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!!




ReplyReply AllMove...EtheredgesExtrasFamilyFriendsImportantJakeMom-Dad