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
Monday, January 17, 2011
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
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Pictures!!
Happy early Thanksgiving! What a special surprise to open up my email and find that Ross had sent some pictures this week. He never does that! Enjoy :)
This is Ross with Heather...she and Ross were in the same student ward in College Station and were both sent to the San Diego mission..crazy!
This is Ross with Heather...she and Ross were in the same student ward in College Station and were both sent to the San Diego mission..crazy!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Letter from November 16, 2010
November 16, 2010
hahaha i think the last time all those teams won on the same day was when i was a little kid. Im glad the Ags are doing good, all the new missionaries that come in see me and ask if i went to school before the mission and i tell them A&M, then the next question always is "Are you going to play football there?" i just smile and say, "we'll see" hahaha
1. haha Im sure you are both wondering what was in that letter hahaha. IDK, I was studying one morning and i just had the impression to write Pres. Packard and tell him about my story with Marc MAndel and how everything is going out here. Thats basically it. If you read it you would just be reading the same story, but i did throw my testimony in at the end. Nothing to special, I still dont know why I wrote it, just followiing an impression. I have come to realize on my mission that if the Lord speaks, it is usually a pretty good idea to do it. haha
2.I know nothing about the Christmas Gathering. Just that it is on like the 23rd or 22nd and that all the missionaries (in SD, not in the desert) get together at one of the churches and ahve a big christmas "party". We watch a christmas church movie and then they hand out gifts and president gives everyone an orange and some socks hahaha. I am trying to get president to show "ELF" but i dont think he will show a will ferrel movie, its worth a shot. And yes mom, in my last letter i did ask about skype...i got no reply, there is your answer hahaha
3. "Zone-Leading" is pretty fun. we have to do a lot of extra work, but the Lord has definitely blessed us in our area. Another lesson that I have learned is that when you serve others, the Lord will serve you. That is the case in our area right now. Last week we didnt have time to teach a lot of lessons, but we still had a baptism, 2 with a date, and 3 at church. Still a good week and yes, you read right, we did get a baptism! haha. We have a meeting with president like twice a month and he calls regularly. He like to talk with us, our zone is doing the best right ow in the mission. But, i would love to be a regualr missionary again, i didnt get to do that for a while haha
Well my marine story of the week....it was a pretty good week. The Protestant prayer leader taht i taught last week is doing really well. Last week, he told me that he wasnt interested in getting baptized but just wanted to learn. This week i taught him a little abot joesph smith and authority and how there is only one church taht has it all. And I INVITED him to follow the example of jesus christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authoriry of God. He said that he would, but not untilhe gets his answer taht this is the ONLY true church. He will get it this week. His best friend in bootcamp is a stud member. returned missinoary, so he knows what he is doing. I think he will get baptized soon, very soon. The other marine is doing ok. He seemed to cool off a little bit, but im going to talk with the missionarys up north at "phase 2" and get them to talk with him and keep the fire burning. I also found 2 more recruits that are interested. One of them saw one the the recruits in his compnay, that is a member, praying by himself one night and felt like he needed to join him. It was a pretty cool story. the lord works on these guys big time. they have spiritual experience after spiritual experience it is great.
In my area the story of the week is.....I am teaching my first interested cholo. yes, a legit thug from a legit gang. His name is Edgar and he is the son of a member. he came to the mobat yesterday with us and he loved it. He has a lot to change, but he knows everything is true. He wants us to help him change his life. But yes, i am now teaching my first cholo that is actually interested haha.
Well that is about all for this week. Oh, before i forget. Because the San Diego mission is the best mission in the world and the 1st presidency and the 12 love us the most, 3 weeks ago, the California San Diego mission became the 1st mission in the world to have.............TEXTING ON THEIR PHONES!!!!! hahahahaha yep, missionaries can now text. I love my missio so much. It is a lot more fun to text in spanish ahahahah
Thanks for all of your prayers and i will be praying extra hard on thursday, all day. And like dad told me, "no news is good news." I dont want to get any news haha LOVE YALL
Ross
hahaha i think the last time all those teams won on the same day was when i was a little kid. Im glad the Ags are doing good, all the new missionaries that come in see me and ask if i went to school before the mission and i tell them A&M, then the next question always is "Are you going to play football there?" i just smile and say, "we'll see" hahaha
1. haha Im sure you are both wondering what was in that letter hahaha. IDK, I was studying one morning and i just had the impression to write Pres. Packard and tell him about my story with Marc MAndel and how everything is going out here. Thats basically it. If you read it you would just be reading the same story, but i did throw my testimony in at the end. Nothing to special, I still dont know why I wrote it, just followiing an impression. I have come to realize on my mission that if the Lord speaks, it is usually a pretty good idea to do it. haha
2.I know nothing about the Christmas Gathering. Just that it is on like the 23rd or 22nd and that all the missionaries (in SD, not in the desert) get together at one of the churches and ahve a big christmas "party". We watch a christmas church movie and then they hand out gifts and president gives everyone an orange and some socks hahaha. I am trying to get president to show "ELF" but i dont think he will show a will ferrel movie, its worth a shot. And yes mom, in my last letter i did ask about skype...i got no reply, there is your answer hahaha
3. "Zone-Leading" is pretty fun. we have to do a lot of extra work, but the Lord has definitely blessed us in our area. Another lesson that I have learned is that when you serve others, the Lord will serve you. That is the case in our area right now. Last week we didnt have time to teach a lot of lessons, but we still had a baptism, 2 with a date, and 3 at church. Still a good week and yes, you read right, we did get a baptism! haha. We have a meeting with president like twice a month and he calls regularly. He like to talk with us, our zone is doing the best right ow in the mission. But, i would love to be a regualr missionary again, i didnt get to do that for a while haha
Well my marine story of the week....it was a pretty good week. The Protestant prayer leader taht i taught last week is doing really well. Last week, he told me that he wasnt interested in getting baptized but just wanted to learn. This week i taught him a little abot joesph smith and authority and how there is only one church taht has it all. And I INVITED him to follow the example of jesus christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authoriry of God. He said that he would, but not untilhe gets his answer taht this is the ONLY true church. He will get it this week. His best friend in bootcamp is a stud member. returned missinoary, so he knows what he is doing. I think he will get baptized soon, very soon. The other marine is doing ok. He seemed to cool off a little bit, but im going to talk with the missionarys up north at "phase 2" and get them to talk with him and keep the fire burning. I also found 2 more recruits that are interested. One of them saw one the the recruits in his compnay, that is a member, praying by himself one night and felt like he needed to join him. It was a pretty cool story. the lord works on these guys big time. they have spiritual experience after spiritual experience it is great.
In my area the story of the week is.....I am teaching my first interested cholo. yes, a legit thug from a legit gang. His name is Edgar and he is the son of a member. he came to the mobat yesterday with us and he loved it. He has a lot to change, but he knows everything is true. He wants us to help him change his life. But yes, i am now teaching my first cholo that is actually interested haha.
Well that is about all for this week. Oh, before i forget. Because the San Diego mission is the best mission in the world and the 1st presidency and the 12 love us the most, 3 weeks ago, the California San Diego mission became the 1st mission in the world to have.............TEXTING ON THEIR PHONES!!!!! hahahahaha yep, missionaries can now text. I love my missio so much. It is a lot more fun to text in spanish ahahahah
Thanks for all of your prayers and i will be praying extra hard on thursday, all day. And like dad told me, "no news is good news." I dont want to get any news haha LOVE YALL
Ross
Letter from November 9, 2010
November 9, 2010
haha well this week was a little tough, but it ended up pretty good. Preguntas
1. haha sorry mom, i have been so busy lately that i havent even had time to think about christmas. I dont even have time to think about the next day. But i promise you that i will get to it this week, hopefully.
2.My plans for thanksgiving. Well since there isnt a spanish ward in the stake, i will explain things to you. Everyone in the Bonita 3rd ward is a convert, so everyone loves having the missionaries over. This translates to my situation of having 6 dinner appts on thanskgiving day. One with an investigator, one with the Munoz family (the coolest guy ever), one with the rosas family (they already are counting down the days till i can come back off my mission and stay with them) one with our bishop, one with a counselor in the bishopric, and one with our EQP (he is a stud..dad, if you knew him, you would wish all EQPs were like him). So thats what i will be doing on thanksgiving.
3.The baptisms did not happen. They just werent ready. we had appts with them and yeah, we could ahve pushed them and forced to be baptized. But there is a big difference in "dragging" someone to be baptized and "drawing" someone to be baptized. But they will go down this month for sure.
The marine is doing great. He knows everything is true, he knows what he needs to do, he is just a little nervous about what his family thinks. I explained to him that it is really importnat to have input from you family and told him that i never made a desicion without asking my family. But, when it comes down to it, no one can make the desicion for you. Only you can make it. But, because our Heavenly Father loves us and is rooting for us, he can help guide to the right path. He talked a little more about he doesnt want to disappoint me or his parents so he isnt sure. Right then i knew i hadnt taught him clearly enough. I explained to him that he needs to do this for himself. Not for me or his parents. So he said he would pray and he knew that God would guide him and help make the desicion. While teaching him, the thought came to me, but i didnt say it because i think it was the Lord teaching me. But the thought came to me that this marine needs to choose which parents he is going to disappoint. His earthly parents, or his Heavenly parents. It changed my teaching alittle bit while i was teaching him and i think he really understood at the end. But...
THIS WEEK AT THE MCRD:
I found a new investigator. But I have to explain something before. At marine boot camp, the marines are given the last 10 minutes of the day to meet together and pray with peole in the barracks. There are 3 "pray circiles". There is a catholic, a protestant, and a newly established mormon pray cirlce. Each pray circle has a prayer leader that gives a little spiritual thought and then they pray. So this week, i added a new investigaotr there. he went to church up north in his 2nd phase there, and he was interested. We were talking about prayer and idk why but i asked if there was a mormon prayer circle in his barracks. he said yeah and that his best friend invited him to pray in the circle. Turns out that this kid is a protestant prayer leader but left his circle to pray with the LDS. he said it just felt right and was something he had to do. BOOM! The spirit works on everyone..thats all i have to say.
I started reading this book about letting Christ help inour lives. In the book it said that the best way to overcome feelings of inadequacy and guilt or anything is to serve. I realized, A lot of times in the church, we loook at a calling as a "have to" not a "get to". That is how i had been looking at my mission the past couple weeks. I "had to" get up and go work. i "had to" do this. But after while i was praying, i asked for forgiveness for my bad attitude and spiritually slapped myself in the face, and asked for help to change my attitude. The next day i went about serving. i made my comps bed, i cleaned up the apartment a little, i served investigators and i helped members. It just felt good. That was what was missing, that Spirit of Service. Now i feel better and everything is going great. we had a great lesson with an investigator and she is progressing big time now. We have a baptism coming up on sunday and i have that "fire" agian.
THANKS FOR ALL OF YOU PRAYERS FOR ME AND FOR THOSE WHO WERE SUPPOSED TO BE BAPTIZED. YEAH, THEY DIDNT GET BAPTIZED, BUT THEY WILL SOON. THE LORD HAS A PLAN FOR THEM AND IT JUST WANST THE RIGHT TIME. THEY NEED TO SOMETHING MORE AND WE WILL FIND OUT WHAT IT IS, TEACH IT AND THEN BAPTIZE THE SIN OUT THEM. hahahah
I LOVE YALL
ross
haha well this week was a little tough, but it ended up pretty good. Preguntas
1. haha sorry mom, i have been so busy lately that i havent even had time to think about christmas. I dont even have time to think about the next day. But i promise you that i will get to it this week, hopefully.
2.My plans for thanksgiving. Well since there isnt a spanish ward in the stake, i will explain things to you. Everyone in the Bonita 3rd ward is a convert, so everyone loves having the missionaries over. This translates to my situation of having 6 dinner appts on thanskgiving day. One with an investigator, one with the Munoz family (the coolest guy ever), one with the rosas family (they already are counting down the days till i can come back off my mission and stay with them) one with our bishop, one with a counselor in the bishopric, and one with our EQP (he is a stud..dad, if you knew him, you would wish all EQPs were like him). So thats what i will be doing on thanksgiving.
3.The baptisms did not happen. They just werent ready. we had appts with them and yeah, we could ahve pushed them and forced to be baptized. But there is a big difference in "dragging" someone to be baptized and "drawing" someone to be baptized. But they will go down this month for sure.
The marine is doing great. He knows everything is true, he knows what he needs to do, he is just a little nervous about what his family thinks. I explained to him that it is really importnat to have input from you family and told him that i never made a desicion without asking my family. But, when it comes down to it, no one can make the desicion for you. Only you can make it. But, because our Heavenly Father loves us and is rooting for us, he can help guide to the right path. He talked a little more about he doesnt want to disappoint me or his parents so he isnt sure. Right then i knew i hadnt taught him clearly enough. I explained to him that he needs to do this for himself. Not for me or his parents. So he said he would pray and he knew that God would guide him and help make the desicion. While teaching him, the thought came to me, but i didnt say it because i think it was the Lord teaching me. But the thought came to me that this marine needs to choose which parents he is going to disappoint. His earthly parents, or his Heavenly parents. It changed my teaching alittle bit while i was teaching him and i think he really understood at the end. But...
THIS WEEK AT THE MCRD:
I found a new investigator. But I have to explain something before. At marine boot camp, the marines are given the last 10 minutes of the day to meet together and pray with peole in the barracks. There are 3 "pray circiles". There is a catholic, a protestant, and a newly established mormon pray cirlce. Each pray circle has a prayer leader that gives a little spiritual thought and then they pray. So this week, i added a new investigaotr there. he went to church up north in his 2nd phase there, and he was interested. We were talking about prayer and idk why but i asked if there was a mormon prayer circle in his barracks. he said yeah and that his best friend invited him to pray in the circle. Turns out that this kid is a protestant prayer leader but left his circle to pray with the LDS. he said it just felt right and was something he had to do. BOOM! The spirit works on everyone..thats all i have to say.
I started reading this book about letting Christ help inour lives. In the book it said that the best way to overcome feelings of inadequacy and guilt or anything is to serve. I realized, A lot of times in the church, we loook at a calling as a "have to" not a "get to". That is how i had been looking at my mission the past couple weeks. I "had to" get up and go work. i "had to" do this. But after while i was praying, i asked for forgiveness for my bad attitude and spiritually slapped myself in the face, and asked for help to change my attitude. The next day i went about serving. i made my comps bed, i cleaned up the apartment a little, i served investigators and i helped members. It just felt good. That was what was missing, that Spirit of Service. Now i feel better and everything is going great. we had a great lesson with an investigator and she is progressing big time now. We have a baptism coming up on sunday and i have that "fire" agian.
THANKS FOR ALL OF YOU PRAYERS FOR ME AND FOR THOSE WHO WERE SUPPOSED TO BE BAPTIZED. YEAH, THEY DIDNT GET BAPTIZED, BUT THEY WILL SOON. THE LORD HAS A PLAN FOR THEM AND IT JUST WANST THE RIGHT TIME. THEY NEED TO SOMETHING MORE AND WE WILL FIND OUT WHAT IT IS, TEACH IT AND THEN BAPTIZE THE SIN OUT THEM. hahahah
I LOVE YALL
ross
Letter from November 2, 2010
November 2, 2010
Well...this week wasnt AS good as last week, but this week has some potential for sure. Questions:
I just got a whole bunch of candy for Halloween. We had to be inside at 630 because things get a little crazy around here during halloween week. So it was pretty boring. No kids knocked on the door so we watched church movies around our portable dvd player that we have in the apartment and i went to bed early. 1st major holiday in the mission= dud hahaha
Well i knew the rangers would dissappoint me. But actually it makes me happy because they will probably win it when i am home haha.
I dont know why but i have been way out of it this week. I have been really tired and just seem to be going through the motions, it has been tough. But i am making it.
Story of the week: Early thursday morning around 1230, we get a call. I am way out of it and i got pretty ticked when i saw that it was some missionaries calling us. I thought they ahd done something bad and were calling me to bail them out of jail or something. But turn out they were evacuated from their apartment because of a shootout. Yeah, thats right, a shootout. Right next door to their apartment. We are talking like 20 feet away from where they were. They were praying and they started hearing shots and police yelling, "Officer down! Officer Down! I repeat officer down!" A police officer had charged the door of where this guy was and the guy shot him in the face. The elders were looking out their window and saw the police caring him down the stairs. Then about an hour later, the police beat on the elders door and escorted them out and down the stairs and around the corner. So we picked them up and they slept at our apartment. It was pretty crazy! The officer died at the hospital later and i dont know what happened to the guy who shot him. Probably going to die soon.
Well, MCRD story time. I am now teaching another miracle marine. He told me his sotry. A couple years ago he was in a boating accident where he was knocked unconcious. While out of it, he said he saw his grandpa and he told him taht he needed to find god. A few weeks later, he meets this girl and goes to church with her. Our church. He reads in the principles of the Gospel book that god loves everyone and it is up to us to choose to follow him. A few weeks later, he enters the MCRD and he prays and asks if he should continue to go to our church. He said that his Grandpa told hiim yes he should. It is the one to follow. Pretty crazy story. he said that he doesnt want to get baptized here because he wont see me or anyone else here again. I said that i couldnt tell him who was at my baptism, 12 years ago, but i could tell exactly how i felt. Then i told him Marc Mandel's story about the power and strength he felt about baptism. I went through Mosiah 18 with him. In that chapter, alma tells the people at the waters of mormon the attributes of a follower of christ. I read it and it is exactly the attributes of a marine. So i explained that to him and he said he would ask God what he wants him to do. Im pretty sure he will get baptized either this week or next week. It was pretty spiritual experience!
Well that is about all for this week. If everything works out the way it should and Satan doesnt mess anything up, we should have 4 baptisms on Sunday. I have the faith and i have the wokr, but it would be nice to have yalls prayers as well. Thanks for everything yall do! LOVE YALL SOOO MUCH
Ross
Well...this week wasnt AS good as last week, but this week has some potential for sure. Questions:
I just got a whole bunch of candy for Halloween. We had to be inside at 630 because things get a little crazy around here during halloween week. So it was pretty boring. No kids knocked on the door so we watched church movies around our portable dvd player that we have in the apartment and i went to bed early. 1st major holiday in the mission= dud hahaha
Well i knew the rangers would dissappoint me. But actually it makes me happy because they will probably win it when i am home haha.
I dont know why but i have been way out of it this week. I have been really tired and just seem to be going through the motions, it has been tough. But i am making it.
Story of the week: Early thursday morning around 1230, we get a call. I am way out of it and i got pretty ticked when i saw that it was some missionaries calling us. I thought they ahd done something bad and were calling me to bail them out of jail or something. But turn out they were evacuated from their apartment because of a shootout. Yeah, thats right, a shootout. Right next door to their apartment. We are talking like 20 feet away from where they were. They were praying and they started hearing shots and police yelling, "Officer down! Officer Down! I repeat officer down!" A police officer had charged the door of where this guy was and the guy shot him in the face. The elders were looking out their window and saw the police caring him down the stairs. Then about an hour later, the police beat on the elders door and escorted them out and down the stairs and around the corner. So we picked them up and they slept at our apartment. It was pretty crazy! The officer died at the hospital later and i dont know what happened to the guy who shot him. Probably going to die soon.
Well, MCRD story time. I am now teaching another miracle marine. He told me his sotry. A couple years ago he was in a boating accident where he was knocked unconcious. While out of it, he said he saw his grandpa and he told him taht he needed to find god. A few weeks later, he meets this girl and goes to church with her. Our church. He reads in the principles of the Gospel book that god loves everyone and it is up to us to choose to follow him. A few weeks later, he enters the MCRD and he prays and asks if he should continue to go to our church. He said that his Grandpa told hiim yes he should. It is the one to follow. Pretty crazy story. he said that he doesnt want to get baptized here because he wont see me or anyone else here again. I said that i couldnt tell him who was at my baptism, 12 years ago, but i could tell exactly how i felt. Then i told him Marc Mandel's story about the power and strength he felt about baptism. I went through Mosiah 18 with him. In that chapter, alma tells the people at the waters of mormon the attributes of a follower of christ. I read it and it is exactly the attributes of a marine. So i explained that to him and he said he would ask God what he wants him to do. Im pretty sure he will get baptized either this week or next week. It was pretty spiritual experience!
Well that is about all for this week. If everything works out the way it should and Satan doesnt mess anything up, we should have 4 baptisms on Sunday. I have the faith and i have the wokr, but it would be nice to have yalls prayers as well. Thanks for everything yall do! LOVE YALL SOOO MUCH
Ross
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