Monday, January 17, 2011
Letter from January 4, 2010
(What did you do for New Years Eve?) Well when it hit 12 here, i was asleep. But is was up when it hit 12 in TX so i thought of yall and then went to sleep. We had to be in our apartment at dark because things get a little crazy. People were shooting their guns in the air (or at people, idk) during the night. But im in the ghetto, what else is new.
(Did you find someone to tailor your new suit?) Yeah Im going to have a member do it. She is one of the members here iin Bonita 3 that is trunky for me to get off my mission and come back and go to mexico. The nearest Jos. A Banks is in La Jolla where the temple is. Its pretty far drive and we dont have a lot of miles.
(What did you do with your Christmas money?) Last tuesday, i bought a new pair of shoes (go figure), a under armour sweateshirt and a pair of sunglasses (they were only 10 bucks, dont worry). Ill send a pic next week of the stuff.
Well now that i dont have teh MCRD stories to tell you, i guess my emails will be pretty lame. But oh well.
This past sunday we had a baptism. This lady is so cool. She is the mom of one of the members here and all of her grandkids call her "Grandma G" so thats what i call her. Everytime i see her im like, "hey Grandma, hows it going?" haha she likes it. But i had a way cool experience before. When church started, she wasnt there. So i went out and called her and she said that she had gotten called into work (she is a nurse) because of some emergency, so she said she would call me later. In church i was feeling kind of disappointed because i didnt feel good about baptizing her since she wasnt at church. Then during the sacrament, i had an overwhelming good feeling. i was thinking to myself, "how could i be feeling ahppy. She isnt at church." then, after the sacrament, i got a call from her. She told me, "elder little. I know this is satan trying to stop me from getting baptized. Im not going to let him do this. I will be at the english ward at 1." And she was. So she was baptized that night. It was just a simple spiritual experience that boosted my testimony immensely. the Lord knows each of us and wants us to be successful. This was just one way the Lord showed his love for me and i thanked him right after i got off the phone with her.
Thanks for all the prayers. We still have a long way to go to reach our goal, but it is achievable. I know that with fasting and prayers and diligent work on our side, we can achieve this goal. Thanks for everything! I feel the love every day! Love yall!
love
ross
(What did you do for New Years Eve?) Well when it hit 12 here, i was asleep. But is was up when it hit 12 in TX so i thought of yall and then went to sleep. We had to be in our apartment at dark because things get a little crazy. People were shooting their guns in the air (or at people, idk) during the night. But im in the ghetto, what else is new.
(Did you find someone to tailor your new suit?) Yeah Im going to have a member do it. She is one of the members here iin Bonita 3 that is trunky for me to get off my mission and come back and go to mexico. The nearest Jos. A Banks is in La Jolla where the temple is. Its pretty far drive and we dont have a lot of miles.
(What did you do with your Christmas money?) Last tuesday, i bought a new pair of shoes (go figure), a under armour sweateshirt and a pair of sunglasses (they were only 10 bucks, dont worry). Ill send a pic next week of the stuff.
Well now that i dont have teh MCRD stories to tell you, i guess my emails will be pretty lame. But oh well.
This past sunday we had a baptism. This lady is so cool. She is the mom of one of the members here and all of her grandkids call her "Grandma G" so thats what i call her. Everytime i see her im like, "hey Grandma, hows it going?" haha she likes it. But i had a way cool experience before. When church started, she wasnt there. So i went out and called her and she said that she had gotten called into work (she is a nurse) because of some emergency, so she said she would call me later. In church i was feeling kind of disappointed because i didnt feel good about baptizing her since she wasnt at church. Then during the sacrament, i had an overwhelming good feeling. i was thinking to myself, "how could i be feeling ahppy. She isnt at church." then, after the sacrament, i got a call from her. She told me, "elder little. I know this is satan trying to stop me from getting baptized. Im not going to let him do this. I will be at the english ward at 1." And she was. So she was baptized that night. It was just a simple spiritual experience that boosted my testimony immensely. the Lord knows each of us and wants us to be successful. This was just one way the Lord showed his love for me and i thanked him right after i got off the phone with her.
Thanks for all the prayers. We still have a long way to go to reach our goal, but it is achievable. I know that with fasting and prayers and diligent work on our side, we can achieve this goal. Thanks for everything! I feel the love every day! Love yall!
love
ross
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Letter from December 21, 2010
December 21, 2010
1. It has been raining since about Friday of last week. Crazy, because SD has been in a draught for the past like 2 years. I was thinking and I figured it out. God knows that I can't work well in the heat so when I get here he makes it cold so that I can perform well. haha
2. I was able to get my 12 days box and I love it. I am going to wear the tie to the Christmas gathering. I have the manger scene next to my bed. I am trying to stay away from all the cookies and candy (trying to lose weight again). And the A&M ornament made me trunky when I heard it...but its still on the tree hahahaha
4. This week is going to be crazy. A lot of missions kind of take the holidays off and just slide into the new year. But when your mission reports are reveiwed each week by the missionary exectuive council (the 1st presidency and the qourum of the 12) in their weekly meeting, you cant really afford to take off for the holidays. So we just keep pushing. We had training yesterday and today (our real pday will be tmw). We have the christmas gathering thrusday, eve on friday and christmas on saturday....crazy week. The prophet set a goal for the mission to get 100 baptisms in January. Something our mission has never done.
Well this week ahs been kind of rough. The rain has been depressing, i miss that big texas sunshine. But Sunday made it all turn around. At the MCRD, me and another missionary got to serve the sacrament to some Drill Instructors and other marines. This time though was special. There were 3 men in there with us. One was a company commander (one of the guys that runs the show at the MCRD, he is a member) the commander over the lawyers in the marines (he a member) and the financial commander (non member). It was a great experience and we got to teach the financial commander a little bit. It was pretty cool being to teach someone that you know could kill you in 10 seconds....kind of exciting hahahahah But also on Sunday, it was a missionary sunday. We got to sing in church and basically we ran the meeting, under the direction of the bishop. The last speaker, Elder Jardine (our DL) spoke and he started crying. He shared a real touching story about how his sister is pregnant and that he baby has a very rare disease. Only 3 out of every 1000 babies have it. And out of those 3, 2 of them live through the labor and only 1 lives to the age of 6 months. It made me think about how lucky i am that i have 2 healthy nieces at home waiting to see me. But that made me miss yall. But, at the end, another tender mercy happened. The 1st counselor in the Bishopric got up and shared his testimony and thanked the missionaries for everything we do. He then said, "hermanos (because nobody calls us elders), ustedes tienen una familia aqui en la mision. Todos de nosotros somos su familia. Ustedes tiened 300 hermanos y hermanas aqui en la capilla." I almost started crying. Every member after that came and gave us a hug (well the men....and a few old ladies) and invited us for christmas and told us we were their family. One old lady shook my hand and said "tu eres mi hijo. tu eres mi hijo ahora" I almost cried again.
That is what christmas is all about. Its not about gifts, or decorations, or the food, or how good everthing looks. A lot of the time we get so caught up in everything that we lose focus. We run from store to store house to house, trying to get everything done. We just need to slow down and relax. Spend time with the family. Dont worry if you are going to get the newest hot toy or the newest dress or clothing style. In 10 years that wont even matter. But in 10 years and even in 100 years, what will matter are the experiences you had with family. To tell you the truth, i dont remember every christmas morning, i dont even really remember what i got last year. But what i do remember is 2 things. Caroling to less actives and home teaching families, and doing the manger scene or watching the nativity every year. Those are the memories that we keep. At this time, as a missionary, i have the great opprotunity to help people remember this and that every year we receive a gift that we cant give. The gift that Jesus Christ gave us when he atoned for a sins. He made it possible for us to actually enjoy this life.
Christmas is all about Christ. This Christmas has probably been the most special to me so far. Seeing the joy on peoples faces when we talk about Christ. Finding those lonely people on the street and helping them realize that they arent alone. That is where its at. I guess ill end this testimony by telling yall how much i do love everyone. I love yall more than you can imagine. And i know, that yall love me more than i can imagine. I love this gospel and i know that i was called at this time to SD to help those people realize the gift of the Atonement in their lives and help them except it by entering into the water of baptisms and allowing God to bless them. The church is true and the book is blue.
I love yall so much ! Merry Christmas!!!!! and I will talk to yall on SATURDAY. That was the fastest 7 months of my life!!!!!! LOVE YALL Y FELIZ NAVIDAD
Ross
1. It has been raining since about Friday of last week. Crazy, because SD has been in a draught for the past like 2 years. I was thinking and I figured it out. God knows that I can't work well in the heat so when I get here he makes it cold so that I can perform well. haha
2. I was able to get my 12 days box and I love it. I am going to wear the tie to the Christmas gathering. I have the manger scene next to my bed. I am trying to stay away from all the cookies and candy (trying to lose weight again). And the A&M ornament made me trunky when I heard it...but its still on the tree hahahaha
4. This week is going to be crazy. A lot of missions kind of take the holidays off and just slide into the new year. But when your mission reports are reveiwed each week by the missionary exectuive council (the 1st presidency and the qourum of the 12) in their weekly meeting, you cant really afford to take off for the holidays. So we just keep pushing. We had training yesterday and today (our real pday will be tmw). We have the christmas gathering thrusday, eve on friday and christmas on saturday....crazy week. The prophet set a goal for the mission to get 100 baptisms in January. Something our mission has never done.
Well this week ahs been kind of rough. The rain has been depressing, i miss that big texas sunshine. But Sunday made it all turn around. At the MCRD, me and another missionary got to serve the sacrament to some Drill Instructors and other marines. This time though was special. There were 3 men in there with us. One was a company commander (one of the guys that runs the show at the MCRD, he is a member) the commander over the lawyers in the marines (he a member) and the financial commander (non member). It was a great experience and we got to teach the financial commander a little bit. It was pretty cool being to teach someone that you know could kill you in 10 seconds....kind of exciting hahahahah But also on Sunday, it was a missionary sunday. We got to sing in church and basically we ran the meeting, under the direction of the bishop. The last speaker, Elder Jardine (our DL) spoke and he started crying. He shared a real touching story about how his sister is pregnant and that he baby has a very rare disease. Only 3 out of every 1000 babies have it. And out of those 3, 2 of them live through the labor and only 1 lives to the age of 6 months. It made me think about how lucky i am that i have 2 healthy nieces at home waiting to see me. But that made me miss yall. But, at the end, another tender mercy happened. The 1st counselor in the Bishopric got up and shared his testimony and thanked the missionaries for everything we do. He then said, "hermanos (because nobody calls us elders), ustedes tienen una familia aqui en la mision. Todos de nosotros somos su familia. Ustedes tiened 300 hermanos y hermanas aqui en la capilla." I almost started crying. Every member after that came and gave us a hug (well the men....and a few old ladies) and invited us for christmas and told us we were their family. One old lady shook my hand and said "tu eres mi hijo. tu eres mi hijo ahora" I almost cried again.
That is what christmas is all about. Its not about gifts, or decorations, or the food, or how good everthing looks. A lot of the time we get so caught up in everything that we lose focus. We run from store to store house to house, trying to get everything done. We just need to slow down and relax. Spend time with the family. Dont worry if you are going to get the newest hot toy or the newest dress or clothing style. In 10 years that wont even matter. But in 10 years and even in 100 years, what will matter are the experiences you had with family. To tell you the truth, i dont remember every christmas morning, i dont even really remember what i got last year. But what i do remember is 2 things. Caroling to less actives and home teaching families, and doing the manger scene or watching the nativity every year. Those are the memories that we keep. At this time, as a missionary, i have the great opprotunity to help people remember this and that every year we receive a gift that we cant give. The gift that Jesus Christ gave us when he atoned for a sins. He made it possible for us to actually enjoy this life.
Christmas is all about Christ. This Christmas has probably been the most special to me so far. Seeing the joy on peoples faces when we talk about Christ. Finding those lonely people on the street and helping them realize that they arent alone. That is where its at. I guess ill end this testimony by telling yall how much i do love everyone. I love yall more than you can imagine. And i know, that yall love me more than i can imagine. I love this gospel and i know that i was called at this time to SD to help those people realize the gift of the Atonement in their lives and help them except it by entering into the water of baptisms and allowing God to bless them. The church is true and the book is blue.
I love yall so much ! Merry Christmas!!!!! and I will talk to yall on SATURDAY. That was the fastest 7 months of my life!!!!!! LOVE YALL Y FELIZ NAVIDAD
Ross
Letter from December 28, 2010
December 28, 2010
Well this probably will be a short email, because me and another missionary have a nice trip planned to one of the nicest malls in California to spend our Christmas money hahahaha naw but really, I don't have a lot to say.
Well it was way good to talk to yall on Saturday. I wish I had more time, but it was still great. Next year will be even better when I get to skype. It was cleared by president for sure so I will find a member in May and skype yall on mothers day. I am already trunky for that!!! hahaha
Christmas is the best on the mission and it helped really understand the importance of the atonement and of everything else.
Last sunday was my last sunday at the MCRD. Our ward changes times to the morning, so i got transfered from the MCRD. Before we left, Elder Griffith, the military relations missinoary, gave me a really cool military coin taht has the armor of God on it. It was up their on my best christmas gifts.
Well thats about all for this week. Sorry it is so short! I will have more next week for sure. Tell everyone that i love them!!!!
Love
Ross
Well this probably will be a short email, because me and another missionary have a nice trip planned to one of the nicest malls in California to spend our Christmas money hahahaha naw but really, I don't have a lot to say.
Well it was way good to talk to yall on Saturday. I wish I had more time, but it was still great. Next year will be even better when I get to skype. It was cleared by president for sure so I will find a member in May and skype yall on mothers day. I am already trunky for that!!! hahaha
Christmas is the best on the mission and it helped really understand the importance of the atonement and of everything else.
Last sunday was my last sunday at the MCRD. Our ward changes times to the morning, so i got transfered from the MCRD. Before we left, Elder Griffith, the military relations missinoary, gave me a really cool military coin taht has the armor of God on it. It was up their on my best christmas gifts.
Well thats about all for this week. Sorry it is so short! I will have more next week for sure. Tell everyone that i love them!!!!
Love
Ross
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