खुशी जन्मदिन

 Last night all the elders in the zone gathered together and we went to the Sauna together. It was kinda like a Daniel 3 moment because it was super hot in there but none of us got hurt.

We were all gathered together to await transfer news. This transfer was going to be especially interesting because ½ the leadership goes home next transfer. So President's plan was to take a ton of leadership out now so the new leaders will be ready.

The transfer roster reflected that. Every area has mostly new leaders. So that's gonna be crazy.

And! I am training a fresh new Missionary!

Elder Millard and I went to parking lots a ton last week. Talked to some cool people. 

Gave a book of Mormon to a cute Indian chick working at little Caesars. Spoke Hindi with her and got her phone number.

Got burgers at the Habit and was very pleased.

Went to talk to some lady in her car and turns out she was crying a bunch so I asked if I could pray for her and she just kept crying a bunch so I gave her a Jesus card.

Memorial day was oofed because everywhere we went people were super drunk and smelled really bad and weren't kind.

And that's pretty much it.

2 transfers left is wild. I've matured and learned a lot these past 2, so i'm excited to see what happens. 

Maybe I'll learn another language.

The Vance Family

 https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYM8hzqfMfgxUFWZ7

This week I got to see my friends Ashley, Elias, and Iury be baptized. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had. During the 45-minute drive to Fremont I was reflecting on my experiences teaching them. I remember the night Elder Lewis and I found them was a non-stop absolute miracle. We had just finished teaching and indian in the area named Kewal (who had opened the door all the way wearing nothing but boxers but was happy to have us come teach him)

We finished up with Kewal and had like 10 minutes left till it was time to go home. So we knocked 1 door. To be fully honest with you- I wanted to go home. I didn't see any point in knocking doors unless we knew indians lived there. But, thankfully, Elder Lewis wanted to knock some doors. 

Ashley answered her door very kindly and as soon as we mentioned Jesus she invited us in. It took about 10 minutes for her to gather her family and the dog was barking at us the whole time. Finally when we had opportunity to speak we delivered the only flawless restoration lesson I've ever been a part of. I could see in their eyes that they were astonished- I was too. The spirit was so strong even the dog wanted to learn more. 

So we invited them to church…and they came! Not the dog though.

While they were at church Iyori ( 9 year old girl) was feeling a little nervous to go to 2nd hour class but Ashley said to her “We were invited, and we belong.” 

Elder Lewis and I got to go over once and read from the Book of Mormon with them. They had just finished all the introductory stuff so we picked up in 1 Nephi 1. As we went around and took turns reading the spirit filled the room and the spirit again testified to me the Book of Mormon is true. All the sudden Ellias is reading verse 13 and says “ and he read saying: WOO! WOO!” (Like wuu wuu). He just shouted a interjection and then went right back to normal reading. I found myself struggling for breath as I desperately fought to not laugh. Elder Lewis at my side was slowly turning purple and fighting the same battle. I do not know how we made it through that. Now every time I read that verse I hear the shouts of a little black boy.

Later I was on exchange with one of the Deaf Elders, Elder Serban. We visited the Vance family and had a crazy lesson. I was constantly interpreting both directions and it was mentally exhausting. Then the spirit cleared my mind and instructed me to extend a baptismal invitation. I told them about all the commandments that disciples follow and the blessings and pure joy that come from covenanting with God. They knew it was what they wanted and right then Ashley got up and marked it on her calendar. 

Then I got transferred. Elder Lewis and Elder Nicolaysen took over the hindi area as well as the English area so they taught Ashley's family the rest of the way.

And last Friday they were baptized. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to baptize Iyori. She's like a little sister to me and I know she will be my sister for the rest of my life. 

While we were waiting for people to change I was prompted to stand up and share my testimony. All 3 of the Vances were there and I declared to everybody in that room the importance of what had just happened. 

I know that when we are baptized by somebody who holds power from God, a connection is made between us and God. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the only church on earth that can impact your life after death in a way that will result in your living with God. I know that Jesus is our Savior. 

After the baptism we got to go eat cookies. I asked Iyori how she felt. “ I was scared at first but then I came out of the water and I feel so good!” I told her to never forget the feeling.

I talked to Ashley and she told me “you know. You are Elias’ role model.” My throat tightened and I kinda started crying. But I looked into her eyes and I said “Ashley, Elias needs to serve a mission. Do all you can to help him prepare now” she said they were already planning on it. 

Elias came up to me and told me he had figured out why I was in Fremont for so long. He said it was because I had to find his family. That will stick with me forever. I think he's right. 

The church is so true. I know that 100%. Missionary work is amazing and there is no joy that can compare to this. You already know I will not stop inviting others to come unto Christ. Not now. Not when I get home. Not when trials shake my world. I made the same promises Ashley, Elias, and Iyori did when I was 8 and I will not be passive or idle in how I keep those promises. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYM8hzqfMfgxUFWZ7

Well, now my 2nd favorite is psalm 19. 

We helped some random chick take her blinds down and so she gave us a free plate with a turtle on it.

Met a sweet family, they gave us Popsicles, and their daughter only has 1 ½ arms

At a member meal they asked what brought my family to Utah and I said “a car” 

They also asked what language my tag was in and I said ASL even though it was hindi.

Man, I am so funny!

Talked to a chick who's 96 years old and more alert than I am. She had an autobiography about how she was the first woman to climb up tall things to paint them- like flagpoles and stuff. So because of her, women have jobs.

We invited all of our friends to a baptism, they all came! But nobody was there except for us and our friends. Turns out we were a day late to the baptism. 

Finally got my Hindi testimony video up! It's pretty good. Go watch it and share it with every single person you can. Everybody needs to know that I can speak hindi. 

Met a cool kid named Vince who knows the Bible better than most adults. He took a book of Mormon and has been texting us about it. If he gets baptized while I'm here then I'll try and set him up with one of my sisters.

Helped out at a multiple sclerosis run event thing. It rained harder than I've ever seen it rain in saratoga. This was the first time I've seen it rain in saratoga. We were outside for 4 hours and the rains came down the whole time. Every piece of my clothing was wet and there was just a stream down my face. But it was all worth it because we got cool t-shirts that say “volunteer.” My volunteer shirt is actually still sopping wet. 

Here's an amazing miracle:

Elder Millard and I decided we were gonna text the YSA members on their birthday, we got a list for this month and the day we started there was a name: Violet Fong. I recognized it instantly. I had seen it before in the ASL members list. No way there's a Deaf member in the YSA right? So I text her and ask her and….yup. She's Deaf. I found her Facebook and it turns out she's married too. So we're gonna visit her tonight. I had to be in this exact area so I could find her and teach her. There's so many things adding up here it's insane. God keeps track of all his children and has plans for all of them. Absolutely crazy. 

I love this sequence in psalm 19:

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 

8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 

9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

Everything from God is just so good. We can trust him. He will help us. The most valuable and precious things in life are all related to a knowledge of God and ou4 relationship with Him. 

Send me a email!

Contacting at stop lights

 Click this https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYM8hzqfMfgxUFWZ7

Psalms has been so good. So far my favorites are 1 and 15. I have memorized both lol. Call me and I'll prove it.

This week was one of the most valuable of my whole mission. Starting pday eve, I had the treasure of an experience to be on exchange with my MTC companion, Elder Taufer. He is my brother. I love him so much. We had some cereal then began a full fast. We decided to fast to know what things we will 100% abstain from the next 40 days. Then on Thursday we constantly added to our list and didn't eat any food at all. 

We destroyed the work that day. Elder Taufer is everything a missionary is supposed to be. He also still feels real. I feel like I'm just with one of my buddies. But when he testifies-the ground shakes. When he recites a scripture- the air is full of the spirit. When he prays-everybody knows he knows exactly who he's speaking with. When he contacts people they feel loved. And by the end of the day I felt like I was starting to develop some of those powers. Every time we stopped at a stoplight he'd roll the window down and I would then contact the person in the car next to us. The first few sucked but in the end it was ok. Then elder Taufer did one and it went so well he put the truck in park, ran out and gave them a Book of Mormon. While I was just like…wow…

One contact will stick with me forever. His name was Chris. He had been taught by missionaries about 2 months ago however during planning Elder Taufer felt we should visit him. He was in his garage working on a car when we pulled up. Shortly after we said hey he shared he had actually just had a dream where 2 elders came and visited him and every day since he's been hoping we'd come back. He also started reading the book of Mormon. He would flip to random pages and every scripture he read all had to do with 1 topic he had been pondering recently. Elder Taufer then on the spot shared a scripture about that topic. Chris's eyes widened. He was like “that's one of the ones I marked” he ran inside and grabbed his book. Out of all 531 pages, about 15-20 were turned down. And one of them was the exact same verse Elder Taufer had shared. We then committed him to church on Sunday. Wow, the Book of Mormon is amazing.

I have grown so much as a missionary. Last time I got to be Elder Taufer's companion I was an entirely different kid with a different testimony. I had a lot more pride and alot more craziness. I'm grateful for all the changes I've made and who I've become. I'm so grateful this gets to continue for 4 more months.

That night we started more exchanges. This time I was with Elder Jensen. Now, with all my new knowledge and fresh miracle experience, I was able to lead a fantastic exchange. I asked powerful questions and tried to be a good example of boldly talking to everybody and we saw so many miracles! Elder Jensen is a pretty young elder but he has charity figured out. I love him so much. He's a gem.

We painted a house this week. I stole some really nice bar soap from a mansion bathroom full of them that also had no electricity so for the first time In 22 months I brought my phone in the bathroom with me for light. Gave a talk on Sunday and President and Sister Larson spontaneously showed up. President also let us drive him to stake missionary coordination meeting in our car (The Lord's Car) so that was crazy cool. Had dinner with a cute family but during the prayer the oldest son passed gas and everybody died laughing….except the mother and I, as we walked away from their home we heard her lecturing them a bit. Saw a youth choir performance and received the revelation that my children need to know how to sing and how to play an instrument. I ate an entire classic little Caesars pepperoni pizza IN ADDITION TO a bag of crazy bread in about an hour. And I hit leg day and suffered much because of it. Downstairs neighbors partied all night long- fr, music blasting 9 to 9. So now I have random Spanish songs stuck in my head.

People keep saying “oh! New elder! I heard you did ASL!”

I then point at my tag and say “Ya! I was in the ASL branch for a year!”

Then they look at my tag like “Wow is that asl?”

And I'm like “Yup! Pretty cool right?!”

And it says: “अंतिम-दिनों के संतों का यीशु मसीह के गिरजा”

Everybody always believes me and they're always so impressed. It's so funny. 

Psalm 5:7 “I will come into thy house. . .I will worship in thy holy temple”

This needs to be all of us. Straight up declaring to God- I am going to the temple this Saturday morning. Imma go worship in your house God. 

If you watched any of general conference then you'll know what I'm getting at. We should always have our next appointment on the calendar. The temple is too important for us to not be going as often as our circumstances will permit. Nothing will help us more. So make an appointment them pull a psalm 5:7 and declare to God your full intent to go into and worship in the temple.