November 28, 2011
haha I feel the same way sometimes mom...the same way!
Haha I don’t even know what to say...I only have 2 more emails left..it’s crazy!
Thanksgiving was good. We woke up and exercised like normal and then we made cookies for all the families we were eating with that day. Then at 11 a.m., I went and did a baptismal interview and then went and took care of an elder that was sick with food poisoning (the worst day ever to have food poisoning). At 3 we went up to Pres Lopez’s house and ate with him. It was half American and half Puerto Rican food (that is where he is from). It was way nice. After that we went to the house of the 1st counselor in the BP house to eat with him and all his family. Then, we went and picked up food from another family’s house and then we went home and died haha. It was a fun day. Definitely a great way to go out, I guess you could say haha.
I had my 2nd ever temple recommend interview yesterday with Pres Clayton. It was way cool and very spiritual. Also, yesterday was my last zone conference. I got the opportunity to teach for 45 minutes and I decided to teach about what it means to be a representative of Jesus Christ. President Clayton said, in the interview, that it was great and he then told me I would be a great leader in the kingdom. Then he paused, and said he had other questions he really wanted to ask me at that time, but he would wait till my departure interview. I asked him about how we should do the pick up on the 20th and what we are going to do is meet at our stake center (because I want yall to see a super nice church building that isn’t in Utah haha) at 8 and then he said to continue to be a missionary with dad as my comp. But he said we were free to roam around the mission and sight see and see people. GET EXCITED!!!
So yeah...that’s about it! Thanks for everything that you do!!!! I LOVE YOU! AND I’LL SEE YOU IN 3 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!
Ross
November 21, 2011
Wow...so much has happened this week, it’s hard to put it all in words.
Like I said, this has been one crazy week. A lot of stuff has happened. I’ll start with last Thursday.
Experience #1) So last week. I got a call from a missionary that works at the YSA wards at SDSU telling me that they had been invited to do a presentation in a World Religions class at SDSU. I told him congrats and to have fun with that. (Teaching about the church in front of 200 college students) He started laughing and told me they had an appt during the presentation as well and so they needed to go on exchanges with us to do both To make a long story short, last Thursday (11/17) me and another missionary gave a 1 and half hour presentation on the church in front of over 200 college students in an auditorium. It was crazy! How many missionaries get to do that. I mean you hear stories about it all the time, but you never actually think it will happen. But it did. We made a slide show presentation (I attached it to the email so you can look at it). It was awesome. The slide show lasted about 45 minutes and the other 45 minutes we left open for questions. And it actually took the entire class. It was so cool! The questions ranged from what is the process to go on a mission to is the church racist against black people to what happens after we die. And everything in between. A senior missionary came with us and he told us that we did a great job! We brought a box of BoMs with us as well and invited people to learn more. We gave away almost the entire box of BoMs. 20-30 people took one which is pretty cool! It was an awesome experience!
Awesome Experience #2) I had a baptism at the MCRD on Sunday! My first one since being back. It was pretty awesome! Just like the times before, the recruit came up to me and asked how he could be a member of the church. It was cool. I’ve been praying a lot for a baptism there. Not just for me, but to help the recruits there and God blessed me with it. It was awesome! He was so excited afterwards. I confirmed him a member and then his friend (who has been a member for a month) ordained him a priest and he is passing the sacrament on Sunday. AWESOME!
Awesome Experience #3) Just happened today. It was actually in an email Pres Clayton sent me (usually the mission president doesn't email his missionaries out of no where). This is what it said, "Elder Little,. Thanks for your continued good work. I'd like to challenge you to put up your best key indicator weeks ever, these last few weeks! Deal? Last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter! With love, President Clayton". I sent this back to him. "Sounds good to me President! Thanks for talking my language! Let’s do it!" That just got me super pumped. To know the Pres Clayton is watching out for me and wanted to email me, means a lot. So, these next few weeks WILL be my best key indicator weeks of my mission.
As you can see, things are going well. I will definitely be praying all this week for Grandpa Little. In fact, something we started in our zone is we (me and my comp) send out a text to a DL and he gets the names of the people that his missionaries want the zone to pray for. Investigators, LAs, members or family. And then we forward those names to the zone. So, not only will Grandpa Little have me praying for him, he will also have 30 other missionaries praying for him as well. He'll be in good hands.
Well, I only have 4 more weeks to be a missionary. It hit me yesterday that I only have 3 more Mondays and after today, 3 more Tuesdays. That just seems crazy! I have 28 days to changes as many lives as I can. Yesterday during my personal study, I set goals for the future. Obviously my goal it to be exalted, but I made goals that will get me to that point. I'll email them to yall next week. Thanks for everything!!!! LOVE YALL!!!!
Ross
Monday, December 5, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Letters from lately...
November 15, 2011
I’m good!
1. I have no idea what I am going to do for Thanksgiving. I figure some members will have us for dinner and the entire day with be full of dinner appts....not really looking forward to that
2. I'm hanging in there. Things are going good. I definitely feel the prayers, that’s for sure. Everyday, like I said, brings more thoughts of home, but the Lord is helping block those thoughts and stay focused. December is already looking like a way busy month, so I don’t even think I will have time to think about home once we get past Thanksgiving.
This week was awesome. Pure awesomeness at the MCRD. I met a kid that wants to get baptized, so I taught him and he is getting baptized next week. Also, I taught another kid and he is getting baptized next week, but up at the 2nd phase of training in Northern California. AND, I taught this other kid who set the date to be baptized in 3 weeks! Pure miracles and blessings! God really poured out some awesome blessings on me last Sunday!
We also have another man being baptized this next Sunday in the branch. He is way prepared and excited as well! BTW, did you see/hear about the Spanish fireside broadcast last Sunday. It was pretty good. Our investigator loved it! It was pretty cool for the church to do that, pure Spanish. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Sorry that my emails are getting shorter and shorter. The closer I get to seeing yall in person the more I just save to tell you face to face. Crazy! It still hasn’t really set in, but I’m sure it will after Thanksgiving. I love yall! LOVE YALL!!!
Ross
November 8, 2011
6 more....
1. Transfers are this week....and I am staying in Logan. This next week I will be looking for burial plots because I am dying here! Pres Lopez will be happy, he told me that he didn't want me to leave. My comp is staying with me too. (Aren’t transfers this week—are you going or staying?)
2. Members heard that I’m going home so all of them are feeding me. Members that I don’t even know are feeding me haha. (Do you have many dinner appointments?)
Well this week was good. Things have kind of slowed down a little bit in our area because we have focused a lot on the zone/stake lately. We have been working a lot with our stake pres to get the Ward Councils in our stake functioning. That’s been the main focus. Without the WC's help, missionary work is really difficult. So we have been focusing on that. Our stake pres really trusts us. I have built a super great relationship with him. We have the kind of relationship where I can just tell him how it is and he accepts it and changes it. He really loves missionary work and knows that the missionaries are better trained on the WC than the ward leaders are. It’s been really good. We are being invited to all the WCs in the stake and, along with a member of the mission presidency and the stake presidency, are training the wards on how the WC should function. Since we have started that, the work has sky rocketed. We have 26 people with a baptismal date in the stake and we just recently hit 100 baptisms for the year. The stake is being blessed.
November 1, 2011
Hi Mom
Good week...yes, 7 weeks to go. Haha.
1. Yeah he cooks oatmeal for me for breakfast every morning and sometimes he makes other stuff. He made me crepes one morning and I wasn’t sure what to do with them haha...I’ve never had crepes before. (Is your companion still cooking for you?)
2. My talk was good. I would send it to you, but I got up there and gave a different talk than I planned on and I only remember a few things that I said. (How did your talk go on Sunday?)
Sounds like yall had fun for Halloween haha. We had to be in our apartments at 5:30 so we went a grabbed some pizza and chilled the rest of the night in the apartment. I left something in the car that I needed, but I was going to leave it out there till the morning, but then I felt like we should go out there, so we did. Turns out that some drunk guy was trying to break into our car and he and his friends ran off when I turned on the lights...spiritual impressions are awesome. We also talked to a drunk chollo who was "tagging" (spray painting) the wall. He was ticked because someone wrote "hoe" over his tag haha I just laughed and said, "dude, that’s messed up." So yeah, that was our Halloween.
Like I said, my talk was good. I had planned on talking about how as members we need to help everybody else and share the gospel. But when I was sitting thinking about my talk, I felt that I needed to talk about my mission and how I loved it and the things I sacrificed to come out here (football, school, job opportunities) and that led me to talk about some rough times that I have had out here and how I have overcome them. It told them that when we pass through hard times and we feel we can’t move forward anymore we need to ask ourselves the questions, "Where are our hearts?" Are our hearts focused on our problems or are our heart focused on all the blessings and miracles God has given us. I told them to quit thinking about how hard their lives are and how difficult it is from them to live here. I told them they needed to focus on how awesome it is and how special they are to be members of the church. God loved them so much that he gave them the opportunity to listen to his servants and become members of the church. I told them that if they are focused on their problems, they won’t progress. But if they focus on the miracles and help those around them, they will progress and become like God. After the talk, a bunch of people thanked me for it and my Recent Convert (Ignacio) told me that is what he needed at that time. So I felt good after. Once again, spiritual impression are awesome.
So that was basically my week. We are working hard to have a baptism this weekend. We aren’t sure if it will happen, but we are working for one. A couple extra prayers would be nice. Thanks for everything. Every day is a little harder to focus, because every less day brings more thoughts about home. But don’t worry, I’ve been praying a lot for help and I’m receiving it. Everything will be alright. I LOVE YOU!!!!!
Ross
October 25, 2011
Pretty good week.
1. We don’t have weekly service projects. We had the Mormon helping hands in April but that is like the only legit service project we do. Other than that, we help members out every now and then and do some other stuff but nothing really planned every week.
2. Our week was really good. We had 2 confirmations and a awesome day at the MCRD
So yeah my week was really good. I can’t remember if I told yall but we had interviews with Pres Clayton a couple of weeks ago. My interview was awesome. We just talked about what I needed to do with my time left and I told him how I was doing. He got a little teary eyed and told me that he wasn't looking forward to December 20th. That made me feel good. I just told him that I would do everything I could over the next 2 months to leave the mission, my zone and my area better than it was before I got here. It was a great talk/interview.
MCRD story of the week: So on Saturday night, in my prayers, I prayed that I would have success the following day. So on Sunday, I got to the MCRD and was talking to some missionaries outside the door to the room we have church in, when this group of recruits come waking in. I start to talk to them and found out that 2 of them weren't members of the church. So they sat down, and I followed them in and started talking about where they were from, why the wanted to be a Marine, etc. I asked them what brought them to church with us and they both said they were looking for a church to go here and looking for faith. So I told them we could talk after and they agreed. During that time, one of the members of the Branch Presidency there (there are 9 counselors haha) came and gave them Books of Mormon and they read during sacrament meeting. After the meeting, we went to the back of the room (its like a huge college classroom) and started talking. During the talk, 2 other recruits came and sat in. One was a lifelong member that was going to serve a mission after and the other was a recent convert. We started talking about everything and the 2 non members were just eating it up. They talked about how they didn’t want to rule anything out yet and they decided that they needed to start with our church because of the examples of the other member recruits. We talked about the organization of the church and I taught a little bit about the restoration. Then we got on the subject of baptism and started talking about the need to be baptized and how God wants all his children to live with him and that why we do baptisms for the dead, and that led us into what happens after this life. Usually, I don’t like to talk about so many different topics in one lesson, but for some reason I felt like we needed to give like a brief overview on everything. At the end of it, they both said, "sir, you are presenting a very, very VERY convincing argument and we feel that this is true." So I gave them 2 Nephi 31 to read this week. I felt like they needed to discover baptism on their own for some reason. I had a lot of different promptings in this lesson, that I don’t usually have. It was cool. They both said they would be back next week and they would love to talk again. I’m excited! This is why I love the MCRD!!!
Other than that the week was pretty good. I'm speaking on the 30th in church. Pres Lopez said I could pick my topic. I think I’m going to talk about where our hearts are focused. Are our hearts focused on all the problems we face or are they focused on building the kingdom of God and helping people who have worse problems than us? As Elder Holland said, I might have to singe their eyebrows a little...but in a loving way haha
I LOVE YOU!!!!
Ross
I’m good!
1. I have no idea what I am going to do for Thanksgiving. I figure some members will have us for dinner and the entire day with be full of dinner appts....not really looking forward to that
2. I'm hanging in there. Things are going good. I definitely feel the prayers, that’s for sure. Everyday, like I said, brings more thoughts of home, but the Lord is helping block those thoughts and stay focused. December is already looking like a way busy month, so I don’t even think I will have time to think about home once we get past Thanksgiving.
This week was awesome. Pure awesomeness at the MCRD. I met a kid that wants to get baptized, so I taught him and he is getting baptized next week. Also, I taught another kid and he is getting baptized next week, but up at the 2nd phase of training in Northern California. AND, I taught this other kid who set the date to be baptized in 3 weeks! Pure miracles and blessings! God really poured out some awesome blessings on me last Sunday!
We also have another man being baptized this next Sunday in the branch. He is way prepared and excited as well! BTW, did you see/hear about the Spanish fireside broadcast last Sunday. It was pretty good. Our investigator loved it! It was pretty cool for the church to do that, pure Spanish. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Sorry that my emails are getting shorter and shorter. The closer I get to seeing yall in person the more I just save to tell you face to face. Crazy! It still hasn’t really set in, but I’m sure it will after Thanksgiving. I love yall! LOVE YALL!!!
Ross
November 8, 2011
6 more....
1. Transfers are this week....and I am staying in Logan. This next week I will be looking for burial plots because I am dying here! Pres Lopez will be happy, he told me that he didn't want me to leave. My comp is staying with me too. (Aren’t transfers this week—are you going or staying?)
2. Members heard that I’m going home so all of them are feeding me. Members that I don’t even know are feeding me haha. (Do you have many dinner appointments?)
Well this week was good. Things have kind of slowed down a little bit in our area because we have focused a lot on the zone/stake lately. We have been working a lot with our stake pres to get the Ward Councils in our stake functioning. That’s been the main focus. Without the WC's help, missionary work is really difficult. So we have been focusing on that. Our stake pres really trusts us. I have built a super great relationship with him. We have the kind of relationship where I can just tell him how it is and he accepts it and changes it. He really loves missionary work and knows that the missionaries are better trained on the WC than the ward leaders are. It’s been really good. We are being invited to all the WCs in the stake and, along with a member of the mission presidency and the stake presidency, are training the wards on how the WC should function. Since we have started that, the work has sky rocketed. We have 26 people with a baptismal date in the stake and we just recently hit 100 baptisms for the year. The stake is being blessed.
November 1, 2011
Hi Mom
Good week...yes, 7 weeks to go. Haha.
1. Yeah he cooks oatmeal for me for breakfast every morning and sometimes he makes other stuff. He made me crepes one morning and I wasn’t sure what to do with them haha...I’ve never had crepes before. (Is your companion still cooking for you?)
2. My talk was good. I would send it to you, but I got up there and gave a different talk than I planned on and I only remember a few things that I said. (How did your talk go on Sunday?)
Sounds like yall had fun for Halloween haha. We had to be in our apartments at 5:30 so we went a grabbed some pizza and chilled the rest of the night in the apartment. I left something in the car that I needed, but I was going to leave it out there till the morning, but then I felt like we should go out there, so we did. Turns out that some drunk guy was trying to break into our car and he and his friends ran off when I turned on the lights...spiritual impressions are awesome. We also talked to a drunk chollo who was "tagging" (spray painting) the wall. He was ticked because someone wrote "hoe" over his tag haha I just laughed and said, "dude, that’s messed up." So yeah, that was our Halloween.
Like I said, my talk was good. I had planned on talking about how as members we need to help everybody else and share the gospel. But when I was sitting thinking about my talk, I felt that I needed to talk about my mission and how I loved it and the things I sacrificed to come out here (football, school, job opportunities) and that led me to talk about some rough times that I have had out here and how I have overcome them. It told them that when we pass through hard times and we feel we can’t move forward anymore we need to ask ourselves the questions, "Where are our hearts?" Are our hearts focused on our problems or are our heart focused on all the blessings and miracles God has given us. I told them to quit thinking about how hard their lives are and how difficult it is from them to live here. I told them they needed to focus on how awesome it is and how special they are to be members of the church. God loved them so much that he gave them the opportunity to listen to his servants and become members of the church. I told them that if they are focused on their problems, they won’t progress. But if they focus on the miracles and help those around them, they will progress and become like God. After the talk, a bunch of people thanked me for it and my Recent Convert (Ignacio) told me that is what he needed at that time. So I felt good after. Once again, spiritual impression are awesome.
So that was basically my week. We are working hard to have a baptism this weekend. We aren’t sure if it will happen, but we are working for one. A couple extra prayers would be nice. Thanks for everything. Every day is a little harder to focus, because every less day brings more thoughts about home. But don’t worry, I’ve been praying a lot for help and I’m receiving it. Everything will be alright. I LOVE YOU!!!!!
Ross
October 25, 2011
Pretty good week.
1. We don’t have weekly service projects. We had the Mormon helping hands in April but that is like the only legit service project we do. Other than that, we help members out every now and then and do some other stuff but nothing really planned every week.
2. Our week was really good. We had 2 confirmations and a awesome day at the MCRD
So yeah my week was really good. I can’t remember if I told yall but we had interviews with Pres Clayton a couple of weeks ago. My interview was awesome. We just talked about what I needed to do with my time left and I told him how I was doing. He got a little teary eyed and told me that he wasn't looking forward to December 20th. That made me feel good. I just told him that I would do everything I could over the next 2 months to leave the mission, my zone and my area better than it was before I got here. It was a great talk/interview.
MCRD story of the week: So on Saturday night, in my prayers, I prayed that I would have success the following day. So on Sunday, I got to the MCRD and was talking to some missionaries outside the door to the room we have church in, when this group of recruits come waking in. I start to talk to them and found out that 2 of them weren't members of the church. So they sat down, and I followed them in and started talking about where they were from, why the wanted to be a Marine, etc. I asked them what brought them to church with us and they both said they were looking for a church to go here and looking for faith. So I told them we could talk after and they agreed. During that time, one of the members of the Branch Presidency there (there are 9 counselors haha) came and gave them Books of Mormon and they read during sacrament meeting. After the meeting, we went to the back of the room (its like a huge college classroom) and started talking. During the talk, 2 other recruits came and sat in. One was a lifelong member that was going to serve a mission after and the other was a recent convert. We started talking about everything and the 2 non members were just eating it up. They talked about how they didn’t want to rule anything out yet and they decided that they needed to start with our church because of the examples of the other member recruits. We talked about the organization of the church and I taught a little bit about the restoration. Then we got on the subject of baptism and started talking about the need to be baptized and how God wants all his children to live with him and that why we do baptisms for the dead, and that led us into what happens after this life. Usually, I don’t like to talk about so many different topics in one lesson, but for some reason I felt like we needed to give like a brief overview on everything. At the end of it, they both said, "sir, you are presenting a very, very VERY convincing argument and we feel that this is true." So I gave them 2 Nephi 31 to read this week. I felt like they needed to discover baptism on their own for some reason. I had a lot of different promptings in this lesson, that I don’t usually have. It was cool. They both said they would be back next week and they would love to talk again. I’m excited! This is why I love the MCRD!!!
Other than that the week was pretty good. I'm speaking on the 30th in church. Pres Lopez said I could pick my topic. I think I’m going to talk about where our hearts are focused. Are our hearts focused on all the problems we face or are they focused on building the kingdom of God and helping people who have worse problems than us? As Elder Holland said, I might have to singe their eyebrows a little...but in a loving way haha
I LOVE YOU!!!!
Ross
Saturday, October 22, 2011
October Letters
October 18, 2011
Well I don’t have a lot of time today because my best friend in the mission, Elder Vaughn, is leaving tomorrow so we are going to get lunch and then we have sports with our zone. So it might be a little fast haha. GO RANGERS!!!!! I found out the next day when I got a text from a member haha. I was pretty excited. It turns out that one of my friends out here is a huge cardinals fan so we already made our bet. Loser has to be the winner lunch haha. The way my rangers are playing ill put all my money on them!
We had a good week this week. We had 2 baptisms! It was great, but it was definitely my most crazy. The lady who got baptized has an autistic son. And right before we started the service, he had a break down. He started screaming and throwing things and nothing seemed to work. He yelled that he wanted to wear a baptismal suit so we gave him one but that didn’t work either. So I called an audible and told our WML and the 2 being baptized that we were just going to say a prayer and then do the baptisms and see what happens after. So we did and he finally calmed down so we went ahead and finished the service as planned. My RC, Ignacio, (he got baptized about 2 months ago) baptized the lady!!! It was awesome and he did a great job! It was definitely crazy! haha other than that we had a great week! We should have 2 baptisms at the end of the month. I have a goal to baptize at least one person each month till the end. So far, so good.
A bunch of people want to meet yall! A bunch of members in my past wards and branches found out that I am going home soon and they are all calling me and asking me how I am doing. I tell them that yall are coming to get me and they all want to meet yall! hhaha I know that our time is limited, so ill make the necessary cuts haha but we will definitely see people in Bonita and here in Logan Heights.
GO RANGERS!!!!
October 11, 2011
I had a cool day at the MCRD. I was walking around looking around for someone to teach and I felt prompted to talk to a recruit that I saw. So I went and talked to him and asked how he was doing and he opened up the fire hose on me haha..But it was great and I answered a lot of questions that he had and he is now praying to know if this is God's church so when he gets his answer he'll be baptized.
I guess ill give yall a little insight of what is going on right now inside me. I don’t really like to share it, because I don’t want any pity, but yall are family. This past week, I was in meetings everyday. And, everything finally caught up with me. I am exhausted. I’ve never been more tired than I am right now. I come into the apartment at night and after we plan, I pass out till the next morning. The other day, I was thinking and wondering why I was so tired, and I realized something. When Joseph Smith was working hard to build the church and establish it, he was exhausted. When missionaries first went to England to spread the Gospel, they were exhausted. Anyone who works to build the kingdom and change peoples lives is exhausted. I realized that I am now, more than any other time of my mission, preoccupied about the salvation of other people. Members, non members, missionaries. Everyone. I finally realized how important my calling is. God puts a lot of pressure on his missionaries. I’ve felt the pressure this week, but I’ve turned that pressure into something that fuels the fire. Its been great. But for these last 10 weeks I have a lot to do.
I LOVE YALL!!!!
Ross
October 4, 2011
Hey....General Conference was awesome!
1. My top 5 talks were: 1) Elder Holland (I literally felt scared when he started haha) 2)Pres Eyring--PH Preparation 3) Elder Waddel's on missionary work and continuing to serve 4) Brother Richardson on Teaching by the Spirit and 5) Pres Uchtdorf's talk on God loving us...and I also really like Pres Monson's on "Sometimes standing alone"
2. My new comp's name is Elder Young and he is from West Jordan Utah. We click pretty well. He is a cool guy and way humble. He loves to cook so he said he will cook for me everyday till I go home haha. Which probably will happen, because more than likely he is my last companion.....that is crazy to think haha
This week was really good. We saw tons of miracles and I will just tell a few and some other things that I learned this past week.
Miracle #1: Our first day together, we went and bought groceries and when we were packing up the car, a lady came running over to us and asked us if we were Christians. I was like yeah! and then she asked us to come with her to the hospital to visit her aunt. So we went and met her aunt (she spoke Spanish) and we offered to give her a blessing, so we did. After the blessing, she started crying and told us she could feel God in the room and knew that He sent us. Crazy!
Miracle #2: On Sunday, we took a newly ordained elder out with us to work. He went out with the missionaries a couple months before I got here and they tried to visit this inactive lady but she wasn’t home. For some reason, when that happened he felt that he should write down the address. So he did. Fast forward to now. We got buffed and I asked him if he had anyone he wanted to go see and he gave us the address. We went to the address and there was this guy in front painting and I didn’t know his name or the other lady's name so I just said, "Buenas Noches senor" and I scared him haha. But he welcomed us in and then we met the lady and she recognized us. The first thing she said was, "OOOO Dios les mando aqui" (OOOO God sent yall here). Turns out she has been battling diabetes pretty hard and couldn’t see very well and lost a toe, so she couldn’t walk. So we gave her a blessing and the other guy there came running in and asked for one too. He told us that seconds before I called out to him he asked himself, "I haven’t seen those elders in a long time. " and then I called out to him hahahah he was freaked out a little bit.
It was a great week...and the MCRD and General Conference just added to it haha. It was great to be back at the MCRD. All my old friends (the branch leaders) were happy to have me back and things are going to great. It was way cool to be back and talking with the recruits. I met a RM recruit and he is going to bring some friends next week and introduce me to them....things are looking good.
Well, pray for me. A sense of urgency has set in now. I was sitting in an appt the other day and something just shot threw me and I realized I only have 11 weeks left. So its crunch time. I might be winning the game against Satan....but that isn’t enough. My Steve Spurrier mentality is clicking in (Dad will get that) and my plan is to run up the score. Its going to be a battle, it definitely wont be easy. But it will definitely be worth it in the end. Take care and I love yall and pray for yall daily. I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
September 27, 2011
By this time, you are probably wondering what the new assignment is that I picked up. Well for the past few months, I have been pleading with the assistants to get me back at the MCRD for my last couple of transfers so I could spend the last few months of my mission there. They said that there was no way it could happen. My church starts at 9, and the MCRD starts at 830. So there is no way that I could serve there....so I thought. But the assistants texted me yesterday and told me to call them after I opened the transfer letter. I opened it, found out I was staying, and then called them. They asked me if I was happy with the news (staying in my area) and I obviously said yes. Then, they told me that the other missionaries in the branch need to get to know my investigators really well....I was like, "what? why?" and he told me because starting this Sunday, I will be missing the first 2 hours of church (PH and Sunday school) to serve at the MCRD!!!!!!! I almost dropped the phone!!!! No offense, but I was more happier with this than I was when I found out I would be home for Christmas! I freaked out and told the Assistants how much I loved them. The senior missionaries in the office came running into the hallway asking me if I was ok haha...I was like, "yeah! I’ve never been better!!!!!" I'm so excited!!!! Ahhhhhh, my prayers have been answered!!!!!!!!!!
Well....that’s about all that happened this week. Oh, so last week, I made goals for the last 3 months of my mission. After which, I prayed and told God this is what I wanted to do/happen and I pleaded with him for me to be humble enough to receive counsel from Him over the next 3 months. Wow! I've been counseled a ton already and its only been a week. This past week has been Christ like attributes and I’ve learned so much already. Its crazy. I'm just trying to stay humble and plead with the Lord to keep teaching me. I've also started to realize why I am where I am. I'm learning a ton in my area and I’m learning a lot from our branch president. He is a wise, wise man.
Well that’s about it for this week! I’m still so excited I’m shaking! haha. And yes Mom, I remembered your birthday! since its on Thursday ill just say it now.... Happy Birthday!!!!! I thought of the perfect birthday gift and I’m still trying to find it. So it might take a while to get it to you but you will get it!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!
(I received the birthday gift about a week later and you will never guess what it is…the DVD “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”. I love it !!My son, always surprises me!!!)
Well I don’t have a lot of time today because my best friend in the mission, Elder Vaughn, is leaving tomorrow so we are going to get lunch and then we have sports with our zone. So it might be a little fast haha. GO RANGERS!!!!! I found out the next day when I got a text from a member haha. I was pretty excited. It turns out that one of my friends out here is a huge cardinals fan so we already made our bet. Loser has to be the winner lunch haha. The way my rangers are playing ill put all my money on them!
We had a good week this week. We had 2 baptisms! It was great, but it was definitely my most crazy. The lady who got baptized has an autistic son. And right before we started the service, he had a break down. He started screaming and throwing things and nothing seemed to work. He yelled that he wanted to wear a baptismal suit so we gave him one but that didn’t work either. So I called an audible and told our WML and the 2 being baptized that we were just going to say a prayer and then do the baptisms and see what happens after. So we did and he finally calmed down so we went ahead and finished the service as planned. My RC, Ignacio, (he got baptized about 2 months ago) baptized the lady!!! It was awesome and he did a great job! It was definitely crazy! haha other than that we had a great week! We should have 2 baptisms at the end of the month. I have a goal to baptize at least one person each month till the end. So far, so good.
A bunch of people want to meet yall! A bunch of members in my past wards and branches found out that I am going home soon and they are all calling me and asking me how I am doing. I tell them that yall are coming to get me and they all want to meet yall! hhaha I know that our time is limited, so ill make the necessary cuts haha but we will definitely see people in Bonita and here in Logan Heights.
GO RANGERS!!!!
October 11, 2011
I had a cool day at the MCRD. I was walking around looking around for someone to teach and I felt prompted to talk to a recruit that I saw. So I went and talked to him and asked how he was doing and he opened up the fire hose on me haha..But it was great and I answered a lot of questions that he had and he is now praying to know if this is God's church so when he gets his answer he'll be baptized.
I guess ill give yall a little insight of what is going on right now inside me. I don’t really like to share it, because I don’t want any pity, but yall are family. This past week, I was in meetings everyday. And, everything finally caught up with me. I am exhausted. I’ve never been more tired than I am right now. I come into the apartment at night and after we plan, I pass out till the next morning. The other day, I was thinking and wondering why I was so tired, and I realized something. When Joseph Smith was working hard to build the church and establish it, he was exhausted. When missionaries first went to England to spread the Gospel, they were exhausted. Anyone who works to build the kingdom and change peoples lives is exhausted. I realized that I am now, more than any other time of my mission, preoccupied about the salvation of other people. Members, non members, missionaries. Everyone. I finally realized how important my calling is. God puts a lot of pressure on his missionaries. I’ve felt the pressure this week, but I’ve turned that pressure into something that fuels the fire. Its been great. But for these last 10 weeks I have a lot to do.
I LOVE YALL!!!!
Ross
October 4, 2011
Hey....General Conference was awesome!
1. My top 5 talks were: 1) Elder Holland (I literally felt scared when he started haha) 2)Pres Eyring--PH Preparation 3) Elder Waddel's on missionary work and continuing to serve 4) Brother Richardson on Teaching by the Spirit and 5) Pres Uchtdorf's talk on God loving us...and I also really like Pres Monson's on "Sometimes standing alone"
2. My new comp's name is Elder Young and he is from West Jordan Utah. We click pretty well. He is a cool guy and way humble. He loves to cook so he said he will cook for me everyday till I go home haha. Which probably will happen, because more than likely he is my last companion.....that is crazy to think haha
This week was really good. We saw tons of miracles and I will just tell a few and some other things that I learned this past week.
Miracle #1: Our first day together, we went and bought groceries and when we were packing up the car, a lady came running over to us and asked us if we were Christians. I was like yeah! and then she asked us to come with her to the hospital to visit her aunt. So we went and met her aunt (she spoke Spanish) and we offered to give her a blessing, so we did. After the blessing, she started crying and told us she could feel God in the room and knew that He sent us. Crazy!
Miracle #2: On Sunday, we took a newly ordained elder out with us to work. He went out with the missionaries a couple months before I got here and they tried to visit this inactive lady but she wasn’t home. For some reason, when that happened he felt that he should write down the address. So he did. Fast forward to now. We got buffed and I asked him if he had anyone he wanted to go see and he gave us the address. We went to the address and there was this guy in front painting and I didn’t know his name or the other lady's name so I just said, "Buenas Noches senor" and I scared him haha. But he welcomed us in and then we met the lady and she recognized us. The first thing she said was, "OOOO Dios les mando aqui" (OOOO God sent yall here). Turns out she has been battling diabetes pretty hard and couldn’t see very well and lost a toe, so she couldn’t walk. So we gave her a blessing and the other guy there came running in and asked for one too. He told us that seconds before I called out to him he asked himself, "I haven’t seen those elders in a long time. " and then I called out to him hahahah he was freaked out a little bit.
It was a great week...and the MCRD and General Conference just added to it haha. It was great to be back at the MCRD. All my old friends (the branch leaders) were happy to have me back and things are going to great. It was way cool to be back and talking with the recruits. I met a RM recruit and he is going to bring some friends next week and introduce me to them....things are looking good.
Well, pray for me. A sense of urgency has set in now. I was sitting in an appt the other day and something just shot threw me and I realized I only have 11 weeks left. So its crunch time. I might be winning the game against Satan....but that isn’t enough. My Steve Spurrier mentality is clicking in (Dad will get that) and my plan is to run up the score. Its going to be a battle, it definitely wont be easy. But it will definitely be worth it in the end. Take care and I love yall and pray for yall daily. I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
September 27, 2011
By this time, you are probably wondering what the new assignment is that I picked up. Well for the past few months, I have been pleading with the assistants to get me back at the MCRD for my last couple of transfers so I could spend the last few months of my mission there. They said that there was no way it could happen. My church starts at 9, and the MCRD starts at 830. So there is no way that I could serve there....so I thought. But the assistants texted me yesterday and told me to call them after I opened the transfer letter. I opened it, found out I was staying, and then called them. They asked me if I was happy with the news (staying in my area) and I obviously said yes. Then, they told me that the other missionaries in the branch need to get to know my investigators really well....I was like, "what? why?" and he told me because starting this Sunday, I will be missing the first 2 hours of church (PH and Sunday school) to serve at the MCRD!!!!!!! I almost dropped the phone!!!! No offense, but I was more happier with this than I was when I found out I would be home for Christmas! I freaked out and told the Assistants how much I loved them. The senior missionaries in the office came running into the hallway asking me if I was ok haha...I was like, "yeah! I’ve never been better!!!!!" I'm so excited!!!! Ahhhhhh, my prayers have been answered!!!!!!!!!!
Well....that’s about all that happened this week. Oh, so last week, I made goals for the last 3 months of my mission. After which, I prayed and told God this is what I wanted to do/happen and I pleaded with him for me to be humble enough to receive counsel from Him over the next 3 months. Wow! I've been counseled a ton already and its only been a week. This past week has been Christ like attributes and I’ve learned so much already. Its crazy. I'm just trying to stay humble and plead with the Lord to keep teaching me. I've also started to realize why I am where I am. I'm learning a ton in my area and I’m learning a lot from our branch president. He is a wise, wise man.
Well that’s about it for this week! I’m still so excited I’m shaking! haha. And yes Mom, I remembered your birthday! since its on Thursday ill just say it now.... Happy Birthday!!!!! I thought of the perfect birthday gift and I’m still trying to find it. So it might take a while to get it to you but you will get it!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!
(I received the birthday gift about a week later and you will never guess what it is…the DVD “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”. I love it !!My son, always surprises me!!!)
Thursday, September 22, 2011
September Letters
September 20, 2011
Two Sundays ago (9/11) one of the members of the stake presidency asked me if I could help with the translation for stake conference. Usually, I would think about it but I had the prompting just to say yes without thinking. The next week I kind of forgot that I was going to translate until Saturday. So, like I always do, I started cramming. I was on Spanish overload. I was studying anything in Spanish that I could get my hands on. But during all this, the thought was in the back of my mind, "Why did you say yes so
fast?” So Saturday night came around and when I said my personal prayers I pleaded with the Lord to help me the next day and keep me calm and help me to convey the spirit of the message to the Spanish people listening. I felt an overwhelming since of happiness after I prayed and when I got into bed I just knew everything was going to be ok. Then Sunday morning, I started freaking out again and was studying like crazy and right before we left to conference, I asked some elders for a blessing. So we went to conference and we were there for the last part of the English session. I got to hear the stake president's talk and it was about the life Joseph Smith and he was using some words that I had no idea how to translate. After it was over, I went to talk with the member of the stake presidency who asked me to translate and I asked him who I would be translating for and he smiled and told me, the stake president. I was floored. I thought that there was no way I could translate for him. So the meeting started and I was scared the entire time. During the talk before the stake president's I began to pray and before I even started, I heard a voice in my head saying, "Don’t worry Ross, I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. I told you that I would help you, just have confidence." I was like"uh..ok!" So needless to say, I got up and only messed up once in the translation. I was pretty amazed, not in myself, but in the Lord. Afterwards, one of the members of the Spanish Branch came up to me and told me how good I did and he said that while I was translating he felt proud that I was doing it and that I was his missionary. It was an awesome experience that I’ll always remember.
But back to my first question, "Why did I say yes so fast without doubting?" I realized later Sunday afternoon, in a lesson we were having, that the reason that I agreed without thinking was because my Spanish needed to improve. I had kind of become relaxed with my Spanish and not studying it that much. But I learned numerous new words and other things while studying and my Spanish is improving again..pretty cool.
Well that’s about it...hahah pretty crazy week! Thanks for everything! I LOVE YALL!!!!
September 13, 2011
So yeah...I SURVIVED THE SAN DIEGO BLACKOUT OF 2011! Me and my comp left our apartment and the lights where still working. Our fans were all running and everything was good. We got in our car and when we got to the street light, it started blinking. Then we started visiting people, and everyone was saying they had lost power. The we started getting texts from other missionaries saying power was down everywhere...all the way to New Mexico. Some people in our area thought it was the end of the world and that everyone was going to burn hahaha. Pres Clayton sent all the missionaries home early and so we chilled in our apartment basically the entire night. People in our area were going a little crazy, we heard police sirens all night. The little Mexican market by our house was robbed and the police had to come and guard it...that was pretty crazy! the power ended up coming back on at like 130 or so for us. We went to sleep at like 1030 or so...it was pretty hot.
So this week...we had a pretty cool experience with one of our investigators. We talked to her and used to visit her like 2 months ago, but for one reason or another we lost contact. But for the past month or so, I’ve been thinking a lot about her and feeling like we needed to visit her. So we went and saw her last Friday and had a pretty good talk. Then we stopped by yesterday and she told us that she had been praying for help with her family and asking God if He was there and when she was done praying, we knocked on the door (last Friday). She started crying and bore a strong testimony that God does answer prayers and how she knows now that he really does exist and loves her. It was another testimony builder for me to know that God works through us and that even though I had been thinking about her for awhile, God told when I needed to talk to her. It was kind of like him telling me that he was preparing her and that he would let me know when the time was right, and he did....pretty cool.
So yeah, that was basically my week. The lesson I realized this week, was that if we take a step back and allow God to help us in our struggles, we will be able to overcome them a lot easier and we will see the blessings in our struggles. Not that I am struggling with anything major or anything like that, but I’m a missionary, the past 2 years have been a struggle. When I just think about my problems and try to handle them myself, I don’t really learn. But if I ask God to help me understand the lessons to be learned in my problems and challenges, I see the lessons and I see the blessings and understand why I need to go through those trials.
Well I hope everyone is doing good. Tell everybody hi for me and spread the word....ROOS LITTLE IS COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
September 6, 2011
We had a good week. Another baptism!!!!haha We went over to our recent convert's house to talk to the mom about how things were going and she said that her boyfriend had left and she wanted to be baptized, but she didn’t know when because she was going through a lot. I told her to talk to our branch pres. and he would help her know what to do. The next night we got a call from Pte Lopez telling us that she was getting baptized on Saturday and that he knew we could handle the rest hahah so yeah, we had another baptism on Saturday and then we had 4 confirmations on Sunday. Overall, pretty good week!
The lesson I remembered this week was that sometimes as members of the church we grow comfortable with the amount of faith that we have. I kind of fell back into the trap of doing the work my way again this past week, but I’m starting to come out of it and put it back into the Lord's hands. That is definitely hard, because he asks a lot. I've been absolutely exhausted some nights and on the way home when I get a prompting to go see someone. It is the Lord's way of saying, "What are you going to do? take the easy way and go home, or take that one little step more and keep going?" It is definitely hard to keep going, but somehow I make it through. When we push ourselves to the edge and then go a little further, the blessings will come and we will be rewarded for our efforts.
Two Sundays ago (9/11) one of the members of the stake presidency asked me if I could help with the translation for stake conference. Usually, I would think about it but I had the prompting just to say yes without thinking. The next week I kind of forgot that I was going to translate until Saturday. So, like I always do, I started cramming. I was on Spanish overload. I was studying anything in Spanish that I could get my hands on. But during all this, the thought was in the back of my mind, "Why did you say yes so
fast?” So Saturday night came around and when I said my personal prayers I pleaded with the Lord to help me the next day and keep me calm and help me to convey the spirit of the message to the Spanish people listening. I felt an overwhelming since of happiness after I prayed and when I got into bed I just knew everything was going to be ok. Then Sunday morning, I started freaking out again and was studying like crazy and right before we left to conference, I asked some elders for a blessing. So we went to conference and we were there for the last part of the English session. I got to hear the stake president's talk and it was about the life Joseph Smith and he was using some words that I had no idea how to translate. After it was over, I went to talk with the member of the stake presidency who asked me to translate and I asked him who I would be translating for and he smiled and told me, the stake president. I was floored. I thought that there was no way I could translate for him. So the meeting started and I was scared the entire time. During the talk before the stake president's I began to pray and before I even started, I heard a voice in my head saying, "Don’t worry Ross, I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. I told you that I would help you, just have confidence." I was like"uh..ok!" So needless to say, I got up and only messed up once in the translation. I was pretty amazed, not in myself, but in the Lord. Afterwards, one of the members of the Spanish Branch came up to me and told me how good I did and he said that while I was translating he felt proud that I was doing it and that I was his missionary. It was an awesome experience that I’ll always remember.
But back to my first question, "Why did I say yes so fast without doubting?" I realized later Sunday afternoon, in a lesson we were having, that the reason that I agreed without thinking was because my Spanish needed to improve. I had kind of become relaxed with my Spanish and not studying it that much. But I learned numerous new words and other things while studying and my Spanish is improving again..pretty cool.
Well that’s about it...hahah pretty crazy week! Thanks for everything! I LOVE YALL!!!!
September 13, 2011
So yeah...I SURVIVED THE SAN DIEGO BLACKOUT OF 2011! Me and my comp left our apartment and the lights where still working. Our fans were all running and everything was good. We got in our car and when we got to the street light, it started blinking. Then we started visiting people, and everyone was saying they had lost power. The we started getting texts from other missionaries saying power was down everywhere...all the way to New Mexico. Some people in our area thought it was the end of the world and that everyone was going to burn hahaha. Pres Clayton sent all the missionaries home early and so we chilled in our apartment basically the entire night. People in our area were going a little crazy, we heard police sirens all night. The little Mexican market by our house was robbed and the police had to come and guard it...that was pretty crazy! the power ended up coming back on at like 130 or so for us. We went to sleep at like 1030 or so...it was pretty hot.
So this week...we had a pretty cool experience with one of our investigators. We talked to her and used to visit her like 2 months ago, but for one reason or another we lost contact. But for the past month or so, I’ve been thinking a lot about her and feeling like we needed to visit her. So we went and saw her last Friday and had a pretty good talk. Then we stopped by yesterday and she told us that she had been praying for help with her family and asking God if He was there and when she was done praying, we knocked on the door (last Friday). She started crying and bore a strong testimony that God does answer prayers and how she knows now that he really does exist and loves her. It was another testimony builder for me to know that God works through us and that even though I had been thinking about her for awhile, God told when I needed to talk to her. It was kind of like him telling me that he was preparing her and that he would let me know when the time was right, and he did....pretty cool.
So yeah, that was basically my week. The lesson I realized this week, was that if we take a step back and allow God to help us in our struggles, we will be able to overcome them a lot easier and we will see the blessings in our struggles. Not that I am struggling with anything major or anything like that, but I’m a missionary, the past 2 years have been a struggle. When I just think about my problems and try to handle them myself, I don’t really learn. But if I ask God to help me understand the lessons to be learned in my problems and challenges, I see the lessons and I see the blessings and understand why I need to go through those trials.
Well I hope everyone is doing good. Tell everybody hi for me and spread the word....ROOS LITTLE IS COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!!!
September 6, 2011
We had a good week. Another baptism!!!!haha We went over to our recent convert's house to talk to the mom about how things were going and she said that her boyfriend had left and she wanted to be baptized, but she didn’t know when because she was going through a lot. I told her to talk to our branch pres. and he would help her know what to do. The next night we got a call from Pte Lopez telling us that she was getting baptized on Saturday and that he knew we could handle the rest hahah so yeah, we had another baptism on Saturday and then we had 4 confirmations on Sunday. Overall, pretty good week!
The lesson I remembered this week was that sometimes as members of the church we grow comfortable with the amount of faith that we have. I kind of fell back into the trap of doing the work my way again this past week, but I’m starting to come out of it and put it back into the Lord's hands. That is definitely hard, because he asks a lot. I've been absolutely exhausted some nights and on the way home when I get a prompting to go see someone. It is the Lord's way of saying, "What are you going to do? take the easy way and go home, or take that one little step more and keep going?" It is definitely hard to keep going, but somehow I make it through. When we push ourselves to the edge and then go a little further, the blessings will come and we will be rewarded for our efforts.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Welcome Home...
Hello Everyone,
Ross sent us the following email this past week:
Elder Little,
It is with a tinge of sadness that I tell you that your release date has been officially changed to Dec. 20. I know it's the best thing for you, but we will certainly miss you. Now, get back to work!! :)
Pres. Clayton
We look forward to welcoming Ross home and are very happy that he will be home for Christmas. We appreciate your prayers and support in Ross’ behalf and wanted you to share in our excitement. We have encouraged Ross to stay focused and to “keep his head down and his feet moving” over the next three months—a phrase coined by Ross’ high school football coach, Coach Byrd.
We love you all!
Martha & Gordon
Ross sent us the following email this past week:
Elder Little,
It is with a tinge of sadness that I tell you that your release date has been officially changed to Dec. 20. I know it's the best thing for you, but we will certainly miss you. Now, get back to work!! :)
Pres. Clayton
We look forward to welcoming Ross home and are very happy that he will be home for Christmas. We appreciate your prayers and support in Ross’ behalf and wanted you to share in our excitement. We have encouraged Ross to stay focused and to “keep his head down and his feet moving” over the next three months—a phrase coined by Ross’ high school football coach, Coach Byrd.
We love you all!
Martha & Gordon
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
August Letters...
August 9, 2011
I'm feeling a lot better. (Ross was hospitalized this week with food poisoning.) I still don't know what caused it. I've given up trying to know. It was kind of like that time when we came back from Mexico when I was sick, but more intense.
Well this week was great. We had two surprise baptisms hahah. Do you remember Maricela? Me and Elder Guennete baptized her back in November? Her son turned 9 last Monday and we went and talked to Maricela and her son, Edward. We met with them on Saturday and we asked Eddie when he wanted to be baptized and he said, "ASAP. Tomorrow!" The other was the daughter of Maricela's friend, who is also a member. She had a date for this past weekend, but she was gettin cold feet but then she decided to do it haha it was pretty cool.
Also, things are really picking up in our area. We found a lot of good people, and the next few months are going to be really successful if we work hard and follow God.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to go one exchanges with the elders that work at the SD Institute. It brought back some good times haha. What they do over there is just be at the Institute all day and talk with everybody who walks in. Its pretty cool. Kids from school walk in that need help, or just random people walk in. And then last night we went to the FHE.,....they play softball.....and all I could do was watch.....it killed me!!! haha but it was a lot of fun.
Right now, I think I’m in the time of my mission where I feel the most grind. I just feel worn out. I realized the other day that I’ve been doing this for over 18 months now and if you think about it, that’s a long time. Its taught me a lot, but its been hard. I've been getting the urge to complain a lot lately but I know I can’t complain. So if you could just pray for extra hard this week..it would be great, especially with the news of my friend from high school dying. He wasn't like a great friend or anything, but I always kind of admired him in HS. He was in my 5th and 6th grade homeroom class and we had a lot of classes together in high school. Its tough. Thanks for everything!!
Ross
August 22, 2011
Things are going good. Sorry my emails have been so short lately. Nothing has really changed. We went to the temple last week, that was fun. Then on Thursday the Recent Converts in the branch went to do baptism and they called us to go and do the confirmations but it turns out they didn't need us, so Pres. Lopez, our Branch President, took my companionship and the other companionship of elders out to dinner and we talked about the branch. With our 2 baptisms this next weekend, we will have reached the branch's yearly baptismal goal of 35. So we have to set some new goals and start working on some plans to reach those. Oh, something that you will like to hear. In the branch, we don't have a piano player, so after 3 months of singing acapella, I told the branch music lady that I would learn how to play the piano again and start playing for the branch. So last Sunday was my first Sunday to play. It went well. Only a few mistakes, but I haven't played for any group of people since I played in PH when I was like 14. So hopefully by the time I get home, I'll be able to play everything hahah.
Thanks for everything. I guess its crunch time! 4 month to go....the time has gone by fast and these next 4 months are going to fly! I LOVE YALL!!!!!!
Ross
August 30, 2011
What are your living conditions like—is it an apartment or house?
Right now, we live in a little house. It’s got one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room and a small kitchen. But, our lease is up and the senior missionary in charge of housing told us we could look for a new one. We found a nice one with a few of downtown and the ocean....and we are getting it! Missionaries in the future will love me for getting this apartment. It’s how I will leave my legacy on the mission haha
Is poverty or gang activity the most prevalent in your area?
Probably equal. We see a lot of things everyday. A LOT. In downtown, there is a lot of homeless people that just set up their little tents on the sidewalk. Around our apartment, there is probably more gangs than anything else. But they all like us, they don’t mess with Jesus.
Not too much to report on this week. It seems like the longer I'm out on a mission, the less I have to say. hahaha. Sorry! I'm just keeping my head down right now haha We had another baptism this past weekend. Ignacio Garcia. He is a stud. He called the mission office because he wanted to talk to missionaries. He didn't have a problem with anything. He drank coffee everyday for the past 20 years, and he just dropped the habit like that. It took him 1 day to stop. And he hasn't touched it since. It just goes to say that Heavenly Father prepares His children. It is comforting to me to know that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to let me have these experiences and teach his children. It's way cool. I've been thinking a lot about all the spiritual experiences I’ve had over the past 19 months. I've been blessed a ton and I'm starting to see and put into practice all the lessons I've learned. The most important lesson I've learned is humility. In order to have success, you have to be humble enough to let the Lord teach you until he knows you are ready to do what he wants you to do. It's kind of like the brother of Jared. He trained the brother of Jared and then allowed him to figure some things out on his own and then was blessed for his efforts. Humility is key. It is something that I have learned by serving around our branch president, Pte Lopez. He is one of the most humble men I have ever met. He loves everyone he talks to and is willing to do anything to help anyone. In Branch council on Sunday, he trained the branch leadership on how to be a good leader. I threw out that in order to be a good leader, you have to humble. Then for the rest of the training, he talked about humility and told the branch leaders that in order to a good leader, you have to be a good follower. So true. Well that’s it for this week. Things really haven't changed. I figure that the rest of my emails will be me sharing a little bit about my week, and sharing different lessons that I’ve learned. Well that’s all I’ve got for this week. I LOVE YOU!!!! Ross
I'm feeling a lot better. (Ross was hospitalized this week with food poisoning.) I still don't know what caused it. I've given up trying to know. It was kind of like that time when we came back from Mexico when I was sick, but more intense.
Well this week was great. We had two surprise baptisms hahah. Do you remember Maricela? Me and Elder Guennete baptized her back in November? Her son turned 9 last Monday and we went and talked to Maricela and her son, Edward. We met with them on Saturday and we asked Eddie when he wanted to be baptized and he said, "ASAP. Tomorrow!" The other was the daughter of Maricela's friend, who is also a member. She had a date for this past weekend, but she was gettin cold feet but then she decided to do it haha it was pretty cool.
Also, things are really picking up in our area. We found a lot of good people, and the next few months are going to be really successful if we work hard and follow God.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to go one exchanges with the elders that work at the SD Institute. It brought back some good times haha. What they do over there is just be at the Institute all day and talk with everybody who walks in. Its pretty cool. Kids from school walk in that need help, or just random people walk in. And then last night we went to the FHE.,....they play softball.....and all I could do was watch.....it killed me!!! haha but it was a lot of fun.
Right now, I think I’m in the time of my mission where I feel the most grind. I just feel worn out. I realized the other day that I’ve been doing this for over 18 months now and if you think about it, that’s a long time. Its taught me a lot, but its been hard. I've been getting the urge to complain a lot lately but I know I can’t complain. So if you could just pray for extra hard this week..it would be great, especially with the news of my friend from high school dying. He wasn't like a great friend or anything, but I always kind of admired him in HS. He was in my 5th and 6th grade homeroom class and we had a lot of classes together in high school. Its tough. Thanks for everything!!
Ross
August 22, 2011
Things are going good. Sorry my emails have been so short lately. Nothing has really changed. We went to the temple last week, that was fun. Then on Thursday the Recent Converts in the branch went to do baptism and they called us to go and do the confirmations but it turns out they didn't need us, so Pres. Lopez, our Branch President, took my companionship and the other companionship of elders out to dinner and we talked about the branch. With our 2 baptisms this next weekend, we will have reached the branch's yearly baptismal goal of 35. So we have to set some new goals and start working on some plans to reach those. Oh, something that you will like to hear. In the branch, we don't have a piano player, so after 3 months of singing acapella, I told the branch music lady that I would learn how to play the piano again and start playing for the branch. So last Sunday was my first Sunday to play. It went well. Only a few mistakes, but I haven't played for any group of people since I played in PH when I was like 14. So hopefully by the time I get home, I'll be able to play everything hahah.
Thanks for everything. I guess its crunch time! 4 month to go....the time has gone by fast and these next 4 months are going to fly! I LOVE YALL!!!!!!
Ross
August 30, 2011
What are your living conditions like—is it an apartment or house?
Right now, we live in a little house. It’s got one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room and a small kitchen. But, our lease is up and the senior missionary in charge of housing told us we could look for a new one. We found a nice one with a few of downtown and the ocean....and we are getting it! Missionaries in the future will love me for getting this apartment. It’s how I will leave my legacy on the mission haha
Is poverty or gang activity the most prevalent in your area?
Probably equal. We see a lot of things everyday. A LOT. In downtown, there is a lot of homeless people that just set up their little tents on the sidewalk. Around our apartment, there is probably more gangs than anything else. But they all like us, they don’t mess with Jesus.
Not too much to report on this week. It seems like the longer I'm out on a mission, the less I have to say. hahaha. Sorry! I'm just keeping my head down right now haha We had another baptism this past weekend. Ignacio Garcia. He is a stud. He called the mission office because he wanted to talk to missionaries. He didn't have a problem with anything. He drank coffee everyday for the past 20 years, and he just dropped the habit like that. It took him 1 day to stop. And he hasn't touched it since. It just goes to say that Heavenly Father prepares His children. It is comforting to me to know that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to let me have these experiences and teach his children. It's way cool. I've been thinking a lot about all the spiritual experiences I’ve had over the past 19 months. I've been blessed a ton and I'm starting to see and put into practice all the lessons I've learned. The most important lesson I've learned is humility. In order to have success, you have to be humble enough to let the Lord teach you until he knows you are ready to do what he wants you to do. It's kind of like the brother of Jared. He trained the brother of Jared and then allowed him to figure some things out on his own and then was blessed for his efforts. Humility is key. It is something that I have learned by serving around our branch president, Pte Lopez. He is one of the most humble men I have ever met. He loves everyone he talks to and is willing to do anything to help anyone. In Branch council on Sunday, he trained the branch leadership on how to be a good leader. I threw out that in order to be a good leader, you have to humble. Then for the rest of the training, he talked about humility and told the branch leaders that in order to a good leader, you have to be a good follower. So true. Well that’s it for this week. Things really haven't changed. I figure that the rest of my emails will be me sharing a little bit about my week, and sharing different lessons that I’ve learned. Well that’s all I’ve got for this week. I LOVE YOU!!!! Ross
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Pictures
Ross sent a few pictures this week. Some investigators that he has been working with finally decided to get married and he was a witness at their wedding and helped baptize them. He's written about them to us before so he sent pictures. I didn't want to post the pictures of the family without their permission so I cropped them down to just Ross so you can at least see him!! If Ross says it's okay I'll post the real pictures later.
Signing as a witness to the wedding. :)
Signing as a witness to the wedding. :)LONG UPDATE
How do I fall so far behind?! Yikes!! So sorry to those of you that keep up with this. Here are excerpts from his letters over the past month. Thanks to mom for editing these and getting them ready to post because that's the hard part!! Enjoy!!
~Hillary
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
So this week was pretty good. We didn't get to work a lot because of all the things going on with the transition to Pres Clayton, our new Mission President, but it's alright. He came into the mission last Wednesday and me and my comp snuck up to the mission office to meet him. He is a great guy. We had "meet the president" meeting with him on Thursday and we got to know him and his family. He brought his daughters with him but only one is staying. And she'll only be here for the summer, she goes to BYU. I'm excited to work with him. He is a great man and his wife is too. She said that she is going to set up a mission blog so that our parents will get to see what we are doing..so be looking for that!
Alex was confirmed on Sunday and he gets the PH next week. Way cool. His family wants to be baptized now too! Last week we had another FHE with them and the Mom, Maria, said that she is ready to be baptized. Just as long as the water isn't cold hahaha so things are going great with them.
On 4th of July, we had to be in our apartment at 6 p.m.because things get a little crazy in the SD ghetto. But we watched the fireworks from the alley way behind our apartment. They had a huge firework show/party by the naval base, which is close to our apartment. So that was cool. It sounds like yalls 4th was pretty chill.
Well that's all I've got. I hope everything is going great! Almost 5 months! LOVE YALL
Ross
July 12, 2011
Today is the transfer letter day. Me and my comp are staying together.
This Thursday is my first interview with Pres Clayton. I've talked with him a bunch of times and I'm pretty sure he will be cool with me going home early. I'm going to give him a heads up in my Presidents letter today so it will be on his mind. hahaha
This week was good. We had a lot of success on Sunday. We had 6 people at church, but it was nothing we did. The De La Cruz family came and then we had 2 random people just show up. Things are going way good. This week, we are helping a kid get his mission papers filled out. That is exciting! And...a less active that I helped reactive in Imperial Beach just went through the temple on Saturday and is leaving for his mission to North Carolina in 9 days! How cool is that? I'm way excited for him. He is a little cocky, (more than I was haha) so the mission will humble him, but he will do great!!!!
This week has been a little tough. I've been thinking a lot about home for some reason haha It is nothing that yall are doing, yall are ok. It's just me. The other day I finished the BoM for the 3rd time and I did the math to see how many pages I had to read to finish it in Spanish. I only have 5 months left.....that is crazy. 4 transfers...and this transfer is only 5 weeks. I kind of freaked out a little bit, but I'm good now! Don't worry about me!
Well thanks for everything!!!! I LOVE YALL!!!!!!!!!
Ross
July 19, 2011
In preparation for a talk in church on "a mother's viewpoint in having a son on a mission--thoughts and impressions I have had as Ross has served a mission", I asked Ross what advice he has for boys as they contemplate and prepare for a mission. This is his reply:
"What advice do I have for younger kids to prepare for a mission? I guess: IT STARTS NOW. Don't put off preparing till the last minute or I guess don't procrastinate. It may seem far away, but it goes by fast. I realized this week that before your mission, everything in the church is geared towards preparing you for that time. Sunday school, mutual activities, seminary, mission prep, all that good stuff. Returned missionaries sometimes complain that there is nothing to prepare them for when they return home. I think that they didn't get "it" on their missions. The whole reason the Lord sends us out at 19 years old is so that we can prepare ourselves, for 2 years, for the rest of our lives. And because we are 19 year old kids, it takes us being pulled out of our comfort zone and taken out of everything we know (sports, TV, girls) to be able to be taught by the Lord. So that is why I say prepare now. Don't take yourselves out of everything in the world. But start to cut things down a little bit. Focus more things that matter. "Leave behind GOOD things, for BETTER things." Start to focus on what matters so that when you get to be the Lord's missionary, you learn the lessons he has for you quicker and you can become refined. I guess that's what I would tell them. The Lord has taught me so much in the past year and a half. I cant even begin to think where I would be in my life if I didn't go. If there is any doubt in their mind of going on a mission, slap yourself, and then never have those thoughts again. I wouldn't trade this, the hardest/most difficult/most trying/most humble/most rewarding, time of my life for any college football scholarship/any chance to play professional sports/any chance to become rich and famous. It means the world to me, and if they start to prepare now, it will mean even more to them. (alright, I just stepped off my soap box) I hope that helps.
(Needless, to say, it did help, immensely)
My first interview with President Clayton went great. I talked with him for about 30 minutes ( my longest interview with Pres Donaldson was like 5). He is a great man. Very humble and he told me repeatedly how grateful he was for me and how much he loved me. We talked about life back home and my family, we talked about my mission and the zone, we talked about my future. He promised me that after my mission, he would stay in contact with me. That was nice, something Pres Donaldson promised as well. In my last president's letter, I sent him a heads up about me going home early. We talked about it and he already knew when I was scheduled to go home. He asked when the semester started and I told him the middle of January. He said, "we cant have you miss that. Ill make sure you are released early." So I'm coming home early! I also told him that yall wanted to come out and pick me up out here and he said that he wouldn't trade the experience he had picking up his sons for anything. He then said, "We would love to have your parents here and meet them." So it looks like everything is a go!
July 26, 2011
Well this week we haven't had the most success, but it has been a really rewarding week.
Our week was ok. We had some good experiences. I think this week was more for me than it was for my area...if that makes any sense
On Wednesday, I was on exchanges with an elder and we went on a secret mission. Hahaha. There is an inactive member in his ward that doesn't really like missionaries. His wife is really active so she wanted us to meet with him. So she (the wife) took her husband (the inactive) to the Mormon Battalion and the plan was for me and my comp. to stop by and "accidently run into them". So my comp and I had all the Mormon Battalion sister missionaries working the situation. Then when they came out of the tour we "accidently ran into them" and started talking. To make a long story short, the guy really opened up to us and his wife said the things we told him really opened up his mind and helped him. We will see what happens there. Now, fast forward to yesterday......
THE RODRIGUEZES GOT MARRIED!!!!!!! Yeaaaaahhh! The Andres and Maria finally got married yesterday. They did it at the court house and asked me to be one of the witnesses! Then they showed one of their friends a pic of the temple and they said, "in one year from now, we are getting married there!" It was awesome to hear them say that! Really rewarding
Well that's about it for this week. Not a lot to say. I got the Dallas Cowboy package! It was great that yall took the tour of the stadium--I was jealous! My first week back we are going on a tour of the stadium. I love the shirt and other things. hahaha Tell everyone I said hey. I LOVE YALL!!!
Ross
August 2, 2011
We had a surprise meeting with Elder M. Russell Ballard on Saturday! Turns out that if your daughter is married to the Mission President, you can speak to the mission whenever you want to--if you are an apostle hahah. We had a meeting with him and with all the bishops, stake presidents, and WMLs in our mission...it was AWESOME!!!!! He answered a lot of questions about the work and explained a lot of new things. Then I got to meet him and shake his hand after. He looked at my name and said, "Elder Little......hahaha (chuckle)...God bless you" and patted me on the shoulder hahah. It was pretty cool!
THE RODRIGUEZ FAMILY WAS BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY!!!!! I attached the pics to the email. The wife wanted me to baptize her so I got to do that...it was great!!!!
I had to translate again in church on Sunday...this time from Spanish to English. It was our Branch Conference so we had all the stake leaders there and they used translation headsets...it was pretty intense. I could definitely feel the Lord helping me because I couldn't stop and the speakers didn't pause. I had to translate to English as they were speaking in Spanish!
So all in all....it was a pretty great week! Thanks for everything! I LOVE YALL!!!!!
~Hillary
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
So this week was pretty good. We didn't get to work a lot because of all the things going on with the transition to Pres Clayton, our new Mission President, but it's alright. He came into the mission last Wednesday and me and my comp snuck up to the mission office to meet him. He is a great guy. We had "meet the president" meeting with him on Thursday and we got to know him and his family. He brought his daughters with him but only one is staying. And she'll only be here for the summer, she goes to BYU. I'm excited to work with him. He is a great man and his wife is too. She said that she is going to set up a mission blog so that our parents will get to see what we are doing..so be looking for that!
Alex was confirmed on Sunday and he gets the PH next week. Way cool. His family wants to be baptized now too! Last week we had another FHE with them and the Mom, Maria, said that she is ready to be baptized. Just as long as the water isn't cold hahaha so things are going great with them.
On 4th of July, we had to be in our apartment at 6 p.m.because things get a little crazy in the SD ghetto. But we watched the fireworks from the alley way behind our apartment. They had a huge firework show/party by the naval base, which is close to our apartment. So that was cool. It sounds like yalls 4th was pretty chill.
Well that's all I've got. I hope everything is going great! Almost 5 months! LOVE YALL
Ross
July 12, 2011
Today is the transfer letter day. Me and my comp are staying together.
This Thursday is my first interview with Pres Clayton. I've talked with him a bunch of times and I'm pretty sure he will be cool with me going home early. I'm going to give him a heads up in my Presidents letter today so it will be on his mind. hahaha
This week was good. We had a lot of success on Sunday. We had 6 people at church, but it was nothing we did. The De La Cruz family came and then we had 2 random people just show up. Things are going way good. This week, we are helping a kid get his mission papers filled out. That is exciting! And...a less active that I helped reactive in Imperial Beach just went through the temple on Saturday and is leaving for his mission to North Carolina in 9 days! How cool is that? I'm way excited for him. He is a little cocky, (more than I was haha) so the mission will humble him, but he will do great!!!!
This week has been a little tough. I've been thinking a lot about home for some reason haha It is nothing that yall are doing, yall are ok. It's just me. The other day I finished the BoM for the 3rd time and I did the math to see how many pages I had to read to finish it in Spanish. I only have 5 months left.....that is crazy. 4 transfers...and this transfer is only 5 weeks. I kind of freaked out a little bit, but I'm good now! Don't worry about me!
Well thanks for everything!!!! I LOVE YALL!!!!!!!!!
Ross
July 19, 2011
In preparation for a talk in church on "a mother's viewpoint in having a son on a mission--thoughts and impressions I have had as Ross has served a mission", I asked Ross what advice he has for boys as they contemplate and prepare for a mission. This is his reply:
"What advice do I have for younger kids to prepare for a mission? I guess: IT STARTS NOW. Don't put off preparing till the last minute or I guess don't procrastinate. It may seem far away, but it goes by fast. I realized this week that before your mission, everything in the church is geared towards preparing you for that time. Sunday school, mutual activities, seminary, mission prep, all that good stuff. Returned missionaries sometimes complain that there is nothing to prepare them for when they return home. I think that they didn't get "it" on their missions. The whole reason the Lord sends us out at 19 years old is so that we can prepare ourselves, for 2 years, for the rest of our lives. And because we are 19 year old kids, it takes us being pulled out of our comfort zone and taken out of everything we know (sports, TV, girls) to be able to be taught by the Lord. So that is why I say prepare now. Don't take yourselves out of everything in the world. But start to cut things down a little bit. Focus more things that matter. "Leave behind GOOD things, for BETTER things." Start to focus on what matters so that when you get to be the Lord's missionary, you learn the lessons he has for you quicker and you can become refined. I guess that's what I would tell them. The Lord has taught me so much in the past year and a half. I cant even begin to think where I would be in my life if I didn't go. If there is any doubt in their mind of going on a mission, slap yourself, and then never have those thoughts again. I wouldn't trade this, the hardest/most difficult/most trying/most humble/most rewarding, time of my life for any college football scholarship/any chance to play professional sports/any chance to become rich and famous. It means the world to me, and if they start to prepare now, it will mean even more to them. (alright, I just stepped off my soap box) I hope that helps.
(Needless, to say, it did help, immensely)
My first interview with President Clayton went great. I talked with him for about 30 minutes ( my longest interview with Pres Donaldson was like 5). He is a great man. Very humble and he told me repeatedly how grateful he was for me and how much he loved me. We talked about life back home and my family, we talked about my mission and the zone, we talked about my future. He promised me that after my mission, he would stay in contact with me. That was nice, something Pres Donaldson promised as well. In my last president's letter, I sent him a heads up about me going home early. We talked about it and he already knew when I was scheduled to go home. He asked when the semester started and I told him the middle of January. He said, "we cant have you miss that. Ill make sure you are released early." So I'm coming home early! I also told him that yall wanted to come out and pick me up out here and he said that he wouldn't trade the experience he had picking up his sons for anything. He then said, "We would love to have your parents here and meet them." So it looks like everything is a go!
July 26, 2011
Well this week we haven't had the most success, but it has been a really rewarding week.
Our week was ok. We had some good experiences. I think this week was more for me than it was for my area...if that makes any sense
On Wednesday, I was on exchanges with an elder and we went on a secret mission. Hahaha. There is an inactive member in his ward that doesn't really like missionaries. His wife is really active so she wanted us to meet with him. So she (the wife) took her husband (the inactive) to the Mormon Battalion and the plan was for me and my comp. to stop by and "accidently run into them". So my comp and I had all the Mormon Battalion sister missionaries working the situation. Then when they came out of the tour we "accidently ran into them" and started talking. To make a long story short, the guy really opened up to us and his wife said the things we told him really opened up his mind and helped him. We will see what happens there. Now, fast forward to yesterday......
THE RODRIGUEZES GOT MARRIED!!!!!!! Yeaaaaahhh! The Andres and Maria finally got married yesterday. They did it at the court house and asked me to be one of the witnesses! Then they showed one of their friends a pic of the temple and they said, "in one year from now, we are getting married there!" It was awesome to hear them say that! Really rewarding
Well that's about it for this week. Not a lot to say. I got the Dallas Cowboy package! It was great that yall took the tour of the stadium--I was jealous! My first week back we are going on a tour of the stadium. I love the shirt and other things. hahaha Tell everyone I said hey. I LOVE YALL!!!
Ross
August 2, 2011
We had a surprise meeting with Elder M. Russell Ballard on Saturday! Turns out that if your daughter is married to the Mission President, you can speak to the mission whenever you want to--if you are an apostle hahah. We had a meeting with him and with all the bishops, stake presidents, and WMLs in our mission...it was AWESOME!!!!! He answered a lot of questions about the work and explained a lot of new things. Then I got to meet him and shake his hand after. He looked at my name and said, "Elder Little......hahaha (chuckle)...God bless you" and patted me on the shoulder hahah. It was pretty cool!
THE RODRIGUEZ FAMILY WAS BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY!!!!! I attached the pics to the email. The wife wanted me to baptize her so I got to do that...it was great!!!!
I had to translate again in church on Sunday...this time from Spanish to English. It was our Branch Conference so we had all the stake leaders there and they used translation headsets...it was pretty intense. I could definitely feel the Lord helping me because I couldn't stop and the speakers didn't pause. I had to translate to English as they were speaking in Spanish!
So all in all....it was a pretty great week! Thanks for everything! I LOVE YALL!!!!!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Update...
Ross is about 75% of the way through his mission....sometimes that seems so hard to believe, other times I feel like the days drag by. I'm guessing for my parents, the days just seem to drag by!! We all love Tuesdays when we hear from Ross and it's funny to see my parents stare at their phones, repeatedly updating their emails, waiting for that one that says it's from Ross. We love our missionary so much and are so proud of him and his service to the Lord...but we sure do miss him!!
I've posted 3 of his latest emails to my mom below. I always say I'm going to try to do better at keeping this updated but I never do! In Ross's letter this week he mentioned that his new mission President's wife wants to start a blog for the families to read so we'll let you know if that is done and if you're able to access it as well. I'm hoping she gets a blog started, I would love to hear how things are going out there from the mission's point of view!
Ross is very grateful for the letters and gifts he has received from family and friends. I know you may not always get a return letter of thanks and updates, but just know your thoughts and gifts are appreciated. He is so so so busy and recently we've only been getting short notes ourselves on Tuesdays. But Ross ends every letter (to me at least) by saying "tell everybody that I love them" so I'm passing that on to you too. He loves you and is grateful for your love and support. :)
So enjoy reading the emails below and if you feel so inclined, his address is posted to the side and you can write him a quick note...because even if he doesn't write you back, he LOVES to get mail. Such is the life of a missionary I guess!!
Love,
Hillary
I've posted 3 of his latest emails to my mom below. I always say I'm going to try to do better at keeping this updated but I never do! In Ross's letter this week he mentioned that his new mission President's wife wants to start a blog for the families to read so we'll let you know if that is done and if you're able to access it as well. I'm hoping she gets a blog started, I would love to hear how things are going out there from the mission's point of view!
Ross is very grateful for the letters and gifts he has received from family and friends. I know you may not always get a return letter of thanks and updates, but just know your thoughts and gifts are appreciated. He is so so so busy and recently we've only been getting short notes ourselves on Tuesdays. But Ross ends every letter (to me at least) by saying "tell everybody that I love them" so I'm passing that on to you too. He loves you and is grateful for your love and support. :)
So enjoy reading the emails below and if you feel so inclined, his address is posted to the side and you can write him a quick note...because even if he doesn't write you back, he LOVES to get mail. Such is the life of a missionary I guess!!
Love,
Hillary
Letter from June 21, 2011
June 21, 2011
Hey...tough week....but it refined me and things are getting better
Ninety percent of our teaching is in Spanish. The only person we teach in English is a 19 yr old girl but even then, her boyfriend doesn't speak English so we have to talk to him in Spanish. But yeah, everything is in Spanish. My area is just like something you would see in Mexico.
Well like I said this week was like the refiners fire. I'll relate it to sports. Remember the beginning of my senior year and I lost, what I like to call, my "swagger"? I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore? I just hit rock bottom? That is what happened this week.
Our investigators buffed us, we didn't really accomplish anything, and we had one investigator tell us they didn't want to be baptized anymore. So yeah.....I was humbled. On Friday night, after the night was over, I got on my knees and prayed. For awhile. Then I realized something. I realized that I was trying to do it all by myself. I was trying to do things my way. And the work of the Lord can't be done only by man. Its impossible. You have to be guided by the Lord in order to succeed. These things I was going through was a humbling process. The Lord was helping me realize that I couldn't do it on my own. I needed his help.
So Saturday it was a little better, but it was still the same kind of thing. Sunday was good. We only had 1 investigator show up, but then something happened to turn it all around. Sunday School was just finishing and President Lopez came and asked me if I could translate for the high councilor. I smiled and said, "You want me to translate?" What was going through my head was , "I have trouble translating what I want to say, there is no way that I can translate what someone else is trying to say." He smiled and shook his head, "si". I looked back at him and said, "Si, si quiere". He must have seen the look of doubt on my face and he put his hand on my shoulder said, "Si te puedes." He had confidence in me, but I had 0 confidence in myself. I remember looking around and thinking, "there are tons of people here who are fluent in both languages, why can't they do it?" So Sacrament meeting started and I prayed hard during the sacrament. I prayed for the Lord to help me, to put the words in my mouth, and to give me confidence in myself. So he was the first speaker and we started and it went great. I made a couple of mistakes but I was able to keep up with him and translate without a lot of long pauses or missed words. Wow. It was a powerful spiritual experience! I sat back down and then I just opened up my heart to the Lord for helping me get my "swagger" back.
Yesterday was great. We had some good lessons and our WML asked a lady straight up, "so..why haven't you been baptized yet? Do you want blessings?" The lord humbled me and now things are getting a lot better! It is amazing to see the Lord work in other people's lives but it is even more amazing when you see it in your own lives!
Well that's about it! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!
Ross
Hey...tough week....but it refined me and things are getting better
Ninety percent of our teaching is in Spanish. The only person we teach in English is a 19 yr old girl but even then, her boyfriend doesn't speak English so we have to talk to him in Spanish. But yeah, everything is in Spanish. My area is just like something you would see in Mexico.
Well like I said this week was like the refiners fire. I'll relate it to sports. Remember the beginning of my senior year and I lost, what I like to call, my "swagger"? I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore? I just hit rock bottom? That is what happened this week.
Our investigators buffed us, we didn't really accomplish anything, and we had one investigator tell us they didn't want to be baptized anymore. So yeah.....I was humbled. On Friday night, after the night was over, I got on my knees and prayed. For awhile. Then I realized something. I realized that I was trying to do it all by myself. I was trying to do things my way. And the work of the Lord can't be done only by man. Its impossible. You have to be guided by the Lord in order to succeed. These things I was going through was a humbling process. The Lord was helping me realize that I couldn't do it on my own. I needed his help.
So Saturday it was a little better, but it was still the same kind of thing. Sunday was good. We only had 1 investigator show up, but then something happened to turn it all around. Sunday School was just finishing and President Lopez came and asked me if I could translate for the high councilor. I smiled and said, "You want me to translate?" What was going through my head was , "I have trouble translating what I want to say, there is no way that I can translate what someone else is trying to say." He smiled and shook his head, "si". I looked back at him and said, "Si, si quiere". He must have seen the look of doubt on my face and he put his hand on my shoulder said, "Si te puedes." He had confidence in me, but I had 0 confidence in myself. I remember looking around and thinking, "there are tons of people here who are fluent in both languages, why can't they do it?" So Sacrament meeting started and I prayed hard during the sacrament. I prayed for the Lord to help me, to put the words in my mouth, and to give me confidence in myself. So he was the first speaker and we started and it went great. I made a couple of mistakes but I was able to keep up with him and translate without a lot of long pauses or missed words. Wow. It was a powerful spiritual experience! I sat back down and then I just opened up my heart to the Lord for helping me get my "swagger" back.
Yesterday was great. We had some good lessons and our WML asked a lady straight up, "so..why haven't you been baptized yet? Do you want blessings?" The lord humbled me and now things are getting a lot better! It is amazing to see the Lord work in other people's lives but it is even more amazing when you see it in your own lives!
Well that's about it! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!
Ross
Letter from June 14, 2011
June 14, 2011
We meet in a school because most of the members don't have cars and have to walk and all the other buildings are too far. There is no room to build in Barrio Logan so we rent out the school on Sundays and Fridays (activiteis). But maybe we will have a building soon, they have been trying for a while though.
This week was great. The members here are awesome. There is a lady who talked to her friends about the gospel and then called us and told us we had an appt with them and she would be there and together, we would baptize them ahhaha. That never happens. We had the appt last Thursday, they came to church on Sunday, we had another appt yesterday and now they have a baptismal date for the last Sunday of the month. God works with those that want to share the gospel. All it takes is a desire.
Yesterday was full of miracles. We received 3 referrals. One from a member in my last area. One from a RC for his parents and his 2 brothers. And one for another family of 4. WOW! I have been praying so hard for miracles lately and doing my best to be worthy of them and the Lord is blessing us. I dont know what we are doing, but God is blessing us a lot now. But with those blessings come a lot of pressure. God has entrusted us with these opportunities, now we have to take care of them and bring them in. It's going to be fun.
I love you mom!
Ross
We meet in a school because most of the members don't have cars and have to walk and all the other buildings are too far. There is no room to build in Barrio Logan so we rent out the school on Sundays and Fridays (activiteis). But maybe we will have a building soon, they have been trying for a while though.
This week was great. The members here are awesome. There is a lady who talked to her friends about the gospel and then called us and told us we had an appt with them and she would be there and together, we would baptize them ahhaha. That never happens. We had the appt last Thursday, they came to church on Sunday, we had another appt yesterday and now they have a baptismal date for the last Sunday of the month. God works with those that want to share the gospel. All it takes is a desire.
Yesterday was full of miracles. We received 3 referrals. One from a member in my last area. One from a RC for his parents and his 2 brothers. And one for another family of 4. WOW! I have been praying so hard for miracles lately and doing my best to be worthy of them and the Lord is blessing us. I dont know what we are doing, but God is blessing us a lot now. But with those blessings come a lot of pressure. God has entrusted us with these opportunities, now we have to take care of them and bring them in. It's going to be fun.
I love you mom!
Ross
Letter from June 7, 2011
June 7, 2011
I am feeling more settled in, but there is a sense of urgency that I haven't felt before..I think it is because I realized that I have 6 months left and its time to perform. But yeah, I'm more calm now, but we still have a long way to go before we get where I want the area to be
President Clayton comes in at the end of this month. He called Pres Donaldson and told him they were going to drive in the night before and stay in a hotel and President Donaldson said that's fine, as long as he stays out of the mission boundaries. After Pres Clayton is set apart, as soon as he steps foot in the mission boundaries, he is in charge and the keys are past....pretty cool
Well this week was great. We had a lot of success. We had a training meeting with Pres Donaldson and he re-explained the doctrine of baptism. That is the urgency I am feeling now I think. There is no way that the people in my area can truly be saved and receive the help from the atonement without me/missionaries. Its brought a whole new outlook and it makes me want to run to everyone on the street. It has been something that's missing on my mission so far, the urgency, but I have it now and I like it.
We have 3 people with baptismal dates and things are going great. My area is like Tijuana. There are no black people or white people, just Mexicans/Latinos....its awesome. Our branch president wants 2 baptism per month, so that is what he will get. The branch is awesome....story time: So on Sunday night we went to see a less active and we were just talking. I asked him how things were going and he said they are.....ok. I said, "M..., that doesn't sound too convincing. Whats up bro?" He then opened up and laid it all on the table. How things were rough with his family and how after his baptism all these trials came up and how he stopped going to church because he couldn't handle everything. I was thinking about what to say to him and I opened my mouth and told him how the adversary doesn't want him in church because he knows his potential. I told him the God needed him church to be an example for people everywhere that it is possible to turn their lives around. (He used to be in a gang and deal drugs and all this stuff and has been shot at now for what he did in the past). He teared up a little bit and said that he knows he just has to take the step. After I invited him to take the step this week and go back to church. He said he would and we have an appt with him tonight and are going to talk to him and his girlfriend, who is not a member. It was such a powerful experience. I have been focusing a lot lately on the having faith to tell people how it is and to promise them things with my priesthood authority. The spirit testifies to people when we do that and it is a powerful experience. AWESOME
Ross
I am feeling more settled in, but there is a sense of urgency that I haven't felt before..I think it is because I realized that I have 6 months left and its time to perform. But yeah, I'm more calm now, but we still have a long way to go before we get where I want the area to be
President Clayton comes in at the end of this month. He called Pres Donaldson and told him they were going to drive in the night before and stay in a hotel and President Donaldson said that's fine, as long as he stays out of the mission boundaries. After Pres Clayton is set apart, as soon as he steps foot in the mission boundaries, he is in charge and the keys are past....pretty cool
Well this week was great. We had a lot of success. We had a training meeting with Pres Donaldson and he re-explained the doctrine of baptism. That is the urgency I am feeling now I think. There is no way that the people in my area can truly be saved and receive the help from the atonement without me/missionaries. Its brought a whole new outlook and it makes me want to run to everyone on the street. It has been something that's missing on my mission so far, the urgency, but I have it now and I like it.
We have 3 people with baptismal dates and things are going great. My area is like Tijuana. There are no black people or white people, just Mexicans/Latinos....its awesome. Our branch president wants 2 baptism per month, so that is what he will get. The branch is awesome....story time: So on Sunday night we went to see a less active and we were just talking. I asked him how things were going and he said they are.....ok. I said, "M..., that doesn't sound too convincing. Whats up bro?" He then opened up and laid it all on the table. How things were rough with his family and how after his baptism all these trials came up and how he stopped going to church because he couldn't handle everything. I was thinking about what to say to him and I opened my mouth and told him how the adversary doesn't want him in church because he knows his potential. I told him the God needed him church to be an example for people everywhere that it is possible to turn their lives around. (He used to be in a gang and deal drugs and all this stuff and has been shot at now for what he did in the past). He teared up a little bit and said that he knows he just has to take the step. After I invited him to take the step this week and go back to church. He said he would and we have an appt with him tonight and are going to talk to him and his girlfriend, who is not a member. It was such a powerful experience. I have been focusing a lot lately on the having faith to tell people how it is and to promise them things with my priesthood authority. The spirit testifies to people when we do that and it is a powerful experience. AWESOME
Ross
Monday, June 6, 2011
It's Transfer Time!!
Ross was transferred to a new district two weeks ago but we weren't able to find out where until one week ago. Here are the past couple of week's emails....
May 24, 2011
Well....its come to an end.....
As you can see, my ministry in Sweetwater has come to an end. After 10 1/2 months here in Bonita 3, I have to pack my bags. I guess we will find out tomorrow where I am going.
Well, I guess I'm not surprised that I'm leaving, I've known it was coming since last Thursday. We had a meeting with our stake president and Pres Donaldson on Thursday to talk about the stake missionary plan/work. I had planned on talking to Pres Donaldson after because of a feeling I had been having for awhile. For the past couple of weeks, I have been feeling "detached" from my investigators. I love them and I taught them with the Spirit, but I didn't feel like that is where I needed to be anymore. It was a terrible feeling, but I guess you could say I was kind of feeling like I needed to leave and go somewhere else. So after the meeting on Thursday I talked with Pres Donaldson and told him how I was feeling. He asked me why I thought I was having those kind of feelings and I said I wasn't sure. He then asked how long I had been in Sweetwater and I said, "10 1/2 months." he said, "That's a long time. That's probably why. But, you don't have to worry about it anymore." And then he smiled and gave me that look like I was being transferred. So yeah, I've had an idea that I was leaving, but my name on the letter confirms it. Its a weird feeling to leave, but oh well. Its nice to know that I'm on the same age as the Lord.
My birthday was awesome! It was basically like any other day. I went to church, everyone there wished me happy birthday (No one said it in Spanish, they all said it in English to me ha-ha) then my WML invited me and my comp over to his house for lunch so we ate there. Then we went to my favorite family's house and they threw me a party and we had Chinese food and cake. (When yall come pick me up we will definitely come back to see this family. I love them so much) and then another member made me a cake. So yeah, it was pretty awesome! A lot of love. It definitely will make leaving that much harder.
Please tell everyone thanks for everything and I will start working on sending out thank you notes!
Well that is about it. I guess we will find out tomorrow where I go. Thanks again for everything! I LOVE YALL!!!!
Ross
May 31, 2011
Ross has been serving in the Bonita Third Ward in the City Heights area of San Diego for the past 10 1/2 months, a very long time for a missionary to stay in one area. He has been expecting a transfer for quite some time and we found out last week that the transfer letter came and had his name on it. So, that's all we knew for a week. He was gone, but we didn't know where. I am including part of my email to Ross this week to help you understand some of his response (~Martha)
Hi Buddy!
I saw you at 7-11...ok, maybe it wasn't you, but I did see the 7-11 Store on Kettner where you made a purchase with your debit card. Ok, what does it all mean?
Questions:
WHERE ARE YOU, What is it like, Do you like it there, How about your new companion? What ward and stake are you in? What are your responsibilities?
These past few days not knowing where you are have been some of the hardest--I think more so on dad. He has been obsessing--checking your bank account several times a day looking for transactions!!! Most of the time we can't get you to slow down in using your debit card and this week you have hardly used it at all--go figure! I suggested calling the mission office to ask where you are serving now and he said that you would be mortified if I did--haha! I didn't really think you would, but I figured I could wait until Tuesday. Dad woke me up at 11:30 Saturday night saying "I found him, I found him" (I know you are laughing). The pending transaction posted to your account and just said 7-11 in San Diego with no store number or address. YOUR dad called Chase Bank Customer Service and had the poor lady track down the address of the store and then he mapquested it and used the 360 viewer to see the area. He then spent the next 2 hours analyzing what ward, stake, etc. this store is in. He tracked this location to your previous areas, the mission home, and the mission office. He was just all over this piece of information!!!! (Now, I know you are really laughing). Hey what can I say, he makes his living analyzing! He has decided that you are in the San Diego Stake--is he right?
Ross' Reply:
Ha Wow...
Yes dad, your prediction was right. I am back in the SD stake. This time I am in Barrio Logan in the Logan Heights branch. I am a ZL here again with a new ZL, Elder Celment from Washington.
Hahaha well I'm glad to hear that dad cares about me. hahaha The 7-11 I stopped at was near our Branch President's house. I figured that I would throw you for a loop because that is nowhere near my area haha. He lives way out. Talk about an amazing priesthood leader. He knows all the members, less actives, inactives, and recent converts by name and face and has their addresses memorized. He runs the branch to perfection. He is way good. We went to branch council on Sunday (first time I have been to one since my first transfer) and I was impressed. He holds all the elders accountable to their visits and is always grateful but never satisfied. He is a little intimidating sometimes, but we went to his house my first full day in the area and got to know him and told him that I was all in. He trusts me already, I think, because he has been giving us a lot of people to go take care of and we have been having some success with those people. Its been good.
It was definitely hard to leave Sweetwater. I miss it still, but I have so much work to do I don't have a lot of time to miss anything. The Rodriguezes are supposed to get baptized at the end of the month, so I will go back for that. But other than that, I don't think I'll go back to Sweetwater a lot. The members in my area now are just as good, if not better than in Bonita. The branch is in the top 15 in the nation in baptizing. That's some pressure, but the success is coming along nicely.
So yeah, that's been my week. Just trying to get the area going again. The ZL before left us with nothing so its like white washing again, but it will come along. Actually, Pte Lopez (the branch pres) called Pres Donaldson and asked him about me. He already knew me when I got there and met him haha. It was kind of weird. He is pretty intense.
Well that is about it for this week. I've got a lot of stuff on my mind with the new area and everything so sorry if this email is jumbled. I LOVE YALL!!
Ross
May 24, 2011
Well....its come to an end.....
As you can see, my ministry in Sweetwater has come to an end. After 10 1/2 months here in Bonita 3, I have to pack my bags. I guess we will find out tomorrow where I am going.
Well, I guess I'm not surprised that I'm leaving, I've known it was coming since last Thursday. We had a meeting with our stake president and Pres Donaldson on Thursday to talk about the stake missionary plan/work. I had planned on talking to Pres Donaldson after because of a feeling I had been having for awhile. For the past couple of weeks, I have been feeling "detached" from my investigators. I love them and I taught them with the Spirit, but I didn't feel like that is where I needed to be anymore. It was a terrible feeling, but I guess you could say I was kind of feeling like I needed to leave and go somewhere else. So after the meeting on Thursday I talked with Pres Donaldson and told him how I was feeling. He asked me why I thought I was having those kind of feelings and I said I wasn't sure. He then asked how long I had been in Sweetwater and I said, "10 1/2 months." he said, "That's a long time. That's probably why. But, you don't have to worry about it anymore." And then he smiled and gave me that look like I was being transferred. So yeah, I've had an idea that I was leaving, but my name on the letter confirms it. Its a weird feeling to leave, but oh well. Its nice to know that I'm on the same age as the Lord.
My birthday was awesome! It was basically like any other day. I went to church, everyone there wished me happy birthday (No one said it in Spanish, they all said it in English to me ha-ha) then my WML invited me and my comp over to his house for lunch so we ate there. Then we went to my favorite family's house and they threw me a party and we had Chinese food and cake. (When yall come pick me up we will definitely come back to see this family. I love them so much) and then another member made me a cake. So yeah, it was pretty awesome! A lot of love. It definitely will make leaving that much harder.
Please tell everyone thanks for everything and I will start working on sending out thank you notes!
Well that is about it. I guess we will find out tomorrow where I go. Thanks again for everything! I LOVE YALL!!!!
Ross
May 31, 2011
Ross has been serving in the Bonita Third Ward in the City Heights area of San Diego for the past 10 1/2 months, a very long time for a missionary to stay in one area. He has been expecting a transfer for quite some time and we found out last week that the transfer letter came and had his name on it. So, that's all we knew for a week. He was gone, but we didn't know where. I am including part of my email to Ross this week to help you understand some of his response (~Martha)
Hi Buddy!
I saw you at 7-11...ok, maybe it wasn't you, but I did see the 7-11 Store on Kettner where you made a purchase with your debit card. Ok, what does it all mean?
Questions:
WHERE ARE YOU, What is it like, Do you like it there, How about your new companion? What ward and stake are you in? What are your responsibilities?
These past few days not knowing where you are have been some of the hardest--I think more so on dad. He has been obsessing--checking your bank account several times a day looking for transactions!!! Most of the time we can't get you to slow down in using your debit card and this week you have hardly used it at all--go figure! I suggested calling the mission office to ask where you are serving now and he said that you would be mortified if I did--haha! I didn't really think you would, but I figured I could wait until Tuesday. Dad woke me up at 11:30 Saturday night saying "I found him, I found him" (I know you are laughing). The pending transaction posted to your account and just said 7-11 in San Diego with no store number or address. YOUR dad called Chase Bank Customer Service and had the poor lady track down the address of the store and then he mapquested it and used the 360 viewer to see the area. He then spent the next 2 hours analyzing what ward, stake, etc. this store is in. He tracked this location to your previous areas, the mission home, and the mission office. He was just all over this piece of information!!!! (Now, I know you are really laughing). Hey what can I say, he makes his living analyzing! He has decided that you are in the San Diego Stake--is he right?
Ross' Reply:
Ha Wow...
Yes dad, your prediction was right. I am back in the SD stake. This time I am in Barrio Logan in the Logan Heights branch. I am a ZL here again with a new ZL, Elder Celment from Washington.
Hahaha well I'm glad to hear that dad cares about me. hahaha The 7-11 I stopped at was near our Branch President's house. I figured that I would throw you for a loop because that is nowhere near my area haha. He lives way out. Talk about an amazing priesthood leader. He knows all the members, less actives, inactives, and recent converts by name and face and has their addresses memorized. He runs the branch to perfection. He is way good. We went to branch council on Sunday (first time I have been to one since my first transfer) and I was impressed. He holds all the elders accountable to their visits and is always grateful but never satisfied. He is a little intimidating sometimes, but we went to his house my first full day in the area and got to know him and told him that I was all in. He trusts me already, I think, because he has been giving us a lot of people to go take care of and we have been having some success with those people. Its been good.
It was definitely hard to leave Sweetwater. I miss it still, but I have so much work to do I don't have a lot of time to miss anything. The Rodriguezes are supposed to get baptized at the end of the month, so I will go back for that. But other than that, I don't think I'll go back to Sweetwater a lot. The members in my area now are just as good, if not better than in Bonita. The branch is in the top 15 in the nation in baptizing. That's some pressure, but the success is coming along nicely.
So yeah, that's been my week. Just trying to get the area going again. The ZL before left us with nothing so its like white washing again, but it will come along. Actually, Pte Lopez (the branch pres) called Pres Donaldson and asked him about me. He already knew me when I got there and met him haha. It was kind of weird. He is pretty intense.
Well that is about it for this week. I've got a lot of stuff on my mind with the new area and everything so sorry if this email is jumbled. I LOVE YALL!!
Ross
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Recent Letters...
Here are three of Ross's recent letters....enjoy!!
May 3, 2011
Hi Mom
Ha yeah I heard. We were at the Mission President's Fireside when the Elder next to me in the choir got a text that said, "Elders good news. The U.S. killed Osama Bin Laden and they have is body." That message got forwarded around the mission pretty quick. Then we went and ate yesterday and it was even on ESPN hahah big news I guess.
1. Stake Conference was amazing. I think that our stake president, President Mitchell, will be a General Authority soon. He is the man! He gave an awesome talk about looking up and realizing how far off the path you are and getting back to the straight and narrow. Then Elder Bennett spoke (newly called member of the 70) and after him Elder Bednar. I'll talk more about his talk later.
2. Things are looking good for Skyping on Mother's Day. I'm going over to a member's house and using their laptop so everything should be set up. I'm going to finalize the plans today with them.
3. The Service project was awesome. Me and Elder Lawter were pulling weeds and cleaning out an area and I told him that when my mom told me it was time to pull weeds that meant it was usually time for me to leave hahah but I actually liked it. It was fun to get down and dirty and work with my hands aha so when i get home, lets pull some weeds (I'll probably regret saying that when the day actually comes) hahaha
So this week was great and really busy! On Friday, we had a lesson with one of our investigators that were having been working really hard with. She is always saying that she wants to change her life and needs more help. We invited her to be baptized at the beginning of the lesson (no point of waiting till the end) and she said that she wanted to learn more and know more. We then taught her more about baptism and really relied on the spirit to guide where we needed to go. We talked about her family, we talked about her life. I told her that she didn't have to know everything to get baptized. Too many times people think that an investigator has to know a certain amount of things in order to be baptized. False. Baptism is a covenant of willingness. Nowhere in the baptismal questions does it ask about knowledge. They all ask if they are willing to follow commandments and live the gospel. Baptism is a covenant of willingness and the temple is a covenant of obedience and knowledge. Anyways hahaha, so we explained that and then invited her again to be baptized on the 15th. The spirit had worked on her so hard, that she looked at us and said, "I dont know...can we do it sooner?" haha I laughed. So she is getting baptized this Saturday and all of her family from the desert will be there. Its going to be great.
Elder Bednar was awesome. He rebuked and called to our stake to repentance. He talked about the difference between a testimony and true conversion. He told all the members that if they think that only their testimony will help them when things get tough, they are wrong. We have to be truly converted to the Lord, rely on the spirit, bury all of our weapons of rebellion and become truly converted to the Gospel. A testimony leads to continuing conversion. It was really good. He quoted from our stake president's talk a lot. Thats why I think he is gonig to be a general authority. He also said that our stake has great missionaries and they are working hard. So give them a break and rely on your home teachers to help you move. haha. It was a great weekend.
Well the big move finally happened. Our mission grew by 50% yesterday. We now have 2 more stakes making 10 total stakes in the mission. So we only have 2 companionships in our district now. I stayed where I am and so did my comp, but Elder Lawter got moved up north which is tough. We were best friends down here because we have been in the ward longer than anyone else but its all good. There is nothing I can do about it now except put my head down and work.
Well that's about it. I am definitely looking forward to Sunday. It should be great! I'll call on Saturday to set everything up. I LOVE YOU!!!!
Ross
April 26, 2011
Hey Mom
1. To tell you the truth...I forgot it was Easter until I went to church on Sunday haha. That goes to show you how holidays are on the misison. But it was good. We had dinner with a family to celebrate Elder Lawter's birthday and then chilled with Elder Williamson. He went home today so he was packing and saying bye to people on Sunday.
2. Yeah I wear them both. I've really cracked down on working out in the morning and losing weight agai, so you can get me a mix of both. (see birthday list)
3. This saturday is Mormon Helping Hands in California. Every stake in California is doing a service project in the community. Ours is cleaning up an old school and turning it in to a rec center kind of thing. And yes we get the cool vests.....but they're yellow haha
So this week was pretty chill. We went and saw old members and investigators of Elder Williamson since he was going home today. It was cool to see people he taught and made a difference for...it kiind of got me excited for when i get to that point...8 months.
There was a big hit to the ward this past week and to me. One of my favorite members was deported this past Thursday or Friday. I'm not too sure how it happened but it happened. It was tough to see the family come to church by themselves. But, he is supposed to try and come back soon, so we will see what happens.
And yes, our meeting with Elder Perry was today. It was AWESOME! It was him and his wife with Elder L. Whitney Clayton (on of the presidents of the 70) and his wife. Pretty awesome. Elder Perry was pretty funny and talked a little bit about the Broadway play "The Book of Mmormon". He said that if the church did it we would have taken a little different approach but we are thankful for the publicity. He also talked about Jimmer and the publicity he brought the church (i just put my head down for that hahah). He then talked about the restoration and how there are 1000s of people that need to hear that story/doctrine in San Diego. It was a way cool experience. And it is definitely true....his voice is really booming when he bears his testimony...It was pretty legit!
Here is my birthday list that you wanted:
-Pillow
-White shirts (long sleeves and short. 18 or 17 1/2)
-Pants(black or pin stripped)
-MONEY (To buy stuff out here)
-MOJO Balance band (Ok...these band things are really cool. They help your balance and it uses the waves that pass through your body to keep your muscles from spazing out and relax....they are way cool. You can order it online at mojofuturtech.com)
-Gift Cards
--Socks(athletic and church)
-Ties(summer colors)
-Nike sandals (like dads old adidas sandals)
-Anything else anyone want to send me
Thanks for everything and I love you. I am way excited for May 8. It is going to be awesome!!!!!!!
Ross
Monday, March 18
1. Yeah I will call yall the day before Mothers Day to let you know what the plan is. Are you planning on making me trunky and going to the Rangers game again like lat year? haha
2. So about the whole Skype thing....I had an interview with President yesterday and asked him about Skype and if I could do it or not.....he told me that his answer was no.....until he asked the Missionary Dept about it and they said YES! hahah so dont be freaked out, everything is good to go. He gave me the ok, so I will be Skyping in 3 weeks. This is what I was thinking. Yall could set me up a Skype account and send me the info and everything. I can log on with that and then find yall or whatever. So just have Hillary make me a Skype name and send me the name and password and then I'll take care of the rest. If I dont have a member with a web cam, I'll probably just buy one. They are like 20 bucks at Wal Mmart. But I'm pretty sure I can find someone who has one.
3. Things are good with my comp. we have a 3rd wheel right now, which makes things better. The guy that is with us is going home next week. He is going to play football at Utah St so we get along just fine haaha Most of our nights are spent telling football stories and talking about football....we get along really well so its all good.
Well this week there is not too much to report. Just the good news on Skype. Our investigators are doing great. We have 4 people with a baptismal date right now and soon to be 5. We are teaching my recent convert's boyfriend now. He is a way cool guy. I like him a lot. We bonded pretty quickly and we just joke around all the time hahaha.
But yeah, Easter is coming up this weekend then after that I have Elder Perry a week from today, then Mormon Helping Hands service project on April 30 and then Elder Bednar for Stake Conference on May 1, then Mothers Day on May 8 then my birthday on May 22. And somewhere in between there I'll hit my 15 and 16 month marks hahahah its finally starting to pick up hahahah.
Well I love yall a lot and appreiciate everything you do. I'll send you some pics of me at the temple. They are pretty good. LOVE YALL
ross
May 3, 2011
Hi Mom
Ha yeah I heard. We were at the Mission President's Fireside when the Elder next to me in the choir got a text that said, "Elders good news. The U.S. killed Osama Bin Laden and they have is body." That message got forwarded around the mission pretty quick. Then we went and ate yesterday and it was even on ESPN hahah big news I guess.
1. Stake Conference was amazing. I think that our stake president, President Mitchell, will be a General Authority soon. He is the man! He gave an awesome talk about looking up and realizing how far off the path you are and getting back to the straight and narrow. Then Elder Bennett spoke (newly called member of the 70) and after him Elder Bednar. I'll talk more about his talk later.
2. Things are looking good for Skyping on Mother's Day. I'm going over to a member's house and using their laptop so everything should be set up. I'm going to finalize the plans today with them.
3. The Service project was awesome. Me and Elder Lawter were pulling weeds and cleaning out an area and I told him that when my mom told me it was time to pull weeds that meant it was usually time for me to leave hahah but I actually liked it. It was fun to get down and dirty and work with my hands aha so when i get home, lets pull some weeds (I'll probably regret saying that when the day actually comes) hahaha
So this week was great and really busy! On Friday, we had a lesson with one of our investigators that were having been working really hard with. She is always saying that she wants to change her life and needs more help. We invited her to be baptized at the beginning of the lesson (no point of waiting till the end) and she said that she wanted to learn more and know more. We then taught her more about baptism and really relied on the spirit to guide where we needed to go. We talked about her family, we talked about her life. I told her that she didn't have to know everything to get baptized. Too many times people think that an investigator has to know a certain amount of things in order to be baptized. False. Baptism is a covenant of willingness. Nowhere in the baptismal questions does it ask about knowledge. They all ask if they are willing to follow commandments and live the gospel. Baptism is a covenant of willingness and the temple is a covenant of obedience and knowledge. Anyways hahaha, so we explained that and then invited her again to be baptized on the 15th. The spirit had worked on her so hard, that she looked at us and said, "I dont know...can we do it sooner?" haha I laughed. So she is getting baptized this Saturday and all of her family from the desert will be there. Its going to be great.
Elder Bednar was awesome. He rebuked and called to our stake to repentance. He talked about the difference between a testimony and true conversion. He told all the members that if they think that only their testimony will help them when things get tough, they are wrong. We have to be truly converted to the Lord, rely on the spirit, bury all of our weapons of rebellion and become truly converted to the Gospel. A testimony leads to continuing conversion. It was really good. He quoted from our stake president's talk a lot. Thats why I think he is gonig to be a general authority. He also said that our stake has great missionaries and they are working hard. So give them a break and rely on your home teachers to help you move. haha. It was a great weekend.
Well the big move finally happened. Our mission grew by 50% yesterday. We now have 2 more stakes making 10 total stakes in the mission. So we only have 2 companionships in our district now. I stayed where I am and so did my comp, but Elder Lawter got moved up north which is tough. We were best friends down here because we have been in the ward longer than anyone else but its all good. There is nothing I can do about it now except put my head down and work.
Well that's about it. I am definitely looking forward to Sunday. It should be great! I'll call on Saturday to set everything up. I LOVE YOU!!!!
Ross
April 26, 2011
Hey Mom
1. To tell you the truth...I forgot it was Easter until I went to church on Sunday haha. That goes to show you how holidays are on the misison. But it was good. We had dinner with a family to celebrate Elder Lawter's birthday and then chilled with Elder Williamson. He went home today so he was packing and saying bye to people on Sunday.
2. Yeah I wear them both. I've really cracked down on working out in the morning and losing weight agai, so you can get me a mix of both. (see birthday list)
3. This saturday is Mormon Helping Hands in California. Every stake in California is doing a service project in the community. Ours is cleaning up an old school and turning it in to a rec center kind of thing. And yes we get the cool vests.....but they're yellow haha
So this week was pretty chill. We went and saw old members and investigators of Elder Williamson since he was going home today. It was cool to see people he taught and made a difference for...it kiind of got me excited for when i get to that point...8 months.
There was a big hit to the ward this past week and to me. One of my favorite members was deported this past Thursday or Friday. I'm not too sure how it happened but it happened. It was tough to see the family come to church by themselves. But, he is supposed to try and come back soon, so we will see what happens.
And yes, our meeting with Elder Perry was today. It was AWESOME! It was him and his wife with Elder L. Whitney Clayton (on of the presidents of the 70) and his wife. Pretty awesome. Elder Perry was pretty funny and talked a little bit about the Broadway play "The Book of Mmormon". He said that if the church did it we would have taken a little different approach but we are thankful for the publicity. He also talked about Jimmer and the publicity he brought the church (i just put my head down for that hahah). He then talked about the restoration and how there are 1000s of people that need to hear that story/doctrine in San Diego. It was a way cool experience. And it is definitely true....his voice is really booming when he bears his testimony...It was pretty legit!
Here is my birthday list that you wanted:
-Pillow
-White shirts (long sleeves and short. 18 or 17 1/2)
-Pants(black or pin stripped)
-MONEY (To buy stuff out here)
-MOJO Balance band (Ok...these band things are really cool. They help your balance and it uses the waves that pass through your body to keep your muscles from spazing out and relax....they are way cool. You can order it online at mojofuturtech.com)
-Gift Cards
--Socks(athletic and church)
-Ties(summer colors)
-Nike sandals (like dads old adidas sandals)
-Anything else anyone want to send me
Thanks for everything and I love you. I am way excited for May 8. It is going to be awesome!!!!!!!
Ross
Monday, March 18
1. Yeah I will call yall the day before Mothers Day to let you know what the plan is. Are you planning on making me trunky and going to the Rangers game again like lat year? haha
2. So about the whole Skype thing....I had an interview with President yesterday and asked him about Skype and if I could do it or not.....he told me that his answer was no.....until he asked the Missionary Dept about it and they said YES! hahah so dont be freaked out, everything is good to go. He gave me the ok, so I will be Skyping in 3 weeks. This is what I was thinking. Yall could set me up a Skype account and send me the info and everything. I can log on with that and then find yall or whatever. So just have Hillary make me a Skype name and send me the name and password and then I'll take care of the rest. If I dont have a member with a web cam, I'll probably just buy one. They are like 20 bucks at Wal Mmart. But I'm pretty sure I can find someone who has one.
3. Things are good with my comp. we have a 3rd wheel right now, which makes things better. The guy that is with us is going home next week. He is going to play football at Utah St so we get along just fine haaha Most of our nights are spent telling football stories and talking about football....we get along really well so its all good.
Well this week there is not too much to report. Just the good news on Skype. Our investigators are doing great. We have 4 people with a baptismal date right now and soon to be 5. We are teaching my recent convert's boyfriend now. He is a way cool guy. I like him a lot. We bonded pretty quickly and we just joke around all the time hahaha.
But yeah, Easter is coming up this weekend then after that I have Elder Perry a week from today, then Mormon Helping Hands service project on April 30 and then Elder Bednar for Stake Conference on May 1, then Mothers Day on May 8 then my birthday on May 22. And somewhere in between there I'll hit my 15 and 16 month marks hahahah its finally starting to pick up hahahah.
Well I love yall a lot and appreiciate everything you do. I'll send you some pics of me at the temple. They are pretty good. LOVE YALL
ross
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Letter from April 12, 2011
April 12, 2011
Questions
I have only one this week....
1. I assume you have the transfer letters in hand. Is there one for you and if so, what does it say and what are your thoughts and feelings?
Well......I guess I will answer your question first.
1. I went to the office this morning and picked up the transfer letter. It is only one letter for the entire zone. It's from President and all it says is that there are the transfers and be at the Mission Valley Building (the center stake of the mission) at 11:00 a.m. for the transfer meeting. So, as usual, I go for the letter first. I open it and scan through it. And then I call all the people who get transferred and ruin their P-Day. This one was especially tough for me.........I had to call a really good friend in the zone to tell him his area was getting white washed. It is his last transfer and he is getting moved to another area. He was not too happy. Oh, but I guess yall only care about what is happening to me.......well.....let's just say that I should start to look for housing in Logan Heights. I'M STAYING!!!!!! HAHAHA Its unbelieavable. At the end of this next transfer I will have been here for 10 1/2 months! Its crazy. Stuff like this never happens.
Sounds like everything is going way good back home. A lot of stuff happening. Awesome! I got the pin last week from Ashton's Court of Honor. I haven't decided yet, but I might send it home so it doesn't get lost out here.
Things are going really good right now. We added a new investigator this week that is way good. She is the sister of another girl that we are teaching. We had an awesome lesson with her the other day. I shared that story of when I was driving home that night in CSTAT (College Station) and I had to swerve to avoid a car and I felt like someone else was in control of the wheel. That was the first time I had shared that experience out here. In fact, I had totally forgot about it until that moment. I guess it just goes to show you that the spirit will tell you what the investigator needs to hear. Pretty cool.
Well I don't have a lot to say this week. But, dad, I do need a little extra money. With the Apostles coming in a couple of weeks, I'm going to dry clean my suit and some ties. Also, I had to buy a white shirt because I was running low on them. So that is why I'm running kind of low right now. Sorry, I will slow down.
Well that is about it for now. Thanks for your prayers. God definitely heard yalls and mine. 9 months in one area is a long time, but 10 1/2 is unheard of. But I guess I still have some work to do here. I LOVE YALL! and I made arrangements with a member to Skype on Mothers Day!!!!
Ross
Questions
I have only one this week....
1. I assume you have the transfer letters in hand. Is there one for you and if so, what does it say and what are your thoughts and feelings?
Well......I guess I will answer your question first.
1. I went to the office this morning and picked up the transfer letter. It is only one letter for the entire zone. It's from President and all it says is that there are the transfers and be at the Mission Valley Building (the center stake of the mission) at 11:00 a.m. for the transfer meeting. So, as usual, I go for the letter first. I open it and scan through it. And then I call all the people who get transferred and ruin their P-Day. This one was especially tough for me.........I had to call a really good friend in the zone to tell him his area was getting white washed. It is his last transfer and he is getting moved to another area. He was not too happy. Oh, but I guess yall only care about what is happening to me.......well.....let's just say that I should start to look for housing in Logan Heights. I'M STAYING!!!!!! HAHAHA Its unbelieavable. At the end of this next transfer I will have been here for 10 1/2 months! Its crazy. Stuff like this never happens.
Sounds like everything is going way good back home. A lot of stuff happening. Awesome! I got the pin last week from Ashton's Court of Honor. I haven't decided yet, but I might send it home so it doesn't get lost out here.
Things are going really good right now. We added a new investigator this week that is way good. She is the sister of another girl that we are teaching. We had an awesome lesson with her the other day. I shared that story of when I was driving home that night in CSTAT (College Station) and I had to swerve to avoid a car and I felt like someone else was in control of the wheel. That was the first time I had shared that experience out here. In fact, I had totally forgot about it until that moment. I guess it just goes to show you that the spirit will tell you what the investigator needs to hear. Pretty cool.
Well I don't have a lot to say this week. But, dad, I do need a little extra money. With the Apostles coming in a couple of weeks, I'm going to dry clean my suit and some ties. Also, I had to buy a white shirt because I was running low on them. So that is why I'm running kind of low right now. Sorry, I will slow down.
Well that is about it for now. Thanks for your prayers. God definitely heard yalls and mine. 9 months in one area is a long time, but 10 1/2 is unheard of. But I guess I still have some work to do here. I LOVE YALL! and I made arrangements with a member to Skype on Mothers Day!!!!
Ross
Monday, April 11, 2011
Letter from April 5, 2011
April 5, 2011
Well we went to Applebee's last night to celebrate a great week of conference and what did we see...the National Championship game. I saw a little bit of it and from what I saw, I don't know how Butler even made past the 1st round. In the time that I watched I think they made like 2 shots and threw up about 20....don't worry mom, I repented
1.When you watch General Conference, is in English or Spanish?
I watch general conference in English. We go and make sure our investigators are settled in the Spanish translation room and then we go back and watch it in English. Our members are way good at fellowshipping when it comes to that.
2. Have you been to the temple lately? That San Diego temple is Beautiful!! I caught what you said on the video that you are coming back to get married there in a year and a half. That is one of the big things that dad got out of conference is that we need to make temple attendance more of a priority, so we have scheduled the next two months.
Yeah. I got the same thing out of conference so we went today. That is why I'm emailing later than usual. It was really great. Elder Griffith, a Military Relations Missionary that I'm close to were there, Elder Moreno and Elder Sauer (2 former CSDM missionaries) were there with some recent converts going in so it was pretty awesome.
3. And what about all of the talks that referred to the men of the church getting busy and finding a wife??? I think one of them even said that after a mission, finding a wife should be the highest priority. What-What??? I want a little time with my son--I'm not quite ready to share you just yet.
Hahah yeah I guess I cant mess around like I wanted to when I get home. I have to run off and get married. CRAZY! But I guess I should listen to what the prophet says.
4. Is next week Transfer week? Any feelings yet about what will happen?
They are next week. I have no clue what is going to happen with me. No idea at all. But I will know next week when I email.
Let me first start with your letter in the package. Not funny mom. That was the worst April Fool's joke ever. I'm glad I saw the bent part of the card or I probably would have got in trouble for calling you hahah>
There is not too much to report. Conference was way good. In the first session I loved Elder Richard's(PAIN) and sister Stevens' (Children) talks--they were really good. The PH session was awesome as usual, the First Presidency was great. I loved Elder Scott's heartfelt talk about his wife, that was really nice. And I thought Elder Holland's talk about raising the ensign was awesome.
My top 10 are this: 1. Elder Oaks-Desire
2. Elder Richard's-pain
3. Pres. Uchtdorf-PH
4. President Monson-PH
5. Elder Bednar-Holy Ghost and Revelation
6. Paul Johnson-Trials
7. Pres Eyring-PH
8. Elder Scott-Marriage
9. Elder Gonzalez-Followers of Christ
10.Sister Stevens-Listening to Children
That's about all I've got for this week. Keep praying for me and I guess we will find out next week what is happening to me and where I am going. Thanks for all you do! I LOVE YALL!
Ross
Well we went to Applebee's last night to celebrate a great week of conference and what did we see...the National Championship game. I saw a little bit of it and from what I saw, I don't know how Butler even made past the 1st round. In the time that I watched I think they made like 2 shots and threw up about 20....don't worry mom, I repented
1.When you watch General Conference, is in English or Spanish?
I watch general conference in English. We go and make sure our investigators are settled in the Spanish translation room and then we go back and watch it in English. Our members are way good at fellowshipping when it comes to that.
2. Have you been to the temple lately? That San Diego temple is Beautiful!! I caught what you said on the video that you are coming back to get married there in a year and a half. That is one of the big things that dad got out of conference is that we need to make temple attendance more of a priority, so we have scheduled the next two months.
Yeah. I got the same thing out of conference so we went today. That is why I'm emailing later than usual. It was really great. Elder Griffith, a Military Relations Missionary that I'm close to were there, Elder Moreno and Elder Sauer (2 former CSDM missionaries) were there with some recent converts going in so it was pretty awesome.
3. And what about all of the talks that referred to the men of the church getting busy and finding a wife??? I think one of them even said that after a mission, finding a wife should be the highest priority. What-What??? I want a little time with my son--I'm not quite ready to share you just yet.
Hahah yeah I guess I cant mess around like I wanted to when I get home. I have to run off and get married. CRAZY! But I guess I should listen to what the prophet says.
4. Is next week Transfer week? Any feelings yet about what will happen?
They are next week. I have no clue what is going to happen with me. No idea at all. But I will know next week when I email.
Let me first start with your letter in the package. Not funny mom. That was the worst April Fool's joke ever. I'm glad I saw the bent part of the card or I probably would have got in trouble for calling you hahah>
There is not too much to report. Conference was way good. In the first session I loved Elder Richard's(PAIN) and sister Stevens' (Children) talks--they were really good. The PH session was awesome as usual, the First Presidency was great. I loved Elder Scott's heartfelt talk about his wife, that was really nice. And I thought Elder Holland's talk about raising the ensign was awesome.
My top 10 are this: 1. Elder Oaks-Desire
2. Elder Richard's-pain
3. Pres. Uchtdorf-PH
4. President Monson-PH
5. Elder Bednar-Holy Ghost and Revelation
6. Paul Johnson-Trials
7. Pres Eyring-PH
8. Elder Scott-Marriage
9. Elder Gonzalez-Followers of Christ
10.Sister Stevens-Listening to Children
That's about all I've got for this week. Keep praying for me and I guess we will find out next week what is happening to me and where I am going. Thanks for all you do! I LOVE YALL!
Ross
March 29, 2011
Questions of the Week:
1. What is the story behind the blinged-out black T shirt that says "Ringspun" that was in the box you sent home? Cute but definitely doesn't look like you-haha.
The shirt was from a member. I have way too many shirts here and that is why I sent it and others things home.
2. We loved getting your memory card last week and enjoyed seeing your pictures. Is Marc the young man with glasses?
I'm glad you liked the pics. Yeah, the one with the big glasses is marc. All the recruits who have vision problems have to wear those kind of glasses. They can't wear contacts while in recruit training. Kind of weird, but they really help you see hahah
3. Will you get to watch all of the sessions of General Conference?
You better believe I will watch all the sessions of the conference. Its like Christmas for a missionary. We go to the stake center to watch it. The churches here are kind of weird. Not all of them have baptismal fonts, some were built without them. And only the stake centers get satellite reception....the churches look nicer here, but I like the ones in Texas more.
Well yep, I've been out 14 months now. I'm now officially in single digits. It is kind of hard to believe. A year ago today I was wetting my pants because I was getting ready to leave the MTC the next day. It doesn't even seem that long ago. The days feel like weeks but the weeks feel like days. Its kind of weird.
Yeah I have A LOT of stuff haha. I'm glad that I have my own closet, or I wouldn't have room for some stuff hahaha, no its not that bad. I give away a lot of stuff to little kids and other missionaries. There is a missionary here who is a big Packers fan so I gave him that little flag yall sent. He loved it hahaha. And I usually take the candy and stuff to little kids or member's houses as a gift or something. They like it!
I'm glad to hear Ashton's Court of Honor went well. I just remembered this morning that it was on Saturday. What an honor to get the mentor pin. I didn't know I had that much of an affect on Ashton. All I did was say what I thought needed to be said. The letter I wrote to him was pure inspiration I guess because I don't really remember what I even said haha. I think I put things that I wish I knew before my mission. I'm sure you already did, but will you thank him for me? I'll send him a letter once I get the pin and everything.
This week was a good one. One of our investigators got anti-ed pretty hard. Her black co workers were telling her that the Mormons don't like black people and that we do weird stuff in our temples. She got pretty upset about it but we answered her questions and everything is good now. She hates it now when people talk bad about the church. She is way solid.
Well I guess that is it for now. I'm looking forward to General Conference. It's going to be a great weekend. I have already been thinking of some questions that I know will be answered this weekend. I love it Thanks for everything and I LOVE YOU!!
Ross
Questions of the Week:
1. What is the story behind the blinged-out black T shirt that says "Ringspun" that was in the box you sent home? Cute but definitely doesn't look like you-haha.
The shirt was from a member. I have way too many shirts here and that is why I sent it and others things home.
2. We loved getting your memory card last week and enjoyed seeing your pictures. Is Marc the young man with glasses?
I'm glad you liked the pics. Yeah, the one with the big glasses is marc. All the recruits who have vision problems have to wear those kind of glasses. They can't wear contacts while in recruit training. Kind of weird, but they really help you see hahah
3. Will you get to watch all of the sessions of General Conference?
You better believe I will watch all the sessions of the conference. Its like Christmas for a missionary. We go to the stake center to watch it. The churches here are kind of weird. Not all of them have baptismal fonts, some were built without them. And only the stake centers get satellite reception....the churches look nicer here, but I like the ones in Texas more.
Well yep, I've been out 14 months now. I'm now officially in single digits. It is kind of hard to believe. A year ago today I was wetting my pants because I was getting ready to leave the MTC the next day. It doesn't even seem that long ago. The days feel like weeks but the weeks feel like days. Its kind of weird.
Yeah I have A LOT of stuff haha. I'm glad that I have my own closet, or I wouldn't have room for some stuff hahaha, no its not that bad. I give away a lot of stuff to little kids and other missionaries. There is a missionary here who is a big Packers fan so I gave him that little flag yall sent. He loved it hahaha. And I usually take the candy and stuff to little kids or member's houses as a gift or something. They like it!
I'm glad to hear Ashton's Court of Honor went well. I just remembered this morning that it was on Saturday. What an honor to get the mentor pin. I didn't know I had that much of an affect on Ashton. All I did was say what I thought needed to be said. The letter I wrote to him was pure inspiration I guess because I don't really remember what I even said haha. I think I put things that I wish I knew before my mission. I'm sure you already did, but will you thank him for me? I'll send him a letter once I get the pin and everything.
This week was a good one. One of our investigators got anti-ed pretty hard. Her black co workers were telling her that the Mormons don't like black people and that we do weird stuff in our temples. She got pretty upset about it but we answered her questions and everything is good now. She hates it now when people talk bad about the church. She is way solid.
Well I guess that is it for now. I'm looking forward to General Conference. It's going to be a great weekend. I have already been thinking of some questions that I know will be answered this weekend. I love it Thanks for everything and I LOVE YOU!!
Ross
Sunday, March 27, 2011
March 22, 2011
Hi Mom Let's get to those questions: 1. How was your week? It was a good week. On Thursday we had a meeting with President Donaldson (Mission President) and President Mitchell (our Stake President). I always like those meetings becasue both of them are 2 of the most spiritual people I've met. We got some assignments from both of them that should keep us busy. Also, we got 7 referrals this week whcih is almost unheard of. It just proves that when you ask the Lord to bless you with more work and then you go work, he returns. 2. You said you played golf on your P Day last, week, how did you do? Golf last week was awesome. I hadn't played in like 10 months, but I did pretty well. It was a Par 3 course, and I finished the day with 2 birdies on the front and then 5 pars on the back. I was pretty excited. This week we are playing basketball. My zone got challenged by another zone, so we have to go represent the Sweetwater. 3. How did you like the tattoo sleeve? (I sent Ross a St. Patrick's tattoo sleeve as a gag gift) I loved the tattoo sleeve. It cut off the circulation in my arm a little bit, but other than that it was awesome. It helped me play better and now I blend in when I go out in my area. hahah, no, dont worry mom, I dont wear it proselyting. This week was really good. Our investigators told us that they just want to be baptized. We are still waiting for his divorce to be finalized and them to be married. They are really mad at their lawyer because he is taking so long in the process. There are no kids involved, no money, it should be easy. But they are really excited and the bishop is doing a great job at fellowshipping. He personally invited their family over for a FHE last night and then called us to invite us haha. That is how fellowshiping should be. Speaking of, when i get back, i want to start having FHEs again. We had them before, but being out here and going to one every monday night, i miss it. We had another Mission President's Fireside on Sunday. They are really great. There is a missionary choir that sings, different missionaries who perform musical numbers. Then like 3 or 4 recent converts bear testimonies and then President shares something at the end. It is way powerful. I suggest that our stake try to organize something like that. It is a great things for members to bring their friends to so they can feel the spirit. Anyways, after, I got see a lot of my RC (former companions) and other members from around the mission--its was awesome. The LA in IB, Carlos, is turning in his mission papers this week and all of his family is now active in the church again. His little bro, Guillermo, came and told me that he was coming back because of me and Gunnell and his brother's example. It was awesome! Things are going really well. Things are starting to pick up. Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts, I definitely felt them. I LOVE YALL Ross A few notes from mom's email chat with Ross: Mom: Remember when we used to play Fruit Basket Turnover in FHE? Ross: The new version of fruit basket turnover is called "Smoothie". Everyone picks a fruit and when you want to mix everything up instead of yelling "fruit basket turnover", you yell "SMOOTHIE" hahaha its a lot of fun. It was fun when I was 6 and now that I am 21 its still fun ahhaha wow....I just realized that 2 months from today I will be 21 hahahah. Mom: I can't believe you have been in Logan Heights for eight months. Ross: Yeah, I was talking with our bishop the other day and he said that they might as well give me a home teacher and put my name on the ward list hahahah. I would totally be ok with that
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Letter from March 15, 2011
Good week...good week.
1. So yeah my week was good. Things are getting better. It just took some motivating and then just putting my head and doing it. There is a quote in Preach My Gospel that says, "the cure for anything is work.....work work work. What else is there?" or something like that. It's true.
2.Yeah I've met Sister Kratzer. I dont know her too well. But I think I've talked with her a couple of times.(I asked if he has met a Sis. Kratzer who is serving a mission in San Diego and who is from Manhattan, Kansas)
3. Haha T-Bones. I love that place. Tell dad that it is on my list of places to eat when I get back. That will definitely help with shock of being home hahahahah (Two years ago, at the suggestion of a friend, we took the family to T Bones Restaurant in Denison for dinner and it so happened that it was on St. Patrick's Day. We didn't realize that it is basically a bar. Everyone was dressed in green acting wild and crazy. The food was great and we had fun but Gordon was so uncomfortable I think he could have crawled under the table. We still laugh about it)
Well like I said it has been a good week. We got some good referrals. One of the girls we are teaching now said that she loves the church and said, "I think that I was Mormon before this life" hahahah it was pretty cool. So yeah, it just takes putting your head down and working. When God sees that your really trying to do what is right and work hard, you are blessed. I think that's what it was. I just told God I was going to be more dilligent. I followed through and he blessed. God works in patterns. You can find that in the scriptures.
Yesterday and last night I got to work with the Filipino missionaries. There is a huge population of Filipinos in Sweetwater and so we have 2 Filipino missionaries to talk Tagalog and Laotian to them. I went on exchagnes and was treated like a king hahah. Apparently, English missionaries in the Phillipines are more respected than the Filipino missionaries. So when I went to the people's houses they treated me like a king. They made a Filipion delicacy, the served me first they asked me all kind of questions. I felt right at home. It was pretty cool. The delicacy was Pig ear hahahaha it was actually pretty good hahaha. Then we had a Filipino Family Home Evening with all of the Filipino families in the stake. The guy didn't show up to teach the lesson so they asked me if i would do it. I taught the Moses and the exodus story and related it to our lives. Moses in Hebrew means to "draw or pull out". The children of Israel were suffering from being in bondage and so God called Moses to "draw or pull" the people out of Egpyt. The only thing Moses wanted them to do was have faith in God and Jesus Christ and be willing to follow a prophet. SO they leave everything behind and go out into the wilderness. They get to the Red Sea and Moses splits the sea. The children of Israel took that step of faith and crossed the sea. Probably a very difficult thing. Crossing the Red Sea signifies baptism (1 Corinthians 10: 1-2) Then the people were guided through the wilderness by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. (the Holy Ghost). Then God gave them manna from the sky and water from the rocks (the sacrament). Then for 40 years God molded his people into what he wanted them to be until eventually the made it to the promises land where they made covenants based on their testimony (the temple). Pretty cool huh?
Today wasnt really a P- Day. We had training yesterday and today so our real P Day will be tomorrow. So that our families (aka you, Brooke and Hillary) dont freak out, we still emailed today hahaha. We are going to go play golf tomorrow! ( He knows us so well--we really were starting to "freak out" because we didn't hear from him until four hours past the time time that we usually receive his email)
Well that is all for this week. I love yall!
Ross
In my chatting with Ross, he mentioned that Elder L. Tom Perry and Elder Bednar are visitng his mission in the next few weeks. It is interesting that when Gordon was a missionary (also in California) Elder Perry visited his mission and Gordon was able to meet him. It is coming full circle!!
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1. So yeah my week was good. Things are getting better. It just took some motivating and then just putting my head and doing it. There is a quote in Preach My Gospel that says, "the cure for anything is work.....work work work. What else is there?" or something like that. It's true.
2.Yeah I've met Sister Kratzer. I dont know her too well. But I think I've talked with her a couple of times.(I asked if he has met a Sis. Kratzer who is serving a mission in San Diego and who is from Manhattan, Kansas)
3. Haha T-Bones. I love that place. Tell dad that it is on my list of places to eat when I get back. That will definitely help with shock of being home hahahahah (Two years ago, at the suggestion of a friend, we took the family to T Bones Restaurant in Denison for dinner and it so happened that it was on St. Patrick's Day. We didn't realize that it is basically a bar. Everyone was dressed in green acting wild and crazy. The food was great and we had fun but Gordon was so uncomfortable I think he could have crawled under the table. We still laugh about it)
Well like I said it has been a good week. We got some good referrals. One of the girls we are teaching now said that she loves the church and said, "I think that I was Mormon before this life" hahahah it was pretty cool. So yeah, it just takes putting your head down and working. When God sees that your really trying to do what is right and work hard, you are blessed. I think that's what it was. I just told God I was going to be more dilligent. I followed through and he blessed. God works in patterns. You can find that in the scriptures.
Yesterday and last night I got to work with the Filipino missionaries. There is a huge population of Filipinos in Sweetwater and so we have 2 Filipino missionaries to talk Tagalog and Laotian to them. I went on exchagnes and was treated like a king hahah. Apparently, English missionaries in the Phillipines are more respected than the Filipino missionaries. So when I went to the people's houses they treated me like a king. They made a Filipion delicacy, the served me first they asked me all kind of questions. I felt right at home. It was pretty cool. The delicacy was Pig ear hahahaha it was actually pretty good hahaha. Then we had a Filipino Family Home Evening with all of the Filipino families in the stake. The guy didn't show up to teach the lesson so they asked me if i would do it. I taught the Moses and the exodus story and related it to our lives. Moses in Hebrew means to "draw or pull out". The children of Israel were suffering from being in bondage and so God called Moses to "draw or pull" the people out of Egpyt. The only thing Moses wanted them to do was have faith in God and Jesus Christ and be willing to follow a prophet. SO they leave everything behind and go out into the wilderness. They get to the Red Sea and Moses splits the sea. The children of Israel took that step of faith and crossed the sea. Probably a very difficult thing. Crossing the Red Sea signifies baptism (1 Corinthians 10: 1-2) Then the people were guided through the wilderness by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. (the Holy Ghost). Then God gave them manna from the sky and water from the rocks (the sacrament). Then for 40 years God molded his people into what he wanted them to be until eventually the made it to the promises land where they made covenants based on their testimony (the temple). Pretty cool huh?
Today wasnt really a P- Day. We had training yesterday and today so our real P Day will be tomorrow. So that our families (aka you, Brooke and Hillary) dont freak out, we still emailed today hahaha. We are going to go play golf tomorrow! ( He knows us so well--we really were starting to "freak out" because we didn't hear from him until four hours past the time time that we usually receive his email)
Well that is all for this week. I love yall!
Ross
In my chatting with Ross, he mentioned that Elder L. Tom Perry and Elder Bednar are visitng his mission in the next few weeks. It is interesting that when Gordon was a missionary (also in California) Elder Perry visited his mission and Gordon was able to meet him. It is coming full circle!!
ReplyReply AllMove...EtheredgesExtrasFamilyFriendsImportantJakeMom-Dad
Sunday, February 27, 2011
LONG update!
Things have been EXTREMELY crazy since I went back to work in January...hence the lack of blog updates. Sorry! Here are some of his latest letters all in one post. We love our missionary boy who has quickly become a missionary man, as cheesy as that sounds. With each letter we are realizing how much Ross has grown and matured over the past 13 months (today marks 13!). We continue to pray for him daily and know you do as well. Our family is so proud of Ross and his decisions and you can see why as you read these letters...enjoy! Oh and I will say that while Ross has grown spiritually and has matured a ton...he has not gotten any better at editing his letters!! He is in such a rush on Tuesdays to write everyone that he does not bother with capitals, punctuation or even spelling sometimes...and I just don't have the time to edit it all with a little 5 month old needing me, so bear with him!!!
Tuesday January 25
Thursday....the only thing significant that I know is that we have a training with Elder Evans of the 70 from 830-4 and then there is a chance that he could go and work with us that night....but thats about it.......oh yeah! and i hit my year mark! hahaha its pretty exciting, ill talk more about that later.
2. My new companion is Elder Burnell. He is from Utah and is a state championship wrestler out there. He is a pretty cool guy and we get along really well. Im the senior Zone Leader in the companionship now (this is his first transfer as a ZL) so we will see how everything works out..ill talk more about that later.
3. i dont really like either one. Im kind of a steelers fan because of the way they play defense. I like the "shut up and rip the other guys head off" mentality. So sorry mom and dad, im going with the steelers for this one. 34-17.
Well I hear that A&M is tearing it up in basketball right now. Thats always good to hear. The other day me and elder guenette went to a sports medicine facility becasue of his elbow. Turns out it was DR. Chao, the lead doctor for the Chargers. he had an autographed jersey from guys like phillip rivers, LT, Peyton Manning, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretszky and other big name guys...its was pretty cool. Anyways, Sportcenter was on and they showed highlights of an a&m game...i got a little trunky but it passed quickly haha
Things are going really good right now. After the exchange with elder christensen things really started picking up in our area. We have a couple that is on target to be baptized this weekend so be praying that it will go through. We found a really cool couple yesterday that are pretty interested, so all in all things are going really good.
Alright so spiritual experiences this week...sit back and enjoy these, i had some powerful experiences. 1) So thurday morning i woke up and just felt really discouraged for some reason. IDK why. But during getting ready and all the way up to my personal study i was not feeling very good at all. Just felt sad and depressed. So i devoted my personal study to overcoming thost feelings. I read in teh scriptures and it principles of the gospel, my call letter and then i read in my patriarchal blessing. I usually read it almost everday and i was just goiing along and I got to a line that i ahve read probably 100 times but it never had it me this hard before. It was talking about how i have been sent to a family of great faith and that and then i read, "Your Heavenly Father loves you." Thats it. That short 5 word sentence i thinked changed my mission. I got so much peace and solace from that, i think i really understood and i saw God reaching out to help me. God reaches to help those who reach for His help. 2) We had interviews yesterday with president Donaldson. For the past couple weeks I have felt like burned out/tired of being a Zone Leader. So yesterday in my interview President says, "How are you?" I let out a big sigh and say, "good" Then told him how i feel. Then, President let me see a little bit of the vision that he has and the vision the Lord has for me. He told me that I am a great missionary. But more importantly, I am a great Priesthood leader and that the Lord sees that. He told me that these times of trial are to prepare me for when the Lord puts a greater amount of responsibility on me. He told me to just let it come. he laughed because i told him that the theme of my mission is, "Come what may, and Love it." It was a really great interview. This next year is going to be amazing! Or in sportcenter terms, its going to be BALLIN!
Well tahts about it! Thanks for everything and ill be thinking about yall on thursday while my mind is being blown to pieces by a General Authority...oh and when i am celebrating my year mark! LOVE YALL!!!!
ross
February 15
Well lets just say valentine's is a little different on the mission. But i still had people tell me they love me. I talked with my friend at CVS (yeah, dont ask me how i have a friend at CVS, i just do) and i asked if he was going to celebrate valentines day, he said, "i'm just like yall really, everyone thinks im weird, but im actually a cool guy. But the girls hate me." hahahahaha i laughed pretty hard.
1. The only valentines gifts i have gotten so far was a package from brooke and a card with a record setting 8 PAGE LETTER from hillary. I guess ill get the rest today.
2. I usually only print the important ones that i know i will read when i am having a hard time. So, i have only print out 1 from dad when i was back in IB. All the other ones, if i want to read them again, i just wait till tuesdays.
3. They are pushing right a long. They need to get married but they are doing great. They love church. I sat next to them on sunday and they were sharing a hymn book singing together like a regular family in the church. it was pretty awesome.
Well I guess that it is at times like this that i was at home. i really wish i could be there but I can't. So i guess ill do the next best thing. Read this to janna, today.
(Ross wrote a beautiful, heart-felt note to Janna. Here is the closing paragraph of his message:)
...Well i guess thats all. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I can feel them constantly. And at this time, know that you have a representative of Jesus Christ praying daily for you. I love you so much. hang in there and "Dont give up, Dont ever give up"
Your missionary nephew
Well i hope that helps. I dont know why i felt like i needed to write it, but ive learned to always foolow impressions, its usually a good idea ha.
Well this week was pretty good. Yes i am saved. No more pills, so everything is good. This week I had the a pretty cool opportunity to go and see someone in the hospital that isnt a member but wanted to see us. She was a former investigator but dropped us because she didnt like my former companion. She just had her baby (2 months early) and she had to have her uterus taken out and had to have some kind of back surgery. She called the friend that refered her to us and told her that she wanted a blessing. We went and gave her one and after we got done, she said that the baby was jumping up and down inside of her. Pretty cool. So last friday we went to the hospital to see her and she said that she was happy to see us. She had been struggling and she needed some help. She said she remembered how we told her to pray and so she has been praying up a storm. But she left the hospital yesterday, with her baby, and everything is all good now. pretty cool the way the spirit works.
Also, i got to see a kid that me and elder gunnell reactivated in IB. He came up to me and gave me a hug and told me that he missed me and that he had a surprise. I asked him what it was and he said that he was turning in his mission papers this week!!!!!! I freakked out! This kid didn't like churcha dn loved playing soccer and drving his car. Me and Gunnell worked with him and he started coming to church on a weekly basis for the first time ever ( he is like 23). Since i left, he has gotten the melchizadeck PH and goes to insitute every week! He loves the church now. I asked him how it happened. he said, "before, when the missionaries came over, it wasnt my time. But when you started coming, it was my time. Its something God wants me to do" AHHHHHHHHH, FREAKING SWEET!!! He told me that to pay he has to sell everything. I asked him if by everything he meant his car. (he as put so much money in this car he has. He calls it his baby.) and he laughed and said, "yep. Even the car. Im selling it soon." hahahaha i cant believe it. Everytime i think about it i get all excited. Now, his family is going to get sealed in the temple and i might get to be there! (because we baptized his sister)
So yeah, this week was pretty good. Keep me updated on janna. I LOVE YALL
ross
February 25
ha well im glad to know that janna is doing better. That is a load off my mind.
1. we do some cooking. But we have been so busy this transfer that i think we have eaten at our house like 4 times in 6 weeks. We are literally running around all the time. So we usually just have to grab something quick.
2. The past few weeks we have been playing basketball down in the ghetto with a couple of other missionaries. Then at night after planning, i lift some dumbells that we have and stretch a little. But other tahn that, we dont do much.
Well like i said, Im glad to hear that janna is doing better! In my personal prayers at night ahve been pleading with the Lord to help her. Every day, i would tell God to save her. at the beginning i asked, but that turned into telling the Lord to save her if it was his will. Like the doctor said the God wasnt ready for her so he kicked her back down. its the truth! There were also a few more prayers in her behalf. The Rodriguez family (the on that i sent you a pic of and that i said was the next bishop) have been prayering for her every night. We had a lesson with them that night and i hadnt told anyone about the situation but once again i felt prompted to talk about it with them taht night. I started crying (like only the 2nd time that has happened in a lesson) and after the lesson, he gave me a hug and she shook my hand and told me everything was going to be ok. God would take care of her. Every night we went over they would ask about her and then pray for her at the end. It was a tough week, but im glad everything is turning around.
thanks for everything you do! I really appreciate it! LOVE YALL!
ross
A side-note to Gordon:
Hey dad. Sorry for spending so much money lately, but we ahve had no time to eat at our apartment. Also, i need some extra cash to buy quarters for my laundry and to buy some laundry supplies and other things. Thanks dad!
Tuesday January 25
Thursday....the only thing significant that I know is that we have a training with Elder Evans of the 70 from 830-4 and then there is a chance that he could go and work with us that night....but thats about it.......oh yeah! and i hit my year mark! hahaha its pretty exciting, ill talk more about that later.
2. My new companion is Elder Burnell. He is from Utah and is a state championship wrestler out there. He is a pretty cool guy and we get along really well. Im the senior Zone Leader in the companionship now (this is his first transfer as a ZL) so we will see how everything works out..ill talk more about that later.
3. i dont really like either one. Im kind of a steelers fan because of the way they play defense. I like the "shut up and rip the other guys head off" mentality. So sorry mom and dad, im going with the steelers for this one. 34-17.
Well I hear that A&M is tearing it up in basketball right now. Thats always good to hear. The other day me and elder guenette went to a sports medicine facility becasue of his elbow. Turns out it was DR. Chao, the lead doctor for the Chargers. he had an autographed jersey from guys like phillip rivers, LT, Peyton Manning, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretszky and other big name guys...its was pretty cool. Anyways, Sportcenter was on and they showed highlights of an a&m game...i got a little trunky but it passed quickly haha
Things are going really good right now. After the exchange with elder christensen things really started picking up in our area. We have a couple that is on target to be baptized this weekend so be praying that it will go through. We found a really cool couple yesterday that are pretty interested, so all in all things are going really good.
Alright so spiritual experiences this week...sit back and enjoy these, i had some powerful experiences. 1) So thurday morning i woke up and just felt really discouraged for some reason. IDK why. But during getting ready and all the way up to my personal study i was not feeling very good at all. Just felt sad and depressed. So i devoted my personal study to overcoming thost feelings. I read in teh scriptures and it principles of the gospel, my call letter and then i read in my patriarchal blessing. I usually read it almost everday and i was just goiing along and I got to a line that i ahve read probably 100 times but it never had it me this hard before. It was talking about how i have been sent to a family of great faith and that and then i read, "Your Heavenly Father loves you." Thats it. That short 5 word sentence i thinked changed my mission. I got so much peace and solace from that, i think i really understood and i saw God reaching out to help me. God reaches to help those who reach for His help. 2) We had interviews yesterday with president Donaldson. For the past couple weeks I have felt like burned out/tired of being a Zone Leader. So yesterday in my interview President says, "How are you?" I let out a big sigh and say, "good" Then told him how i feel. Then, President let me see a little bit of the vision that he has and the vision the Lord has for me. He told me that I am a great missionary. But more importantly, I am a great Priesthood leader and that the Lord sees that. He told me that these times of trial are to prepare me for when the Lord puts a greater amount of responsibility on me. He told me to just let it come. he laughed because i told him that the theme of my mission is, "Come what may, and Love it." It was a really great interview. This next year is going to be amazing! Or in sportcenter terms, its going to be BALLIN!
Well tahts about it! Thanks for everything and ill be thinking about yall on thursday while my mind is being blown to pieces by a General Authority...oh and when i am celebrating my year mark! LOVE YALL!!!!
ross
February 15
Well lets just say valentine's is a little different on the mission. But i still had people tell me they love me. I talked with my friend at CVS (yeah, dont ask me how i have a friend at CVS, i just do) and i asked if he was going to celebrate valentines day, he said, "i'm just like yall really, everyone thinks im weird, but im actually a cool guy. But the girls hate me." hahahahaha i laughed pretty hard.
1. The only valentines gifts i have gotten so far was a package from brooke and a card with a record setting 8 PAGE LETTER from hillary. I guess ill get the rest today.
2. I usually only print the important ones that i know i will read when i am having a hard time. So, i have only print out 1 from dad when i was back in IB. All the other ones, if i want to read them again, i just wait till tuesdays.
3. They are pushing right a long. They need to get married but they are doing great. They love church. I sat next to them on sunday and they were sharing a hymn book singing together like a regular family in the church. it was pretty awesome.
Well I guess that it is at times like this that i was at home. i really wish i could be there but I can't. So i guess ill do the next best thing. Read this to janna, today.
(Ross wrote a beautiful, heart-felt note to Janna. Here is the closing paragraph of his message:)
...Well i guess thats all. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I can feel them constantly. And at this time, know that you have a representative of Jesus Christ praying daily for you. I love you so much. hang in there and "Dont give up, Dont ever give up"
Your missionary nephew
Well i hope that helps. I dont know why i felt like i needed to write it, but ive learned to always foolow impressions, its usually a good idea ha.
Well this week was pretty good. Yes i am saved. No more pills, so everything is good. This week I had the a pretty cool opportunity to go and see someone in the hospital that isnt a member but wanted to see us. She was a former investigator but dropped us because she didnt like my former companion. She just had her baby (2 months early) and she had to have her uterus taken out and had to have some kind of back surgery. She called the friend that refered her to us and told her that she wanted a blessing. We went and gave her one and after we got done, she said that the baby was jumping up and down inside of her. Pretty cool. So last friday we went to the hospital to see her and she said that she was happy to see us. She had been struggling and she needed some help. She said she remembered how we told her to pray and so she has been praying up a storm. But she left the hospital yesterday, with her baby, and everything is all good now. pretty cool the way the spirit works.
Also, i got to see a kid that me and elder gunnell reactivated in IB. He came up to me and gave me a hug and told me that he missed me and that he had a surprise. I asked him what it was and he said that he was turning in his mission papers this week!!!!!! I freakked out! This kid didn't like churcha dn loved playing soccer and drving his car. Me and Gunnell worked with him and he started coming to church on a weekly basis for the first time ever ( he is like 23). Since i left, he has gotten the melchizadeck PH and goes to insitute every week! He loves the church now. I asked him how it happened. he said, "before, when the missionaries came over, it wasnt my time. But when you started coming, it was my time. Its something God wants me to do" AHHHHHHHHH, FREAKING SWEET!!! He told me that to pay he has to sell everything. I asked him if by everything he meant his car. (he as put so much money in this car he has. He calls it his baby.) and he laughed and said, "yep. Even the car. Im selling it soon." hahahaha i cant believe it. Everytime i think about it i get all excited. Now, his family is going to get sealed in the temple and i might get to be there! (because we baptized his sister)
So yeah, this week was pretty good. Keep me updated on janna. I LOVE YALL
ross
February 25
ha well im glad to know that janna is doing better. That is a load off my mind.
1. we do some cooking. But we have been so busy this transfer that i think we have eaten at our house like 4 times in 6 weeks. We are literally running around all the time. So we usually just have to grab something quick.
2. The past few weeks we have been playing basketball down in the ghetto with a couple of other missionaries. Then at night after planning, i lift some dumbells that we have and stretch a little. But other tahn that, we dont do much.
Well like i said, Im glad to hear that janna is doing better! In my personal prayers at night ahve been pleading with the Lord to help her. Every day, i would tell God to save her. at the beginning i asked, but that turned into telling the Lord to save her if it was his will. Like the doctor said the God wasnt ready for her so he kicked her back down. its the truth! There were also a few more prayers in her behalf. The Rodriguez family (the on that i sent you a pic of and that i said was the next bishop) have been prayering for her every night. We had a lesson with them that night and i hadnt told anyone about the situation but once again i felt prompted to talk about it with them taht night. I started crying (like only the 2nd time that has happened in a lesson) and after the lesson, he gave me a hug and she shook my hand and told me everything was going to be ok. God would take care of her. Every night we went over they would ask about her and then pray for her at the end. It was a tough week, but im glad everything is turning around.
thanks for everything you do! I really appreciate it! LOVE YALL!
ross
A side-note to Gordon:
Hey dad. Sorry for spending so much money lately, but we ahve had no time to eat at our apartment. Also, i need some extra cash to buy quarters for my laundry and to buy some laundry supplies and other things. Thanks dad!
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