Adventures of the spirit.

 Well

We went to a Chinese family and elder Slade taught them in chinese. I caught about 2 words. But they were really nice. They gave us coconut water in cartons. They had such a blast watching our reactions they busted out real coconuts, cut the top of and stabbed straws in then for us. So I got to drink a whole coconut. They also shared some walnuts, the most nutty tasting nut I've ever had. 

We had our district council and the sisters are both mega going through it, lots of trials that we really can't help with going on ( the district is just me, elder slade and the 2 sisters right now).

I kinda without realizing it asked if they wanted blessings and in tears they said ya. These 2 blessings were extra special. I've known one of the sisters my whole mission and the other is one I love hanging out with on p- days past 2 transfers. Since I knew them so well and really cared for them, the words came so easily and everything felt right. Both blessings I gave were totally different but I knew it was what they needed. 

Blessings are mega powerful. If you feel like asking for one- do it. If you don't have a priesthood holder- find one.

If you feel like offering a blessing- do it.

Other experience- teaching Natasha, she was in a very interesting mood. She asked us how many people we've converted then told us she feels like God doesn't love her. She told us she prays to Mary and that doesn't do anything for her at all. So we mega testified of the book of mormon, the atonement, and the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints being Gods restored church. She told us she'd make Converting her new year's resolution. 

Another experience- at church Huseyin introduced me to members of another ward like this " This is my brother, Elder Owens. He knows everything, all doctrine, all scriptures. He's shown me the way"

I was like " huseyin, i don't know everything- you've taught me a lot too!"

In Sunday school they asked me to share Husyein's whole story and introduce him to everybody. It was really tender and the first time I've teared up around people in a while. I love Huseyin so much, he's become one of my good friends. I'm so happy I was able to meet him and teach him.

Then we got invited to dinner! Us missionaries and Huseyin too. It was great. 

Last experience- the talk " adventures of the spirit '' Robert E Wells 1985.

Dang. I stumbled on this after searching "kneeling in prayer" or something. This talk instantly became a favorite. Its full of tender miracles and the incredible blessings of missionary service. It makes you treasure spiritual experiences you have and anxiously crave to have more! I needed that talk so bad.

I have seen recommendations for talks and stuff in emails and texts before- I too almost never actually click on them. So- you mega dont have to- but if you can then you should listen to it:

Adventures of the Spirit

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1985/10/adventures-of-the-spirit?lang=eng

Luv u guysss

Its brutal out here

 11-21

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

Lets see, this week was good. I got to go to the chinese branch's karaoke night. Didn't understand a single word but I had a lot of pumpkin pie. 

A wonderful beautiful break from the norm.

It was the most meh week ever really.

Basically nothing happened. 

I did pass off another set of scriptures with president's wife, Sister Smith. Now i'm working on the 3rd lesson, the gospel and doctrine of Jesus Christ.

I cleaned out all the cupboards and the freezer so that was nice. 

Ummmm 

Be a missionary but as my friend Bishop (President)(?) Griffith always said:

"The first leadership is SELF-leadership, you can't lead others where you're not"

Mega mega truth 

How you gonna invite somebody to read the book of mormon every day if you arent reading it every day yourself? How you gonna invite them to take charge of their testimony if you havent been nourishing your own? How you gonna invite them to let God prevail if you arent making Christ the focus in your life and striving to align your will with His? 

I learned this alot our here. I invite people to make very difficult changes in their lives, it would be impossible to do thst effectivley without having expirienced repentance before. 

I wish and pray for all of you to be effective leaders in the gospel, and that will be because of your self- leadership.

I love you guys. 

Mega miss yall right now

The power of actually trying

 Ok. So. This week has been the hardest so far. Basically me and my comp have been having a hard time creating a real relationship. We have different views on how to do missionary work and almost complete opposite interests and passions. We couldn't be more different. I had kinda given up on trying to get along well and had just accepted it and was looking forward to the next transfer.(which is a really dumb thing to do). I would be praying almost all day for patience and power to be ok and endure and for time to fly by. 

Then God basically told me I was doing it wrong. We had a zone conference and afterwards president smith found me and asked if he could give me a priesthood blessing. So very sneakily we left the room and went to a nursery room in the church and talked for a bit.

I had not told anybody i was struggling with anything but president Smith hit almost all concerns and gave me council that i had not even considered. THEN he gave me a blessing and it was perfect. I began trying to be happy and looking for ways I could show gratitude and serve my comp and genuinely care about his interests. I found ways to serve him. I tried to share it with him. 

And nothing really changed…

Till one night. I opened up. I told him i was feeling discouraged about ASL. He opened up and told me all about his struggles with learning Mandarin chinese. He gave me lots of really helpful tips and insight. It felt like the first conversation we ever had actually communicated. 

Then we were up till 12, he taught me a bunch of really really really difficult maths and math ideas. It was a miracle. I was fully engaged and wanted to understand what he was saying and actually did! He was comfortable enough with me to share his passion for math and it felt like we were united. 

I cannot change him. I can't pray for him to change. I have control over myself. I can change. I'm learning so much right now. I am excited to become better friends with him and learn more.

It'll be great.

The actual work:Huseyin had his baptism interview. He's not willing to be a full tithe payer. So were gonna wait a bit.

Im excited for him,im glad i get mire time to teach him. I love huseyin so much, hes so wonderful. I know his faith will grow.

That's basically it. 

Love you guys. 

Usually I invite you to go on a mission…but there's a bunch of you that can't go on a mission for whatever reason, so this week, you get the invitation! Be a missionary at home! Invite your friends to churchy opportunities! Share a verse with them! Bear your testimony! Go out and find and teach with the missionaries in your ward! 

And please! Be an example! People should know that you are happy and that you have the spirit with you. Love you're life the way the gospel teaches you to so that people can feel the spirit when they are in your home and with you. Study the book of Mormon every single day so you can have that essential power with you all day. 

CAST on Him my every care by thy return sweet hour of prayer

 thats right everybody. i fractured my scaphoid. so now I cant do anything. i cant write legibly. i cant eat with a freaking fork. i can barely even tie my shoes. the cast smells like rotting kaka. no matter how many times i spray it with cologne the smell still there. i have to wear a plastic bags and rubber bamds every time i shower. 

but- im doing absalutley legendary happy. i love every single second of missionary. one of my friends out here named Sal stopped us on the way to a members house like "hey, havent i met you before?"

luckily, i recognized him and remembered his name, "yes, Sal, how are you doing?"

and we talked for a few minutes actually about his family and God and the  he got all philisophical and was like "happiness is always there. we just dont always see it." and THAT hit me. he then talked about how he has a mercedes but his friend has a lamborgini but he cant just be wishing he has a lamborghini too cuz he has mercedes. 

anyways. other than that- the other absolute MEME that happened- you can tell this to anybody and they will appreciate it.

president called me.....he asks how my wrist was healing.....i say it hurts......he asks me to join the ASL (american SIGN LANGUAGE) program......i say yes.....he says ok

what?????

so i go home and start packing all my stuff and trying to find out how imma sign with one hand. then next day president calls me and hes like....theres been a change, how would you feel about staying another transfer? you need time to heal that wrist

so im like "ok"

and then president like- no more scooters Elder Owens. 

so then i have to go unpack everything. 

So thas my week. 

At first i had a few thoughts like ...but arent transfer calls inspired? how could they make a cha ge to it? why president not get it right the first time??

but i nrealize- the expirence of thinking imma go be ASL missionary and just that mindset of change even for just one day- i grew a lot and my comp did too- thinking imma leave him. So i know it was part of Gods plan to yank us like that. gave us some good growth and now well be ready when it happens next transfer call. God literally knows PERFECTLY what hes doing. if you find yourself doubting his plan and whats going on i can promise you itll make sense eventually whether its tomarrow or in a year or after you die! Gods plan is perfect, excercise some faith and let God Prevail. 

go on a mission. lookn foreward to hearing where yall get called. mission is the longest ive ever been happy, happiest ive ever been, and most peace ive ever felt. find out thas true for yourself and throw your papers in ASAP.

pictures!

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

Asl??

 

So. The Book of Mormon is literally true. It's proved to me every single time I read from it. Whether I'm reading to a stranger or to a member, hearing it in a talk or reading on Facebook, reading with my comp or on my own. The Book of mormom is true. 

Read it every day. Like for real I'm freaking serious, quit reading my email and read it now

And don't think you can't. It's literally a few clicks or taps away. If you don't have the Book of Mormon get it. Straight up.

Anyways, wonderful week! (Idk what kind of week I'd have other than wonderful-im a missionary)

Even though I'm recovering from the scooter fall, it's all epic. I had a tough time sleeping cuz it hurts to lay down but whatever.

We had a zone conference and 2 things happened that will change the rest of my mission.

1. We had a training from the social media team and I realized….I can do that. So I'm taking all their advice and trying to do what it takes to do social media work. That's why I'm posting every day.

2. President had us read matthew 27, Christ's crucifixion. And after that I looked up and see president crying and he says "this all really happened" and he bore testimony of Jesus Christ and it was so powerful.

I will bear testimony of Jesus whenever I can. I will use all the ways God has given me to do missionary work .

So thas that. 

Then…Thursday night/Friday morning I had a dream where I ended up signing ASL to some deaf guy. I woke up and realized I had used signs that I had totally forgotten about. Like what?! Then the rest of the day I had signs come back to me. So I talked with my comp. I prayed and I think imma talk to president about the asl program. Then later that day we read the book of mormon to a guy with als( which is asl backwards almost)

It was very tender and special.

Then on Sunday I signed with a deaf member and it went OK. Then at our member meal one of the kids was learning sign and I signed with them. 

So I think I'm getting my answer. Now I just have to talk to the president. 

Its all been epic

On Sunday my man Sam came to church with his dog. First time ever. He loved it. So pray for him and Giovanna. They are so close to their clicking moments.

Go on a mission. Do it. I've been putting reasons in here every week, go pray about it and find your own reasons. 

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

well🐳🐳

 This morning me and elder Scott went to a really cool hill we found a few days ago. It has a nice pavement path and it's fenced off-so no cars, we both love skateboarding and scootering, so today we brought them to this hill. It looked much much steeper than it had a few days ago. . .

so we were like, we prolly outta try out them scooters first cuz they are easier than skateboards. went down it once, it was absolutely exhilarating. it felt like i was going 30mph and i was scared the whole time but also having a ridiculous blast as the world legit flew by me. It was incredible. we reach the bottom...and see that after that decline, there was an even larger decline. It was two hills next to each other. this one was a lot longer and way steeper and had a few plants growing through the cracks. So... with some hesitation, but not enough to stop me...we started walking up this hill. we get to the top and....start going. I had my back foot on the brakes as I started and quickly accelerated to the speeds I had reached before...but even with putting as much force as I could on that back wheel I was still gaining speed and I wasn't even half way down the hill yet. So I smile as I realize the truth: I'm going to fall. and it's not going to be good. so I started praying and singing the song that was stuck in my head "heaven help me" by zach Williams LOL

and then it happened. bruh i have no clue how it happened. I just heard the ground scraping my flesh off and my body hitting the ground, flying a bit, then hitting it again and sliding against the ground. The scooter was waaayy behind me so I know I must have slid and bounced at least 15 feet. I laid on the ground and first just said a prayer thanking God that I was ok and then asking to actually fr be ok. so i started with my feet, and my left one hurt pretty bad, continued up. yup- my knees are definitely bleeding. along with my back and my arms hurt really bad. my hands just felt like empty tickles and shakes. BUT! my head was completely fine- no pain at all in my head. so i sit up and check, my shoes are freaking destroyed. The scooter brakes got so hot it melted my shoes and the ground scrapped them real good too. My jeans have a big hole. 

so. ya. Elder Scott drove us home and we fixed me up real good. 

So I'm in a lot of pain but I'm really lucky- there are so many things that could have gone wrong and what did happen is basically the best possible outcome. Even though I'm mega roughed up I know God protected me. I know I need to make better choices and I should be more aware of what's going on. I know the rules are in place for a reason and this wasn't really following all the rules. I learned obedience and commandments literally protect us sometimes...and when you rebel you get hurt.

Anyways. It was definitely a week. We met so many people who were not only not interested but also heavily against us. It made me really appreciate the people who just say "I'm not interested" because these people like to tell us awful things about the church and really like to rub it in that we are bothering them. They try to make us feel like we are in the wrong by simply being in their apartment complex. There's also a lot of people who feel like they have to say yes but really have -5 interest thus they accomplish wasting our time and theirs as well. We had a few people set up return apts and then they arent home or just tell us they actually don't want to talk to us. 

When somebody 1. let us teach them something 2. gives us contact info of some kind and 3. set up a return appointment with us, they become what is called a "new person" (new person to start teaching)

 I realized that as a missionary it is my job to FIND new people. not MAKE new people. if somebody is not interested--I'm not gonna have success trying to tell them to be interested. My job is to seek out those whom God has prepared to receive the gospel. 

Well

I love you guys. I love being a missionary. I'm grateful I'm alive lol. 

and ofc, plz get out on your mission. If I'm talking to you I'm talking to you. Finish those papers and begin now becoming who God wants you to be. plz read the bom every day. And fr fr fr if you have questions text me! email me! lemme know! 

"It's all here in the book of mormon"

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/10/17rasband?lang=eng&id=p15#p15

I promise I'm not a wimp

 Here are the photos:

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

Well. It's been crazy. Absolutely crazy. I've been missing friends and family a lot recently, especially all my friends who are getting ready for missions. Sione, Jonah, Grant, Logan, and especially Liz. You guys are absolutely legends and I can't wait to start getting your weekly emails.

The week started out with a phone call from some guy telling us he wanted to join our community and come to our church

So we met with him a few times and put him on date for the 2nd of November!(for baptism) He still has a lot to learn and we're helping him learn English too.

One of the guys the sisters are teaching asked for a blessing so we zoomed over there and the first thing he said after the blessing was "did you guys smoke weed before you came over?"

I have no clue why he asked that, but it was hard for me and elder scott to not burst out laughing. He also wouldn't take his hat off, so we just…let the oil seep through. Blessing the sick is always amazing.

Then exchanges the day after that. I had 2 incredibly humbling experiences. One is so humbling I'm hesitant to share but….whatever 

We were biking around. We had gone about 1 mile and stopped to talk to somebody. And after we stopped I experienced every symptom I have heard of that accompany fainting. My vision tunneled and continued till I couldn't really see, I started sweating A BUNCH. I was Maaadd salivating. I could barely talk or think and was struggling to breath so im like "elder……I think imma faint….." so he helped me get off the bike and sit down and held a water bottle on my back(I love my zone leaders so much) and just sat with me till I was back. 

When I was back the first thing I said was "elder Spiers, I promise I'm not a wimp"

He said "elder Owens, I didn't think you were"

I felt nauseous the rest of the day. Some lady offered me some beer.

Oh, the other one was that we gave a lady a blessing way later that night I was consecrating and when I went to get the oil I spilled almost my whole vial onto the floor.

.

The dog came and ate all of it.

So I said "well..your dogs gonna live forever now"

It was a beautiful blessing and even though it was In Spanish I still felt the spirit and knew that the words were from God.

Because of meetings and busy mornings, exchange, and other crap that doesn't actually matter I was not able to have personal study every morning and lemme tell ya. There was a difference. I was not as happy. It was harder to have the courage to start contacts and share scriptures. Having your own personal study of the book of Mormon will completely transform your day(and eventually your life)please experiment on this. If you are already reading every day in the morning then you're a legend. If you're not reading every day, in the morning. Sacrifice some time. Wake up earlier and eat faster, shower faster, get ready faster so you can have at least 10 minutes of just you and the book of Mormon. I can absolutely promise you your day will be 100% better than if you hadn't given those 10 minutes to God. Try it out. Please. We need the holy ghost with us in order to spiritually survive. 

Anyways.

Then conference woooowww what an experience. Pretty incredible. I loved hearing Elder rasband talk about the Book of Mormon that one really stuck with me.

But ya

Go onna mission.

Read the bom every day "it's all here" 

Eat healthy and drink more water.(that ones mostly for me)

Get enough sleep(also for me)

Read your patriarchal blessing(or go get it)

Bible dictionary is actually worth your time.(stuff in italics immediately after the bold word is the literal meaning usually in Hebrew of the word, waaay cool)

The gospel brings more joy than anything else so jump in the scriptures and service.

I love you guys. I miss you all.

And thank you so much Martin Stewart for praying for me and the other missionaries.

Thank you to everybody who prays for me. I know it helps and blesses me.

This isn't in the email, but I just remembered, we peed on a tree. anyways.....

 Well

We had Interviews with President and that was crazy epic. I was able to get a Priesthood blessing blessing from President Smith and that was very special. 

We had a referral visit Tuesday night. We went to their house and a little girl answered so we're like "is Ayah here? She asked us to come pray with her"

So Ayah comes down looking really concerned and worried and then she sees our badges and freaks out a little

So we're like "Ayah, it's great to meet you, thank you so much for asking us to come by"

"I didn't ask you to come by…I don't know ow why you're here…"

So I pull up the referral and she's confused and then it clicked when she saw "her" phone number.

"That's one of my friends numbers, he pranked us. . .sorry"

"OK then-well just leave then"

NOOO, that's not what we said lol

"Well, since we're here, we'd still love to say q prayer with you!"

Now her dad just came up to the door and he says we can say a prayer.

So we do.

Her dad starts bashing us literally out of nowhere. Bashers are so funny because you can tell they have no clue what they're they're about when start trying to tell us our church is wrong because it doesn't believe in 'this' and….actually…we do–

so he was mega humbled.

We ended up agreeing on several things. Read a scripture with him, and gave him a book of Mormon…

Interesting. Silly bashers (why hath Satan got such great hold upon your heart?)

On Wednesday we ate Walmart cheese ake for lunch

On Thursday we met a woman who told us about her dogs that she's had through the years and how one of them just kept on barking during thunderstorms….so she put it down. Me and Elder Scott just about lost it. We were trying so hard to not laugh. I mean it'd not funny….but it kinda is. 

We had workshops for infield training all day on Friday and we made our name 'Elders Scoot y Ownes' and it was hilarious having the teachers be like "Elder ow-nz..? Scoot?"

Very fun.

Saturday was an exchange with my wonderful district leader, Elder Davis. And we laughed a day. It was a wonderful exchange. We found a family I've been Trying to find for a week annnndd

On Sunday they came to church

Yo what??

Ya. We finally got somebody to church and they absa-fruit-ly loved it. Monica and Randy Hamimton. Absolute legends. They made friends, said they'd come back, they want to have us over for dinner! It's pure miracle and best case and just beautifully epic.

Also…we used the church magnetic key thing on a big gate in a gated community and….it worked….the gate opened and we got in there. Probably some kind of illegal or something. That's faith and Miracles and stuff right there. We'll head back there sometime and hopefully we don't get arrested or something lol. 

On Monday we got a call from huseyin, one of our guys, the told us he has decided to join our community and promises he will be a good member so ya- Miracles. 

So. Have faith that God will provide and that people you need will come into your life. 

Miracles do happen but! Miracles do not convert people! Prayer, scripture study, reviewing personal revelation, spiritual experiences, learning for yourself- that's what converts people. Not Miracles. Laman and lemme saw an angel, the Israelites saw Miracles every day- None of them were truly converted. When Alma the younger and the 4 sons of mosiah saw an angel that started their conversion but it was because they had given themselves to much study and prayer amd fasting that they were men on God. NOT Cuz and angel told them to get their act together.

And ofc, if you are able to go on a mission do it. A mission will bless your future more than anything else will. A mission blesses your family, your parents and siblings, while also your future spouse and children. There is a reason why the prophets have asked every worthy priesthood holder to serve a mission and had such an incredible focus on getting missionaries out there. Pray about it. Council with your bishop and stake president and especially your loved ones. Ask for a Priesthood blessing.

I love you guys and I miss ya

Watch conference and then text me on messenger or Google chats what your favorite quote is plz (plz)

And I don't feel like throwing in a link to photos, so check any of the previous weeks for a link to the shared album that has ALL MY MISSIONARY PHOTOS

Or text my mom or something 

And fr, be my friend on Facebook. Tell your friends. My posts are absolute fire.

And plz read the bom dailyyyy

Two guys with backpacks wanna teach you about the mother goat.

 Wow. 

What a week.

Transfers happened. I sat in a car for 3 hours absolutely wasting my time napping and scrolling Facebook Finally a van arrives with future companions. A tall blonde guy gets off-that's Elder Scott. My new comp. 

He goes for a handshake and I just hugged him.

So a pretty epic start.

We were walking around on Wednesday and met a older nurse and she offered to ask the lady she takes care of of we could come and teach her. We walked to the door with her and heard her say 

"Hey! There's 2 young men with backpacks who wanna teach you about Jesus Christ!"

She said no.

But that was funny.

We are just guys with backpacks who wanna teach people about Jesus.

Then on Thursday night we were walking home from the gym and ran into the cashier at a restaurant we go to. I shared Alma 7:11-12 on my phone cuz we didn't have scriptures with us. We got into explaining the word succor and something about how a mother goat feeds her babies. He interrupted us and explained "I don't believe in the mother goat"

What..?

Ok. So we, ofc, don't believe in the mother goat either. We re-explained Jesus Christ's atonement. Now he knows for sure that we don't worship goats. So that's good.

Now me and Elder Scott sometimes just say ' I don't believe in the mother goat' and just start laughing a bunch.

Anyways.

I got to go on exchange with Elder Dangerfield and my goodness what an absolute legend. I kept asking him stuff like "what if I did this?" And he's like "do it" and I'm like "what? Wait- can I actually…just…do it?" And he's like "ya"

So that's how I knocked on doors 3 different times, chased people who were far away, yelled through doors and windows "We're the missionaries! We would love to share a scripture about Jesus Christ with you!" Ofc, only during the day, I invited somebody to be baptized (using mosiah 18:8-11, especially verse 11), I simply would not take no for an answer(they say no to reading a scripture? Ask to pray with them, they say no to that? Can we give you a bom, no to that? Can we give you a pamphlet? Can we give you a Jesus card? When is a better time we can talk more? Can we help you with any service? Do you know anybody in the area who needs help? 

Basically I learned that it is easy to be bold when you're doing it because you love Jesus and it's ok and even good to do whatever it takes to give somebody the chance to accept the gospel. 

Then- we had stake conference. And Elder Mortinson of the 70 talked about how the book of Mormon is the iron rod and it was beautiful. He said over and over the book of Mormon IS the tool in conversion. People will never fall away from the church if they read the book of Mormon every day. I just wanted to remind everybody of the power of the book of Mormon. Nothing will protect us from the evils and crap of the world we live in more than reading, studying, and truly feasting on the book of Mormon. Please, please read the Book of Mormon every day. 

Also! During stake conference I see a boy, probably 12 years old, playing on his mom's phone. He was messing around with filters on snapchat and just took videos if himself the whole time. I got pretty angry because he was missing out on all these amazing things being said and he was distracting his mom and other kids around him. He has no clue what he was missing because he wasn't even looking. Then I had to catch myself

"Dude. You're not even paying attention….you're LETTING him have your attention and now YOU'RE also missing out."

That was painfully humbling. 

It got me thinking….how often do we miss out on life changing spiritual experiences? How often are our eyes looking away from beautiful things? Do we actually know where we should place our attention? And if we do….why are we not focused on it??

How often have I missed the chance to feel the spirit? How often have I missed out on the chance to receive revelation? Why do I let stuff distract me that doesn't doesn't matter??

Please do everything you can to not miss out like that 12 year old and I did. Especially with General Conference coming up. Prepare now, if you're not already, to NOT miss out on the life changing words and stories and doctrine we'll hear. Do not be distracted. Don't miss out.

Once again, do all you can to go on a mission and if you have gone on a mission tell your loved one's about what you learned during your mission, help the missionaries that serve locally, sign up to feed them. If you didn't serve a mission, be a light to those you interact with and find ways to share the gospel (churchofjesuschrist.org/share or something)

If you are able to go on a mission still, then do it. 

If you have Facebook and you're not my friend then why do you even have facebook??? Search Caleb Owens and it's some guy by the temple.

Here's the photooosss:

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

Families

 So I keep having the plan to have my journal open next to me whole I make the email. But we're out bowling right now and we're gonna be at a church house till 6(pday ends at 6) 

So we're going from Areabook and memory again lol.

So. We had our last zone and district council(transfers are tomorrow) and that was kinda tough because I love all these guys so much. Elder prestwich gave a life changing training on forgiveness. He really focused on the idea of forgiving ourselves and that hit me really hard because I finally was able to let go of things I was holding and take those barbs outta my heart. I felt so much peace and it's the strongest I've felt the spirit in a while. 

So- you need to forgive others, but you also really need to forgive yourself(all men[d&c section 64 something something{verse 10 I think}] includes yourself, you are part of "all men"). The atonement works for everybody including you. It's ok to feel bad about stuff you've done or haven't done, but you should not be punishing yourself. Notice the mistake, and fix something in your life and then you don't have to beat yourself up about it anymore. Jesus and Heavenly Father will always love you.

Other super cool thing- we were walking around and we saw a good looking guy, probably like 23.

He came up to us, grinning- turns out him and his wife JUST moved into the ward the previous day. They are from Boise! Ada county!(Thas where I'm from)

Later after some proselyting around the hood, we went to their house and they invited us in and 

BOOOM.

Wham!

It was like smacked in the face with the spirit. Their house felt like the temple. Thid young couple, probably going through plenty of trials of just moving to California, and being newly married, and whatever else- have strikingly let God prevail in their lives. Their covenant keeping ness made their home feel like a temple. (Thus the Facebook post this morning)[yo, if you've got Facebook and you're not my friend what are you even doing?]

Anyways, read about Temples in the Bible dictionary, it's pretty good.

Also, I had the incredible privilege to go on exchanges with one of our wonderful zone leaders. Elder Call. He's going home next week. We had a service project and Elder Call taught me alot about keeping "what would the savior do" in my attitude. It got to the point where we were pretty much ready to go home but Elder Call was just like "what do you think Jesus would be doing elder?" (We were helping two disabled people, a mom and son who were both in wheelchairs, move their stuff to a storage facility) so ofc first I'm like "well, He would prolly heal them so they could walk"

And Elder Call was just like "he would continue to help them."

They are not members, they're actually quite catholic. But we stayed until the project was done. They were very very grateful for it.

We also got hard-core bashed multiple times. First real life actual hard core bashes I had. It hurt alot more than I thought it would. 

We stayed calm the entire time and nothing we said or did deserved the contention and brutality we received. Elder Call started bearing testimony of Jesus and the book of Mormon and this guy interested him and said "Elder Call- you don't actually know that. There is no way you can know anything you're saying. You have no clue what you're even talking about." It hurt so much. He also gave us these cool book marks, it's a 1,000,000 dollar bill that basically says that we are sinners and heretics and we will go to "an awful place called hell."

His wife, (this hurt the most) his wife actually wanted to learn from us. She wanted a book of mormon. She wanted to meet with us again.

The guy turned turned to her and said something in another language that really really hurt her feelings. She spoke up again later and he said "honey, you don't even understand what's going on" 

That was one of the most ugliest, awful, and just plain stupid things I've ever seen in my entire life.

I know we maintained the spirit with us because I was able to feel it through the whole thing. I know I was strengthened through this ridiculous encounter. I know that Jesus still loves those guys and I should really try to change my perception of him. 

Anyways. I was able to bear testimony of families and I know that it at least affected the wife. 

Also

Transfers dang it.

My trainer is leaving me. Elder Prestwich is gonna go be Zone leader is Saratoga. I'm staying here. So please pray for my new companion to have patience with me cuz I got no clue what I'm doing.

Anyways. Sacrifice and Obedience bring blessings. God loves you no matter what you've done. The atonement is literally infinite. The Book of Mormon is true and will bless your life IF you read it. 

Go on a mission if you can. Do not let anything rob you of the blessings that come from missionary service.

Love and miss you all.

Get on the shared albuuummmmm

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