 (22-31). Yes, the walking on the water story. When the disciples first see Christ walking on the sea, they get scared and cry out in fear. He "straightway" tells them to "be not afraid". Peter takes that to heart and says "...bid me come unto thee on the water." This amount of faith is rewarded: he gets out of the boat and walks on the water. I like to think that as he is walking, he's keeping his eyes fixed on the Lord. He's demonstrating his faith and walking on water to meet his Master. But then he gets distracted. Peter notices the "boisterous" wind and was afraid. As soon as he is afraid, his faith --which was enabling him to walk on water-- disappears. He begins to sink and cries out for help. Jesus IMMEDIATELY reaches out, but says "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"

In this story we see illustrated the simple fact that fear and faith cannot coexist. Where there is any fear, there can be no faith, and where there is any faith, there cannot be fear. Letting fears and doubts become our main focus chases away any faith that we think we may have. Peter had enough faith to walk on water, but as soon as he feared and doubted, he couldn't do it anymore. Let's make sure to not fear. Let faith lead and guide your life. You'll be immensely blessed for it. I know because I've experienced it. Cast any fears, doubts, or burdens you have on the Lord and have full faith in His plan for you. He is always there and He will always help you. Have faith! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! :) 

Love, 

Sister Waite

The pictures: 

1) My battle wounds from the cat attack... You should see the cat! ;) (No cats were harmed, I promise...)

2) Bucee's... the biggest gas station I've ever seen... the candy "aisle" is insane.

3) Sister Felix! My sister training leader! She was with me at the Detmer's! :) 

4) Texas... :) 

 

 

Words from Sister Hailey Overson in Nevada

I seriously have like zero time today. But I wanted to let you all know that Sis. Bundy's baptism was absolutely amazing. She is such an incredible lady and I have learned so much from her.

When we first began to teach her, she kept asking how she was going to know this was true. And we kept telling her that she would know it in her heart, that the spirit would testify to her of truth. She began to tell us that she had begun to feel an ache in her chest. She said it almost hurt (but didn't). She said she''d never felt anything like it in her life. Helping her recognize the spirit has helped me to recognize it in my own life. I know that she is one of the reasons why I have been called here to Ely. When I first walked in the door, the first day, she said that she recognized me. She told me I had to have seen her somewhere. I thought... well, I thought it was crazy. But last week she told me that she knows she's seen me before and that she believes that we knew eachother once before. I like to think that we were best friends or something. Because that would be awesome. 

I know there are no accidents. God has a plan for each one of us and everything happens for a reason. There are people in our lives that are there ON PURPOSE. It's our responsibility to reach out and help and touch the hearts of all of those around us. I love you all:)

Love, 

Sister Overson

 

Words from Sister Hailey Overson in Nevada

I cannot adequately express the feelings of joy that missionary work has brought me. Stephanie was baptized on Saturday. She was glowing! It was such a beautiful day for everyone involved. As she went into the font and was baptized, her little boy had his little face squished up against the glass, watching his mom without saying a word. He was mesmerized! It hit me then, as I watched her go under the water, as her two-year watched the same thing, how incredible this all was. What an incredible example she was being for her entire family. That little boy saw his mother as she went into that water and came up a brand new, beautifully clean person.

That is the miracle of this restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Through baptism and through repentance and the Atonement, we can be made new! And every week, we can go to church and renew those covenants we made at baptism by taking the Sacrament. This gospel is a gospel of hope, a gospel of love. Christ's love was and is so strong that He suffered for every single one of us. He came to this earth, established His perfect church, suffered for our sins, then died and was resurrected FOR EACH OF US. So that every one of us have the opportunity to live again. If you haven't seen it or if it's been a while if you have, or even if you just watched it a week or two seconds ago! Please take the time to watch "Because of Him." You can find it on Youtube. Please share this video with everyone and anyone you know who might need to know that they can have a fresh start. That they will live again and that they will see their lost loved ones again. That everything is possible because of Jesus Christ. 

I don't mean to get preachy or nothin. But I want you all to know that I know that we can all begin anew. Christ invites ALL to come unto Him. To find the joy and peace and comfort that comes from the step of faith that Stephanie took on Saturday. I know that this church is true, that the church that Jesus Christ established 2000 years ago has been brought back to the earth. How glorious!! I love you all sooo much and am so grateful to know every single one of you. 

Love,

Sister Overson

Words from Elder Garrett Hollembeak

"How are you guys doing? Its transfer week so today is our p-day. Both
Elder Higley and I are staying in Parkersburg for another transfer so
I'm pretty excited. Its his last transfer but he's still going strong.
We heard this week that on the 21st of March a member of the Quorum of the Twelve is going to
visit our mission and speak to all of the missionaries. We're all
pretty excited. If you could ask an apostle one question, what would
you ask him? The weather is warming up here and the snow and ice and
starting to melt away. We had a cool miracle, one of our investigators
named Mike came to play basketball on Tuesday at the church and as we
were giving him a church tour he mentioned Eric Beck. It was the same
Brother Beck that I got to teach in Charleston and they're really good
friends. It was cool to see the connections people already have with
the church and how they bless their lives. I hope you have a great
week and everybody stays safe. I love you."

Words from Elder Garrett Hollembeak in West Virginia

Hello Everyone,

It was a great week here in Parkersburg, we've been teaching a lot and
making some good steps with our less active members. There was a
homecoming missionary fireside in a town called Pennsborough about
thirty miles outside of Parkersburg that the members invited us to.
The returned missionary invited his best friend and we set it up to
teach him the first discussion in the next week. There was a great
spirit at the fireside and it was neat to see how other missionaries
work and what their mission experience is like. We were driving with a
member and we got a flat tire on the way back but we got home safe. We
had a huge snow storm over the weekend and it dumped eight inches here
in Parkersburg. It's given us great opportunities to shovel snow and
do some small acts of service around the community. I hope you guys
are having a great week and staying safe and warm. I love you!

Elder Garrett Hollembeak

Words from Elder Ty Blank in Alaska

Hey guys!

Man What a week! It was kinda great! I actually really loved it! 

So this week did have its ups and a downs  though as every week does. Our investigator was sick so we weren't able to teach him this week. And it was a little bit harder to teach anyone for some reason, but we found something to do! We decided to look for opportunities to serve those around us! I think in Total we did about 13+ hours of service this week! It was kinda great! 

So for service up here we kinda just do what every we find! From shoveling off the roof of a restaurant to helping people move! It is kinda just great!

 

So here is the week break down! 

Monday- P-Day so we were able to do the usual things like email and all that fun stuff! We also had the chance to play some sports and dominate at ultimate Frisbee just like we do every week! We are hoping to mix it up today!  

Tuesday- We had district meeting as usual! That was good. We then had a few appointments set up where someone ended up being sick so we found other people to talk to! 

Wednesday-We had exchanges and we had to go get our car fixed so we took it in and it ended up taking about 4 hours to fix it..... Ya that got really boring. We had a great dinner on the military base with an awesome family!

Thursday-It was back to normal with good'ol Elder Brown! We went and did a lot of service in the morning and in the evening we got to teach some really good lessons! 

Friday-We did a lot of the usual Friday things and not much else. We did however help put some of the final touches on a new restaurant that some recent converts from 1st ward are opening and that was really fun! 

Saturday- More Service really! It was a blast! I seriously love doing service for the people up here because they are so awesome! Whenever we do service for anyone you can just see the grateful look on their face and I love it!

Sunday-Oh man do I love Sundays! We had two great talks given in sacrament, Seriously great talks! I also met some of our members for the first time because they were deployed in Korea! Its kinda crazy being in a ward that covers a military base because it is constantly changing! I love it though! It is a ton of fun and you get to meet people from all over! We just had a lot of our members get back from NTC and now we have a full ward again! hahaha! 

 

So something that I have come to love lately is the statement “The ever growing gospel"  because as I come to learn of the gospel more and more I realize that it is a gospel of constant progression. We can’t just plateau on the graph to success! We have to be ever growing! We have to continue to become more and more like Our Savior. It is that constant progression that helps us to become a better person! I don't know I just love it! If it makes sense to you all! 

 

Stay safe!

Elder Ty Nolan Blank

Words from Elder Jake Zieler in Canada

 

This week has been a good one.

It is also transfer week, so we'll see if i'm staying on Vancouver island, or going somewhere else. My personal prediction is, I think I'll be leaving and my companion will stay, even though he's been here longer than i have. But I guess we'll see what happens.

    As far as the teaching goes, its going. We've been working hard knocking on a lot of doors and talking to as many people as we can, but we're seeing little results. But with that being said, i learned a good lesson this past week. There are a lot of things in this life that we can control from the choices we make because of our agency, but we can't control other peoples agency. That would just make life too easy Haha. So long story short, I learned that we just need to focus on the things that WE can control from our own choices, then to have enough hope and faith that the Lord will take care of the rest.

    We've been teaching this lady named Marilynn and she has been struggling with health issues for a really long time now. She has a baptismal date for February 28th and because of her health, she has a hard time with her eyesight, so we've been going to her house twice a week to read from the Book of Mormon with her and explain what's going on. I think it has helped me as much as it has her.

    The weather has been way to good to us. today was sunny and about 60 degrees with a slight breeze. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to go back to the driving range again:) We also went to a park called Stamp Falls. There is a couple of huge rivers that run right through town here and one of them is the stamp river. Everyday, enough water runs from the Stamp River into the ocean to supply the city of Phoenix for an entire year! Crazy.

     Well I hope everyone who is in SJ enjoys the wind;) and i hope everyone has a great week! I'll let you know if I'll be staying here in Port Alberni or if i'll get transferred up North to the snow!!

<3 - Elder Z

This week has been a good one.

It is also transfer week, so we'll see if i'm staying on Vancouver island, or going somewhere else. My personal prediction is, I think I'll be leaving and my companion will stay, even though he's been here longer than i have. But I guess we'll see what happens.

    As far as the teaching goes, its going. We've been working hard knocking on a lot of doors and talking to as many people as we can, but we're seeing little results. But with that being said, i learned a good lesson this past week. There are a lot of things in this life that we can control from the choices we make because of our agency, but we can't control other peoples agency. That would just make life too easy Haha. So long story short, I learned that we just need to focus on the things that WE can control from our own choices, then to have enough hope and faith that the Lord will take care of the rest.

    We've been teaching this lady named Marilynn and she has been struggling with health issues for a really long time now. She has a baptismal date for February 28th and because of her health, she has a hard time with her eyesight, so we've been going to her house twice a week to read from the Book of Mormon with her and explain what's going on. I think it has helped me as much as it has her.

    The weather has been way to good to us. today was sunny and about 60 degrees with a slight breeze. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to go back to the driving range again:) We also went to a park called Stamp Falls. There is a couple of huge rivers that run right through town here and one of them is the stamp river. Everyday, enough water runs from the Stamp River into the ocean to supply the city of Phoenix for an entire year! Crazy.

     Well I hope everyone who is in SJ enjoys the wind;) and i hope everyone has a great week! I'll let you know if I'll be staying here in Port Alberni or if i'll get transferred up North to the snow!!

<3 - Elder Z

Words from Sister Brittany Platt in Colorado

Olo everyone! If you can't tell from the subject line of my e-mail, we had two baptisms last Saturday on Valentine's Day!!! Jeff and Sarah entered the waters of baptism and it was amazing!!! I'm so so happy for them. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had! God is good!

So, we met with them almost every day last week, finished teaching Lesson 5, and they had their interviews Wednesday night. Our district leader said he was impressed by how much they knew and their testimonies. God works so many miracles! It's wonderful. :) At their baptism, we had about 15 members from the ward show up and 3 families from my last area in Parker come. And Jeff's mom, who's not a member, came and gave the closing prayer! We also had two sets of missionaries from my zone come, and President and Sister Mendenhall came! My companion Sister Hoemann gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and I sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" with another sister missionary in our zone. The spirit was so strong and Jeff and Sarah both teared up. Afterwards us, Jeff and Sarah, Pres. and Sis. Mendenhall, and the families from Parker all went out to eat at a BBQ place. It was so much fun and President told us that Sister Hoemann and I are staying in Strasburg together for another transfer!!!!! Woo hoo!!!! Blessings, blessings. We are SO excited and we're already trying to come up with a vision for this transfer. And more than that, we're SO grateful we get to teach Jeff and Sarah the new member lessons. Hopefully the ward will embrace them and do all they can to help them. I'm a little worried, though, so as we meet with members (because we're teaching member missionary lessons) we're going to emphasize supporting and helping new converts. 

Some other cool miracles we had last week is two Less-active women that haven't been to church in years came on Sunday!! They only stayed for Sacrament, but one of them texted us and told us our talks were wonderful (me and my comp both spoke in church on Sunday). And one of these Less-active women prayed for the first time in a very long time last week. She cried as she told us about it. Her husband's not a member and we found out that the fact that they're even letting us into their home is a complete miracle. He's been pretty anti in the past and she hasn't been interested in church in a while. It truly is a miracle!

One more miracle and this one is actually funny! And a testament that God cares about everything we do and He does answer prayers!!! So, we eat with one couple in the ward every week and we just love these guys. Last Thursday we were eating with them and they told us they were planning on going to see the movie "50 Shades Of Gray" for Valentine's Day. The husband really didn't want to go and we could tell he was uncomfortable with the idea, but his wife was insistent. She kept saying "Oh, it's not THAT bad. I've definitely read books worse than that one." I wanted so badly to be like "Really? Do you hear what you're saying? From what I've heard, that story is pure porn! Does it bring you closer to Christ? Does it point to Christ? Just because it's less evil than some other evils doesn't make it right or okay." But, I kept my mouth shut. We were super worried about both of them and so sad. So, we decided to pray in almost every prayer that we said, that something would happen so they wouldn't go to the movie. Mind you, we prayed that nothing bad would happen! Just something like their car wouldn't start, or she would get called into work. We prayed so hard! And guess what?! God answered our prayers!! We talked to the husband at church and asked how the movie went. He proceeded to tell us, with a big smile on his face, that when they got to the movie theater they found out she had purchased tickets for the wrong day and they couldn't get into the show!!!!! MIRACLE!!!!!!!! I know that may seem dumb, but for us it was huge and we were so happy for them!!! I'm debating whether or not to tell them we prayed for that to happen....guess we'll see what the spirit tells us to say on Thursday when we eat with them! Hopefully I'm still alive next week as she may be livid and want to kill us! :) :) J/k j/k. 

Anyways, it was a wonderful week and I'm so so excited for this transfer. I feel like I am finally starting to feel comfortable as a missionary! It's taken longer than I expected, but I'm glad it's happened. Truly, this is still one of the hardest things I've ever done and I don't want to include all the hard stuff cuz it can be a downer. BUT, the good always outweighs the bad. I feel that if we can look at life the way God intended, we'd be much happier with everything. Life is hard, that's a given, and it always will be. But if we strive to always put God first in our lives, no matter what, we will be blessed. I think one of the biggest miracles on this mission is I have been truly humbled and I've had to rely on the Lord for everything! I want to include a quote in here from a talk by President Kimball and I want to commit you all to read this talk because it's amazing. It's called "Worship the True and Living God" and it's in the June 2013 Ensign. "If we insist on spending all our time and resources building up for ourselves a worldly kingdom, that is exactly what we will inherit....Our assignment is affirmative: to forsake the things of the world as ends in themselves; to leave off idolatry and press forward in faith; to carry the gospel to our enemies, that they might no longer be our enemies." This time on earth is a testing period. The hardest thing we could ever do is to give our will to God, but that is exactly what we must do!! It's hard! Every day I struggle with it, but I have such a testimony of giving it all to the Lord. It was SO hard getting on this mission, but I realize now that it was the best decision I've ever made. I knew that if I put God first and obeyed what He told me to do, even though it didn't make one bit of sense, I would see the blessings and look back and never regret. There is always a reason for things; even if we don't see those reasons for years to come, we will one day realize the meaning of all things. I want you all to know that I love this gospel and this work!!! Sadly, Satan is so good at amplifying all of my weaknesses and there is definitely so much I have to work on. But, luckily, the Atonement is the greatest gift we've been given and God always picks up where I lack, as long as I'm obedient. And obedience is hard! Man, sometimes I'm just not obedient like I should be! But, I am gaining such a testimony of the blessings that come from obedience. I love my Savior and I love this church! I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you give it all to the Lord! God bless you all for everything you do! You're amazing!

Love, Sister Platt

#Godisgood

#1,001

Words from Elder Adam Otto in Idaho

Being a missionary is the absolute best :)

So this week was pretty difficult! We are really being tested lately. But we just can't give up! We haven't had any success lately with new people, and the members have not been exactly helpful. Our investigators just won't progress, no matter what we do! So I know the Lord has a big plan in store. As long as we give it our all, and press forward with faith, the plan will become clear :)

The weather this week has been so cool! Earlier in the week, it was SUPER rainy, all day long, and we were drenched. Then, it got really windy! And then! It was so great, because it got warm outside! Like hot enough to wear just short sleeves!!! That was the best :) It felt so awesome! Lot's of people noticed us and honked at us, because we were wearing our white shirts, and didn't have a black jacket covering it. So cool :) And then today, it has been pouring rain again! So lot's of stuff going on!

My man Kevin! Oh boy! He has been doing petty good these past few days, except he was drunk aaallll week and so now he is recovering. But we set his date for the 21st, and hopefully he will pull through. He has been doing pretty good so far, and we have the faith it takes! He is truly committed. It was really funny though, because a few days ago we went and visited him. (We try to every day.) He was pretty drunk, and still drinking. He told us he loved us very much and that he was sorry. So I told him to Never. Drink. Again. He looked at me, and took his beer and threw it across the room! It sprayed EVERYWHERE! All over me. It was kinda gross, but I appreciated him showing his willingness. It was all fizzy and wouldn't stop squirting haha! After that, he just lied back on the couch for about 5 minutes and smiled, his drunk smile and stared off into the distance. James was pretty upset, because he was the one who payed for the beer. But we all laughed and it was pretty cool :) I really enjoy being with them when they are sober :) But that's an unusual occurrence, so we are working on fixing that. :)

Speaking of fixing things, I had no idea I had a talent! I am really good a putting things together; who knew?! I guess I never really tried before! We have this one less active lady and we are trying to teach her son, so she asked us to fix a few things for her. I made a cabinet, drawer thingy, and a bed frame. It's nothing cool or spectacular, but I had no idea I could do that kind of stuff. The Lord qualifies who he calls! She calls me Elder Fix It, and I think the Lord is helping me to have the skills needed to gain trust from these people. She also has like 19 sugar gliders, so I don't mind going over there :)

We gave talks yesterday at church, and I think they went pretty well! The Lord gives us the strength we need to bring about his work. We might not notice it at the moment, but looking back at it, it's amazing! We talked on missionary work and the importance of members, and lots of people really enjoyed it. I hope their desire has increased!

I know I am here in Old Town for a reason! The reason might be hidden right now, and I'm pretty sure it is..., but we are doing the Lords work, and at least planting seeds! Hopefully the seeds will grow in people's hearts, and they will accept the restored gospel soon! 

Thank you all so much for what you do! You are all amazing and I love you all! Have a wonderful week :)

Love,

Elder Otto

Words from Elder Garrett Davis in Thailand

Kalasin!

so this week has been great and it flew by to be honest:)so this week was awesome in so many ways a few is that we had a baptism, her name is Amporn and she is awesome and great. another this is that i found this ambulance at the night market over here its blaring music in the parking spots i found it kinda funny:) also this week we taught English class as usually which is fun as always i am growing to like it, then we had the chance to teach a few people about the church haha i found it funny one of them asked "So what do Mormons believe?" and so of course we scheduled and appointment and explained about our church more:) and Friday i had the chance to teach book of Mormon class and it went well. SO today marks my 7th month as a missionary and it is going great i am lucky to be here to serve i have come to love the Thai culture and the language is picking up a little more everyday:) Overall its been a great 7 months and i am looking forward to the rest of my mission:) everything is great here is Thailand:) i love you guys and i wish you the best!:)

Love 

Elder Davis

เอล็เดอร์ เดวิส

 

Words from Sister Hannah Platt in Honduras

Family and Friends,

This week was soo difficult for me but it was also an amazing week. I learned so much about what faith is and about the sacred calling i have of representing the Lord to the people here in Honduras. 

So at the beginning of the week, my comp. and i witnessed something very difficult and scary for me. Afterwards, I was really starting to question why i was sent to Honduras. I am not a strong person and having to go through this trial was the hardest thing i have ever had to do. But looking back on it now, it was something i needed to go through. It taught me about the miracle of life that we have and how real the Plan of Salvation is. We are so blessed to live in these last days before the second coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. And this week i realized the miracle of life. I have never really thought about how lucky we are to wake up everyday and to be given breath. The Lord has blessed us in so many ways that we take for granted. And our very life is one of those blessings.Never ever take for granted the life you have been giving in the United States. I can´t even tell you all how blessed you are. You have safety and true freedom!  I am so thankful for this mission. I can´t even begin to describe the trials I have been faced with, but I have also come to realize how blessed my life is. This week, my faith was tested. But through the atonement of Jesus Christ, i somehow pulled through. I am so grateful that we have an older brother who suffered for our sins. Who knows us and knows exactly what we need. He knows everything we have ever gone through. He knows every pain and despair. He knows us inside and out. I know with my whole heart that He lives. That He died for you and for me. He will never ever abandon us. And all we have to do is show our faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (hebrews 11:1). I have come to realize the miracles that our faith can cause. But miracles do not precede faith. Always have faith in Him. No matter how hard things get, don´t abandon your faith.

The most amazing miracle happened this week. One of our investigators that we have been teaching since i got here, got baptized. Satan has been working so hard against her, but she overcame him, and this last Saturday, she entered the waters of baptism. Her name is Neblin and I firmly believe that I was sent to Honduras for her. She is so amazing and i have never seen someone soak up the gospel like she has. She is the sweetest woman i have ever met. However, her husband is not supporting her in this new course of her life. But i know that someday, he will follow her example and be baptized. I am so grateful for her and for the privilege i had to teach her! 

So the funny story for this week... My comp and i were walking the other day, and a drunk guy approached us (like every other day) and usually we just ignore them... but this day, he just started talking to me about American movies. And he said that i reminded him of this one movie with a bear... because the bear had blue eyes and white teach like me... and then he started making growling noises at me.. and walked away. I have never laughed so hard :) so... i guess that i have the appearance of a bear in some American movie :) haha 

Well folks, that's it for this week. Thank you so much for your prayers and your support. I am so grateful for all you do for me. Please pray that i can have an increase of faith to be able to get through the trials i am facing right now. I love you all! 

Love,

Hermana Platt

 

 

Words from Elder Eli Frazier in Peru

Just working and working! This past week we had an awesome multi zone where  i learned so much i just want to every person in the world what i know and learned! I love the gospel. I love these Peruvians too although every time i want a snack or a drink they jack the price up cuz I'm a gringo. My companion can buy a snack for 1 sol but for me its like 4! What the heck!? and they all think I'm 25 hahah But all is well, I'm loving life! Hope all is well! Love you all.

Elder Frazier

These are the only pics i got for now! Made some sloppy joes!

Words from Elder Jared Anderson in Brazil

Dear Everyone,

Well this was an another amazing week in the books. We saw so many miracles and one of the coolest things was one of our investigators whose name is Marcia invited her nephew to church with her and he absolutely loved it. unfortunately Marcia is moving to Rio de Janeiro and has a couple of minor things to do before she and the rest of her family can be baptized. But she is absolutely ecstatic to share the gospel with her family much like the rest of our recent converts! Another one of our investigators Simone is waiting for an answer to her prayers so that she can be baptized, her kids are really excited and want to be baptized but their mom isn't to sure, so it would be amazing if you guys could pray that Simone will receive an answer and that she will recognize it and ACT on it! But The ward is absolutely on fire and things are going great! Love you all!

-Elder Anderson

Words from Elder Kyle James in Germany

Liebe Familie,

Heyo! We had a wonderful, heart touching week this week. One of my favorite weeks of the mission so far. I can't wait to explain!

Last Monday we played games. I bought a card game called Black Stories. They are super fun. They are all in German so it is good practice. Look up Black Stories. They are pretty funny. They are mysteries that you have to figure out by asking questions. They are in English too i think.

Tuesday was very good. We met with our very smart investigator Sky... who is almost 11. He is super smart and didn't want to be baptized because he didn't know if it was true. His dad is crazy and didn't support him at all. He is a good guy... but he wanted Sky to find out for himself. Well on Tuesday... we set a baptism date with him. For the 22nd of February. Next Sunday. And he picked me to baptize him. I am really touched that he wants me to baptize him. I am really excited. It will be awesome. When we set dates... we have to call president. I called him... and he was very happy... and said that Solingen was just exploding with good missionary work. That makes me happy!

Mittwoch- We had DDM and what not. We also taught bruder Kalenka and I think CLaudia? Maybe. We had over ten lesson this week... and that is super good for our mission. I always like to stay busy.

Thursday----- I was in Wuppertal. We taught 4 African people in a forgein peoples house. They didn't understand... but Wuppertal loves teaching people who don't understand. We then cleaned the baptismal font and cleaned a little for their baptism coming up. We then helped some members with family history. We then taught another guy in a wig shop..... ja. Funny story. I cant really explain via email. Good stories to tell later. 

Friday--- We were too buys to weekly plan. But we had like 3 lessons. We taught the Family In Lennep and helped them figure out bus routes to get to church. It is an hour and  a half with 3 bus changes for them. But they made it. I will explain how it went on the Sunday one.

Saturday was also very good. We had weekly planning and then went to the baptism that the other Elders had. It was nice. Elder Demass baptized him. He is a nice guy that speaks very good German and had good questions. We then taught our .....investigator.... she is really nice. She also gave us a ride to our next appt. I really like her... but she isn't making much progress.  We will see though.

Ah yes.... it is carnaval hier. People are crazy. They wear the most crazy things and are hammered drunk. They are setting a big thing up a block from our house for tonight. They are gonna party hard and be drunk as dogs. I have seen some... interesting costumes.

Sunday was a very..... wonderful day. I really can't explain it. We woke up and helped the Lennep family get to church for the first time. We missed our bus and had to walk a few kilometers... but we made it. We taught the investigators class... Elder Bader and I... we talked about prayer. There were a lot of people there. Good. It went well. I don't really like standing in front of people and speaking German. I get kind of scared and forget a lot of German. But I prayed for the strength and courage and I did it very well. Perfectly even. I am so thankful for that. But what really hit me on Sunday... was seeing the fruits of our labors. I have been in Solingen forever... and I hadn't ever seen a  lot of success.... until Sunday. I looked around sacrament meeting... and I saw what we've done. I saw how our hand has helped people here. This is what I saw:

1. Claudia giving a talk for the first time. She brought her non Mormon friend with her.

2. The lennep family being in church for the first time.

3.Sky and his dad sitting together.

4.Bruder Kalenka... making great progress and sitting next to me.

7 people. 7 people at church that we have helped. I am so blessed... and so thankful for what I've seen. Yesterday was a miracle. I couldn't help but smile and think to myself.... We helped so many people. The Lord helped me... help people. I realized that we HAD actually done great work here.

Our bischof was shocked and told us that we are doing are VERY great job in Solingen... a very hard area. I really am thankful. I am so thankful... that I could serve in Solingen. That I could help. That I could be a servant of the Lord here.

If I stay or go... it doesn't matter. My last Sunday I will baptize Sky. If I stay... I will also see, or baptize bruder Kalenka as well. I am very satisfied with what I have done. If I stay... I will do even better.

I am just so thankful for everything. I really don't have much more to say. I love this work. I love everything. I can't wait to explain these things to you in words. I am excited to see what this transfer brings. I love you guys very much!

I really cant explain how I feel... so I won't try:)

I love you guys so much!!

Have a great week Family!

Elder James