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!!!)