March 30, 2015

HEY HEY!!! How are you all!! Wow this week was so weird! nothing really happened at all! i played the piano for an activity. Our piano has a couple of cool settings, so i out in on a loud organ;) it was sick;) my new comp is a little disobedient, so i have to crack down a bit. I will say one thing...I am so sick of the Laziness here!! SO SICK OF IT! Every latino is slow, lazy, doesnt watn to leave with us, and only does things "Si Dios Quiere!" "If God Wants" its like, "bro, do you really think that God would keep ya from going to HIS church, shut up and get some pants on" but i love them so much!!;) i really do! oh guess what, I CAN UNDERSTAND SPANISH!!!!! its so great!! i can understand peoples feelings! and im helping people more. I am constantly praying for chances to see the Lords Hands in the work. Actually, i was praying a couple of days ago for a chance to use my preisthood, and the weirdest thing happened. Right after my prayer, i get a call from the sisters saying to go next door to a members house. So we got, and one of the sisters(hermana cifuentes) was balling her eyes out and wanted to go home! She asked me to give her a blessing:) It was so cool! but i felt so bad for her because not 4 months earlier I was in Her position. I am so greatful for the Preisthood in our lives, the power of God! I love it. I cant wait to hear from you all again!! Thank you so much for all that you do!! OH!! my SKIN!!! i Just needed to shower with cold water!! it doesnt take away ALL of it but almost! and so im showering in cold water for the next Year and a Half!! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!<3<3<3<3

March 23, 2015

Hey pop!!!!! Hey that's awesome that you get to speak in church!! That's great, just let them know how good lookin' I am okay;) if you guys want me to type something up for the ward like my testimony or anything just let me know. I would love to share anything i can with the new ward because i know how important the wards are in the church. They need all the help that they can receive, because its hard!! dad, stay strong! in may I will be Skyping you again!! right?? i love it and i love you dad, let me know if you need anything:) i sent you and mom a letter that basically is telling how dumb i was before my mission ha,ha:) seriously let me know if i can help with anything or help the ward or help with work or anything okay??:) Have a great week. i got a new companion!! His name is Elder Vasquez! he is from Guatamala! he is sick and hes helping me learn more Spanish!! i love you dad!!

March 23, 2015

March 17, 2015

Well, today was the day. Elder Dale my Comp and my ¨DAD¨/trainer, got changed this morning. He was called to be a Zone Leader in a place by san jose called Hereria. So right now, i am with a temporary companion named Elder Farnsworth from Moab. And yes, he is a relative of Philo T. Farnsworth. He is a good guy. We are only working until Friday then i will recieve my new companion. And Elder Tullis will be leaving on friday. So it will be Me and my best friend Elder Davis. Me, Elder Davis, and Sister Martinez will be the only ones here in guacimo.Im so excited but so scared at the same time. I have a lot of stress now. Its good fun. I am actually taking charge of things a little bit. This week was so amazing. First we had our baptisms with Gerson and Brayan. We took lots of pics for you. I baptized and confirmed Gerson and ELder Dale the same with Brayan, It was so great adn a spiritual experience. Then after they asked us what they need to do to prepare to serve a misson. We were like OH YA!! So it was a good day. Yesterday we had interviews with President. I walked in shook his hand, and the spirit just feeled the room...I felt like just all of my worries were lifted for a moment. He smiled, asked me how i was and said a prayer. Then did the interview just asking if im obediente and if im staying worthy. Then opened it up for questions. I asked him what the best thing was to do to help my investigators. He said, "Once your investigators are reading in the book of mormon, the spirit will carry the rest" He said the book of mormon will resolve all doubts and questions. I have a huge testimony of the Book of Mormon. It is the words of Christ. It is the most correct book upon the face of the earth. The keystone of the Church of Jesus Christ. Hear these words, and believe in Christ. And if you dont beleive these words, believe in christ! And if you will believe these words you will believe in Christ, because they ARE the words of Christ. (2 Nephi 33:10) This book is our way to salvation. It is what holds the entire church together. The purpose of the book of mormon is to bring others unto Christ...Just as a purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come utno Christ. The book of mormon(words of Christ) is the best missionary and missionary tool that we have the privledge of holding in our hands today. I love you all so much, thank you for everything. If you ever have any problem, stress, bad feeling, temptation, or just need to feel happy, pick up a book of mormon and start reading. Its as easy as that. They are Christs words. "Angels speak by the power of the holy ghost, wherefor they speak the WORDS OF CHRIST. Wherefor feast upon the words of christ, for the words of christ will tell ALL things which ye should do." (2 Nephi 32:3) I love you all, have an amazing week. I pray for you all everyday. Im Holding strong and becoming better. I LOVE YOU <3<3<3<3

March 10, 2015

Hey everyone! bad news, my baptisms didnt happen last week. Gerson and Brayan were drinking coffee all week and so we had to postpone the baptisms until this weekend. It sucks but they are still getting baptized and they are still working hard!! We found a lady last week that barley let us teach her but we got in. We taught her about the nature of God and his purpose for us and that we can pray to him for everything. She stopped us and said that she had had a dream before. She had a constant dream whe she was younger that wouldnt go away. She said that she saw Jesus Christ coming down from the sky in a beautiful white robe. She said when his feet touched the ground, All of the people gathered together in one place. And then tons thousands of more angels cam down behind Christ. Now the first thing i thught of was the second coming! but then i thought of the Book of Mormon! and then i thought of when Christ Appeared to teh Nephites! it was so cool! so we are going to show her some picutres later:) Then i told her about Joseph Smith and the First Vision! After i told her the story i said "the two people that joseph saw were Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! and the lady and her friend FLIPPED! they were like "Thats what you saw!!!" And then the lady started crying!! she said she has been wondoring about her dreams for lots of her llife. and they are finally starting to make sense. So, we put a baptisms date with her for the 11th of April. She is great and just a miracle! it was absolutley amazing!! but ya, thats my big scoops for this week! I LOVE YOU ALL SOO MUCH!! i cant wait to hear from you next week!! have a great week! I LOVE YOU!!!!

March 3, 2015

MOM!! Great!! guess what!! Elder Dale and I are baptizing twins on sunday!! and Im baptizing and confirming Gerson!!! IM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!:D:D:D:D:D:D

OH!!! i finished my training!!!!!! my 12 week program! i am all done and a "real" missionary now:) we now leave the house at 11 instead of 12:30. DAD!!!! I NEED MY PREISTHOOD LINE OF AUTHORITY!! I NEED YOU TO SEND IT TO ME EITHER HERE OR IN THE MAIL!!:)

 

Hey Mom, Dad, Beau, Emmalie, Rhett, and KaDi. I just want to let you all now that i love you. I have 20 months left in the mission. This has been an amazing experience so far and I'm just so happy for the chance that i have to be here. I am loving the people i teach. I'm getting lost in the work. I'm becoming a better missionary everyday. Mom and Dad, I'm sorry for causing you so much grief over the years. I realize now that you just wanted the same thing i do for these people. To just do the right thing and to get rid of the attitude that would keep me from making the right choices. Everyday i deal with people that are prideful and have an attitude that the gospel or anything else hard in life doesn't need to be dealt with right now. There hearts are getting changed because satan loves to turn away people from ever hearing the gospel and to listen to the people that are just trying to help them be responsible and make the right choices just as you both are doing now. I should have gotten rid of the attitude of not listening, my patriarchal blessing has taught me many things along with the mission. Thank you for all that you have done for me. i know that you are here for me:) Beau, Emmalie , and rhett, i love you guys so much, keep doing what mom and dad say and always read the book of mormon. There are amazing examples in the book of mormon that we can follow to bring our lives in harmony with the gospel and to alwasy feel the spirit in our lives. KaDi, i love you alot, and thank you for helping me through this mission too. You have taught me many things as well. I know that you are here for me too:) Your always giving me encouragement to keep presing on. Thank you so much for all that you do for me i love you!

February 24, 2015

WOW!!! This week was so crazy! But it was really great! so to start it off with this! we didnt have a baptism this week...sucks! HOWEVER!!!, we had a ward baptism! HOWEVER-ER!!!, This girls parents havnt been members for a year yet, so for some reason their records arent in the church yet. So she counted as Mine and Elder Dales!! We planned her whole baptism becasue the ward isnt responsible. So she counted for us! so alltogether we had 4 baptsims as a district! So we took our bishop to this family of 4 to teach them. We tried to help resolve their doubts about sunday as the sabath day, but the wife doesnt accept it worth anything! so we ar still fighting! this week we found a guy named Hanser. He has a wife named Daisey, and a little boy named Hanser Jr! This dad has had a weed problem for most of his life, and we happened to run into him just when he needed someone the most. He opened up and told us his story and wanted help. All we did was listen to him and after his story he said "do you have anything to help me?" The whole room was quiet! so Elder Dale and I just looked him in the eyes, smiled and said, "first of all, Hanser, we just met you, we dont even now who you are, but hermano, we love you so much!! we love you and we have exactly what you need to chance your life and to help your family!" He was just about to cry! So we put a baptism date with him nfor the 28th of march!! and him and his wife are gonna be baptized then!!! it is going to be so cool! and the best part, yesterday, they invited us over for dinner, so we did a family home evening!! we had spaghetti and garlic bread!! it was so good!! we are all just great friends!! So here is the crazy part, yesterday for my P-Day, i went to the Hospital in San Jose! i set up an appointment with the doctor to check my skin out. 1-he said that my skin is very sensitive because im a red head, (well obviously bro!) 2-he gave me some pills and some new soap which i used this morning and im okay:) 3-They took 2 tubes of blood and did tests. I got the results emailed to me, which is in spanish, but there are a couple of things that say "high" and "Low" so the doctor is hopefully gonna let me now. But im okay:) i feel alot better after  shower! But this week has been so amazing!!! i loved it so much, im having so much fun!! we had 4 investigators in the church, and 120 people in the chapel!!!!! it was so great! i am so happy this week and today!! All in All it was a great week!! Could you guys send me some new black socks!! they are dissapearing just like at home;) (oops!) but thank you gusy som much for all that you do! i love you all!! Mom and Dad, keep working hard but take a break okay?;) Beau, keep working hard and go to the temple as many times as possible! if i could go everyday i would!! i only get to go like 4 times a year maybe! Emmalie, and Rhett, I love you guys, keep doing good in school! Rhett, keep playing ball!! KaDi, Good luck on the ACT, try to get better than your guy okay?;) at least a 30;) I love you!! I love you all!! have an amazing week!!

 New Haircut

February 17, 2015

HOLA FAMILIA!!!!
How has your week been? i worked so hard this week that we got 10 investigators in church and 20 as a district! it was so cool! Here is something awesome! we are trying to baptize a family of 4, and the parents are married! but a year after they get baptized, they can get sealed. and in a year, Elder Dale and I are going to be able to go with them to the temple here in Costa Rica! so we are working so hard for them!! i love the work dad. Its so hard, but its so fun! we have bad days and great days. All great;) we learn so much everyday and from our leaders. I love it so much! i hope that everything is great at home. I cant wait to see the new house. My Spanish is getting better. i can actually understand people better now. I will be honest, my Spanish is really good. MY pronunciation is really good;) i love you so much dad! i hope you have a good week! keep working hard and alwasy keep prayers in your heart. Always read the scriptures everyday! i read 4-5 chapters in the Book of Mormon everyday! its so awesome! I'm gaining a great love for the Book of Mormon that I never knew existed! its so cool! i love you so much dad! talk to you soon!

I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!!!!! TALK TO YOU ALL NEXT WEEK! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!! KEEPING STAYING STRONG EVERYONE! AND KEEP READING THE BOOK OF MORMON EVERYDAY!! I PRoMISE YOU THAT YOU WILL HAVE BETTER DAYS!!!!

February 10, 2015

1-me and my new tie.

                                           

 2-Joan is one of our inves.

                                       

   3- me and a big banana

Packages!!

Etan

Right???

                                         

Don't ask.....

Wow!

February 3, 2015

Hey Everyone!!! this week has been great! however, we did fine out that President Wilkinson...is in Utah!! his is getting back surgery that could end his mission! crazy right? he isnt even in our mission/country! this week was great! we changed our cook, who we are gonna try today! im so excited! and we are talking with alot more people and bettering our ward! we had changes yesterday! My really good friend Hermana Gibson left. She is Rachels friend! She was a really good example to me and a hard worker. she is in a different part of costa rica now. we now have a new latina girl. she is weird! but this week has been great. We found out that 3 white girls live with the brother of our bishop! ( ALl not members;) its like our bate;) so we are gonna take our bishop with us and baptize and activate his whole family along with the 3 girls from Wisconsin! itll be great:) im pumped! i saw 3 sloths this weej! all ugly as can be;) its startin gto be a regular thing now! its not as cool anymore! i saw a snake too! wasnt big, but its was cool! my spanish is getting so much better! i can actually understand more now. its better. and our lessons are getting much more powerful! sometimes we take a commandment sheet to someones house and go through it and say, "which ones are you keeping?...none? okay, and you wondor why you dont have food on the table! keep the commandments and youll be fine!" its fun;) so every morning, i read abouyt 4-5 chapters in the book of mormon! i love reading it! i just read this morning about Moroni and the title of liberty! it was sick!!! i am doing really good! i am happy:) i hoep you all have a good week"! i love you all so much and cant wait to hear form you again!! I LOVE YOU!!!!
sorry! i cant send pics this week! this cafe that im in doesnt ahve a way to do it! i will send double next week!

January 27, 2015

Hola Mi Familia Marvillosa y mi Novia Hermosa:) Yo estoy en mi computadora y estoy listo para escuchar a cerca de sus semanas:) Les amo mucho!!!

Check out the beautiful sky!!

First:Yorlenny!! Second:two young men in the ward! Third:Pizza Night!!

Hey Everyone!! This week has been so amazing!! how is everyone doing? so first off, i sent a letter home yesterday, so it should be there in a while. and second, on sunday, we had the baptism for one of my favorite investigators yorlenny!!! she finally got baptized after 18 yrs of smoking, 3 yrs of recieving the missionaries, and 3 crazy kids bugging her all the time. She finally made the decision to be baptized in december when i commited her to do it! after 4 weeks of quiting smoking, she finally got baptized by Elder Dale on sunday january 25th!!! it was so amazing and we were and still are super happy for her. Especially becauase we asked her to be our new lunch time cook!! so we are going to be eating at her house everyday for lunch and sharing a scripture everyday to retain her in the church!! this week was so great! i played alot of soccer, ate alot of food, had a baptism, so a sloth right over my head (gonna send some sick pics) and wrote you all a letter!  i gave a small talk at an activity at the church, nobody was listening because of all of the little kids, but it was good! we had lunch at our bishops house! his wife made white cheese lasagna! it was so good! but this weeek was really great! we are hoping for 4 baptisms in February!1!! and so keep praying for uys! Elder Dale and I are even closer. we everyday have experiences with teh work. not huge things, but little things that we just love! i love you all and miss you all so much!! iu can wait to hear from you all! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!

January 20, 2015

Oh boy do i have some stories to tell you guys. So first off, I bought a guitar... Its a red and black acoustic electric. I had to get it becasue it was 170 bucks! for the guitar, strap, bag, and picks! so its pretty legit! i love it, and i am going to be practicing alot, and maybe using it in lessons, or it will give me something to talk to people about! okay, another story, this one is bad. So we were walking back home from lunch on sunday, and we all four saw two guys carrying a couch. So we decided to give our service and help them. They were really nice guys asking us questions and stuff, so we went with them to their house to help them move. However, when we got into their house, we saw a picture on the wall. It was of one of the men in a chair, and the other guy standing behind him with his arms around him...And...There was only 1 bed. So we were like "are these guys together??" so Elder Dale casually asked one of the men, are you guys friends? he said "no we are brothers." so we were like "oh ok they arnt together, they are brothers" so we contiued to help. Then Elder Dale said "where does your parents live?" and one man said, "my mom is dead" and the other man said, "my mom lives up the road"...so elder dale said, "how are you brothers if you have different parents?" he then said "we are brothers in Faith"!!! and at this point i lost it. Elder Davis and I could take no more, so we walked out of this house laughing and laughing. When we got out side, Elder Davis yelled "I KNEW IT!!!" so they said this and we were like, oh sorry we have to go, we can come back another day to share a message with you two. and they accepted. So Elder Davis and Elder Tullis are going to go back next week and teach them about the Law of Chasity!!! it was so funny but yet so bad! So we had an amazing experience at church on sunday. 14 of our progressing investigators showed up for church!!!!!! Two Families!! it was the most we have every had before! usually we have 4-5, but we trippled the number!! we were so happy, it just made our week.Yesterrday, we had an interesting lesson with an investigator named Saaed. we starting talking about the spirit world, and that the people that wouldnt have a chance to accept the gospel would be able to in the spirit world. And he didnt accept this because he doesnt believe that people with get another chance to accept the gospel. and with every thing he said, he said " i know becasue of the Bible" and this was every single answer that he gave to us if we asked a question. This lesson was in English by the way, he speaks great English. so finally I stopped him and said, "how do you recieve answers?" he said "from the Bible" and then i said "what would you do if you didnt have the bible? how would you recieve answers to your questions if you didnt have the bible??" he got stumped in his tracks, and elder dale stepped in and said, "do you believe in personal revalation?" and he said yes. Then Elder Dale said, " okay, what we are going to do right now, without the bible, we are going to answer your question. We are going to kneel down, and you are going to say a prayer to ask GOD not the bible, if there is a spirit world." we then taught him how to pray in the correct form, and he said a prayer. After his prayer, we all knelt in silence for about 6 minutes. Afterward, he just went straight to the bible looking for an answer. We wanted to say, " you are living in apostacy, and you will find out at judgement", but we couldnt. We said alright, we invite you to read the book of mormon and pray about it. We then left frustrated and angry. We said a prayer afterward to ask forgivness and to get back the spirit. Crazy Right? This week was great, i had so much fun!! yesterday for p-day we bought a blender to make smoothies, and played soccer with the young men and some investigators. i am feeling just fine now. My flu was only a 24 hour thing. It was pretty bad, but im perfect now. Like i said, we are having spiritual experiences, and weird experiences. Everytime Elder Davis sees me everyday, he always says, "we are all brothers in Faith" and we just bust out laughing. i love all of the people here. I have a new Zone Leader! his name is Elder Savedra! he is actually the first missionary that i went with on my first day, and now he is my ZL! i am having so much fun. i get to give a talk at a ward activity on saturday. that should be fun. I am rounding up some gifts for all of you, it might be a couple of weeks, but i shoul dbe sending a package home with some presents! i love you all so much! i hope you had a great week. Let me knoiw how everything goes! i LOVE YOU!!

To Rhett:
Hey Buddy! i wanted to tell you about my soccer game that i had yesterday! we played a big game against the young men. It was us ELders against the young men. We played in the rain. We were really wet, with it pouring down on us. We were getting beaten by the young men by like 6 points. But after ward, we came back, kicked butt and beat them 8-7! I kicked it from our goal and made it into their goal!! over the field!(basketball court) We won and we were just all having so much fun! playing soccer is so cool. I will try to find you a cool soccer ball or a jersey here for you. I know how much you love it so i will get you something. i had a good week this week buddy, i hope you are doing good. Keep playing ball, i will play with you when i get home! i will show you some things that i have learned. I love you so much rhett, i love ya, and have a good week!! love brady:)

January 13, 2015

Wow! so right at this moment, I have the flu! It is so bad! I'm gonna tell ya about it. So yesterday we went to San Jose for our half way mark for my training. We had hamburgers at presidents house that Hermana Wilkinson made for us. They were good but it didn't sit right when I got the flu. So we got off the bus in Guacimo and went to an investigators house then  left. But after we left I dropped my bag on the ground, bent over and PUKED MY GUTS OUT!!!!! It was so bad! Elder Dale was standing a little ways behind me saying "Haga lo" meaning "do it!!!" He was chearing me on! after words, we went home becausee I was sick, then I threw up again!! then during the night i got up and used the bathroom, then puked again! this cycle  repeated about 6 times! i am so sore and so tired. i got 2 hours of sleep!  so this week was interesting. So you know Micheal, our miracle man, ya he moved to a town 1 hour away! So that is pretty much dead unless he shows up for church next Sunday!  we had to postpone our baptism because yorlenny needed another week to stop smoking! so thats next week! Sorry about my grammar, the keyboards here are crap! this week has been pretty hard. I am learning to understand more people which is good, but I still don't know what they say. I can speak a lot of Spanish, its just the understand the people to know what to say is whats getting to me. I wish there was more to email, but its been a slow week. I did find out about the 2 new mission presidents! one is from Honduras, and the other is from Idaho! So that's new. President Wilkinson is going to have back surgery soon which could end his mission early, so pray for him! I love you all so much, I am happy to be here and I am having fun and having bad times! Mission life right? haha I love you all so much, can't wait to hear form you all agai

Sloth!

President and Hermana Wilkinson

MTC Teacher

MTC Teacher

n!!