Retrospection

 Wow, that was fast.

I will be home in 1 week. I've had 19 companions, 4 areas, 2 mission Presidents, trained 4 times, 12 of my friends have been baptized, and I've only actually paid for a haircut 1 time.

Looking back I can confidently say that I have been successful. Could I have done more? Yes. Was my heart always in the right place? No. Yet, I am an absolutely changed person. I have learned who Jesus Christ is. I know I am a son of God. I know priesthood power is real. I have experienced life-changing repentance. I've given up my will to do what God wants Instead. I have truly desired to help others come unto Christ.

My entire life changed sometime way back in my 2nd transfer when I woke up from a silly dream. I dreamt my companion and I were running around a neighborhood goofing off and ended up knocking on a door. A kind old man answered and let us in. We sat down with him and soon realized he was Deaf. In the dream I knew ASL and so I started signing with him.

Then I woke up.

I don't really share my dreams much but I felt like I should tell one of the other elders, Elder Eli Hendricks, about this one. He shocked me by telling me it meant I was to become an ASL missionary. I had no idea we even had ASL in our mission.

After that my entire life was changed. Pretty soon I found myself in Fremont, struggling to learn ASL. And then in Fremont for 18 months straight.

If I never shared that dream I never would have become an ASL Elder. I would have stayed english and travel the course of a normal mission. Instead I was tied to Fremont.

Fremont is full of Indians. This prompted me to learn Hindi. 

Later I was on exchange with Elder Holladay. We had just picked up some groceries and were sitting in the car when we both got a notification to hop on duolingo so we didn't lose our streaks. We opened it up and were surprised to see not only were we both learning Hindi, but we were on the exact same lesson! 

That was the beginning of Hindi work. 

Then we started going on exchange every week to try and teach Indians. There was a direct and plain to see correlation between the amount of study and prayer we did for Hindi and the amount of miracles and doors opened. So many Indians have now had a chance to hear the truth. Not many seriously accepted it. But many of those curry covered hearts now have a seed planted inside.

It never would have happened if I didn't talk about a silly dream. 

Now I know ASL. I will be serving Deaf people in the church the rest of my life. 

Now I know a ton of Hindi. I will be doing all I can to invite Indians to come to Jesus Christ for the rest of my life.

I know this is God's work. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are trying to save all of their children. That's the plan- we do all we can to save everybody by helping them come unto Christ and learn who he really is. Sometimes that means you have to serve in Fremont for a total of 20 months and play around with 2 languages. Sometimes it means you need to leap out of your comfort zone with no parachute and accept that the landings gonna hurt the first few times. Sometimes you cry because of the thought that some soul should perish. Sometimes you get to stand in the water and baptize one of God's precious children in the name of the Father and of the Son and of The Holy Ghost. It all works out when we try our best. God is in charge. Curveballs aren't actually Curveballs, it's just God's plan.

New

 

Had Cincinnati Chili with our Branch President. Then I had leftover Cincinnati chili for both breakfast and lunch the next day.

Elder Johnson made 40 waffles.

Had a Deaf event at a mall. Somehow there were like 10 hearing people there and 3 Deaf people. 2 of the Deaf people were pretty clear about how they didn't want to talk with us because they were Christian. I was like hey we worship and love Jesus too. They actually told me we worship a different Jesus. In ASL. I've never had that happen in ASL before. Plenty of times in english. 

The other Deaf person was Aaron, a great fun member of our branch who knows every single thing about every single bus ever.

Went to a legendary Zone Conference. President taught us a lot about prayer. One thing I've been trying to do is start prayers and then not close them. Now I always remember I'm still “in a prayer” so I can just talk with God throughout the day and be more mindful of what i'm doing and thinking.

We started helping out at the Deaf School. They're getting new furniture so all the old stuff is being thrown away. How do they get all of it out of the student housing? Us. We spent nearly 20 hours(so far) moving desks, couches, dressers, chairs, and everything else in there. Pretty crazy. 

Elder Ardinger is Gone. My 4 weeks with him were beyond precious. He was transferred to Washington. (ASL transfers happen between missions now) We are receiving an Elder Reeve and Elder Rowley. I will be in a trio with both of them for these last 2 weeks of my mission. Then come home(!) Kinda tough to have a big change this close to the end. But it will still be very fun.

If you are struggling with anything this next part is for you lol. And if you're not struggling with anything then you probably will be soon.

Jeremiah 3:23

“They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

Every morning is a restart. Every day is a fresh opportunity. Every time we wake up we can be better. We can move on from yesterday's mistakes and actually improve. Why? How?

“Great is thy Faithfulness” God is 100% faithful to all his promises. He promises to forgive us when we repent. Because he is faithful to his promises- we can be “New” every morning.

So quit feeling down about today's mistakes and shortcomings. Feel down long enough to help you feel guilt and motivation to change then get up and act. When you wake up the next morning you will have the opportunity to be NEW. 

It's just a bit.

 

Had a big cool Deaf event! My favorite one so far- a big BBQ where everything was 1 dollar! I was planning on getting like 10 hot dogs (for 10 dollars) but there were a lot of people there and I needed to prioritize talking to everybody. So I only got one. 

But it's OK! Because this Deaf event actually did wonders for me! I found out I actually know ASL! I understood everybody I spoke with, was able to make jokes, and everybody understood me! I felt very successful lol.

Somehow we helped at 3 moves this week and at all of them Elder Johnson and I played a game where every time you move something you have to make a pun. Needless to say, some of the other people helping out hurt their backs- not from lifting- but from laughing so hard.

Elder Johnson has a Laugh Track on his phone with a few seconds of silence in the end. So while we drive we put in on repeat and one of us has to give a one-liner before the laughing starts again. 

Elder Ardinger was upset and was signing at me aggressively and somehow injured his finger. Within minutes it was like 3× the size of his other finger. So I called the mission nurse and sent her the pictures and tried to explain how it happened and she got really quiet and was like “Elder Owens….stop interpreting….don't tell Elder Aringer this….ok?”

“...ok….(?)”

“I think….I think he needs surgery…please take him to urgent care right now. I'll call President Larson and let him know. Please please don't tell him…”

So im like “actually? For real?” 

And she explains something about tendons. 

So we go to urgent care and sit for 4 hours. Then got a xray and a doctor came and sat with us and said that ....everything was fine. He said to take some ibuprofen and everything will be fine in 1-2 weeks. 

Elder Ardinger and I had a fun lesson up at the Oakland temple with a Deaf Woman from Santa Rosa. She HEARD me pop my back (it was an insane back pop) so then for the whole lesson she kept telling me all about these different stretches you can do for your back while driving. Then when the lesson was over she literally got in our car, in my seat. Like she was gonna drive and showed me all the stretches to do while driving. 

Elder Ardinger could not keep it together and was laughing a ton. 

Here's a really bad thing that happened:

On pday we played pickleball. We took the paddles from our church building intending to return them that evening,

However,

We forgot.

Fast forward Thursday evening. We are headed to a giant cool Deaf event 45 minutes south! This is one we've been looking foreward to for a while. We get a call from the English ward mission leader about 15 minutes into the drive. He's mad. Really mad. And he wants his pickleball paddles. And he wants them now. They were having a pickleball night at the church. . . So, we're like “oh crap.”

We turn around and head back. And me, being my father's son, I grab the pickleball bags and walk into the church building where everybody is waiting for us and I shout “pizzas here!” Then run out of there.

Here's the phrase from psalms this week that I've been pondering “so will I sing praise to thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows” (psalm 61:8)

I think my vows are the covenants I have made with God. What does it mean to “daily perform” our vows/covenants? 

I think it means a lot more than remembering them or thinking about them. I think it's more than reading the scriptures and praying. I think those are important and maybe they're part of it. The word “perform” adds a feeling of work- like a hard task to do.

Instantly Moroni 9:6 comes to mind “. . .if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a LABOR TO PERFORM whilst in this tabernacle of clay”

My mind also, of course, thinks of a musical “performance”. Back when I was in middle school I was part of the orchestra. We had a few “performances” every year where we would “perform” some incredible music pieces. Now, if you were watching you'd be like “Wow! That was incredible!” 

But for us in the orchestra we had been practicing for at least a few months. We knew these songs like crazy. My dad already knew them just from how often I'd be humming them. So….are you ready for this? Stay with me…in order to “perform our vows/covenants” we must practice…a lot! 

If you haven't been endowed yet…practice living like you've already made those covenants. Study them often! Prepare every day.

If you have made temple covenants, practice living them. Practice creates habits. If you practice poorly you will perform poorly. 

If you practice perfectly you will perform perfectly. 

If you are preparing to receive the melchizedek priesthood, give diligent heed to the words of eternal life and magnify your calling now. Begin practicing being a valiant covenant keeper now so you can “daily perform your vows” later.

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

It's all so real

 What an insane ride this past week has been. 

Visited some cool members. An old couple and their middle age single adult son who literally recited 40 scriptures while we were there. The old guy asked if we wanted a drink and I didnt want a soda (6 weeks too sexy) and so I asked if he had chocolate milk. 

He hopped up and pulled out some powder and a milk and stuff and while he was stirring it he told a story about some Indian (Native American, not curry) whom he took care of. this little boy always wet the bed until he started letting him have ice cream if he didnt wet the bed. Then he never wet the bed again. He must have got a little carried away with the story because he added an insane amount of the powder to the milk- like I had legit chunks in there- more powder than milk.

We visited one of our YSA friends and crazy miracle- he had just lost his phone the other day and was leaving on a trip to Utah the next day, he wanted to keep reading the scriptures but didn't have his phone so we showed up and literally the only time he was available before his trip and had plenty of copies of the Book of Mormon with us. Now he has one he can study! God truly is mindful of everybody- we did not know why we were visiting beforehand.

We left a book of Mormon with a recent convert in the ysa on accident and he was like. “Do you guys want it back?” And were like “nah its ok. We have a ton. Why don't you give it to somebody!” 

So 2 hours later he called us and told us he gave it to somebody he met at a store. Crazy.  

On Sunday during ysa second hour (second hour for them but 4th hour for me!) I totally fell asleep. Strangest thing happened- I've never had anything like this happen before- I woke up and legit heard in my mind “you need to offer Kate a priesthood blessing.” I'm not even fully aware yet so I kinda excuse it and we head for the doors to leave. Then Kate comes up to us and starts talking and instantly I can tell she's not doing well. 

So I'm like “Kate, I don't really know the answers. But I know God does. Would you like a priesthood blessing?” She totally starts tearing up. So we grabbed Bishop and headed into his office and I was able to give her a blessing. The Priesthood power and authority are so real. It's so cool that I get to carry a portion of God's power with me. 

The most crazy thing I've ever experienced on my mission happened this week too.

Here's the background: at the beginning of this transfer I went to a trainer training meeting. It was actually so good. Lots of revelation in there. Near the end they asked us “what are you gonna do? What will you do because of what has happened here in this meeting?” I, ⅓ joking and ⅔ seriously, answered that I was gonna take my trainee to a parking lot and make him go contact strangers. Everybody cheered or laughed which is what I wanted lol. Then that night on the way home, I'm thinking I actually do need to go to a parking lot and show him some stuff. 

As we were contacting there, we met a group of 5 teenagers from a catholic school. They were pretty funny and we had a good chat.

Now, at the end of the transfer, we got a referral from some guy named Pasqual. He answered his phone once and hasn't again so we just went over to his home. And a boy answered the door. He looked at us and was like “do you guys remember me?!”

My mind raced until I found him- it was one of the kids from that night! He was actually so happy to see us! Normally I don't think he'd have recognized us. It was dark outside when we met him first, and now it's been over a month since he saw us. We could not have talked for more than 4 minutes. 

But he remembered us. (John 14:26) He recognized us as soon as the door opened. Turns out Pasqual is his grandfather! 

Went to the temple last pday and learned something : always give invitations in a positive, not a negative. Meaning tell them to do something rather than to not do something.

For example:

Don't say : don't forget who you are

Do say : remember who you are

Don't say: don't let the Fire go out 

Do say : keep the Fire burning

Don't say : don't leave the church, don't go inactive 

Do say: become a life lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ 

If you are endowed, go to the temple and pay attention to how instructions are given.

Love you all, thank you for everything!

Pain.

 Thursday was one of the most incredible days ever as well as the hardest day of my mission. We had a beautiful Zone Conference full of spirit, testimonies, and council. After Zone Conference we went to one of our friend's homes. I have been dreading this lesson for over a week- this friend was put on date for baptism before we knew she was on house arrest. We found out she was on house arrest at the end of a lesson and now we had to go over and explain that she actually cannot be baptized until after she finishes her house arrest. I love this friend so much! I knew it was gonna crush her. We pull up and meet with the sisters who have been teaching her with us, go in and sit down and start with love. Then all the missionaries look at me- it's time to drop the news. So with all the love I have and with all the softness I can, I tell her that we all will need to wait for her to be baptized until she concludes her house arrest. she starts crying and starts kinda closing off. I felt awful. I felt like I was denying her the one thing she truly wanted. I felt my heart drop and dark anxious pain feelings in my chest. I took all I had to not join her tears. The sisters hopped in and talked about how “waiting” can become a sacred place. Then I was filled with spirit and I knew what to do. I instructed her to listen carefully to what I was going to say. The most powerful testimony of Gods love and restoration of Priesthood power I’ve ever given then proceeded to fall from my mouth followed by an invitation to receive a priesthood blessing. She said yes, had us guess what number was behind her back cuz she didnt wanna “pick favorites” 

this was actually a miracle because without any hesitation at all I guessed 7.

Her number was 7.

So I gave her a blessing and my mind was crystal clear. I have never ever had words come to me this easily before. it felt like I was reading the words. no eye in the room was dry. 

I was trying to make burgers and instead I cut a chunk out of my thumb. Fortunately, I am a man of great poise. So, as blood is being pumped out and making a concerningly large puddle of blood in the sink, annoyed at this inconvenience, I rinse my thumb off and as soon as I take it out of the stream of water- you instantly cannot tell I just rinsed it off. Blood everywhere. So with a roll of my eyes I suffocate it with paper towels. Despite the pain I apply as much pressure as I can and hold my hand as high up as I can. Somehow, for the first time ever- I left my phone in the car?!?! so I knock on the bathroom door, “Elder LaBar, I need you to run out to the car with me, I just cut my finger open and I need to call the nurse” 

With more panic than I had, he opened the door and we went to the car.

The nurse wanted a picture- we couldn't get one because the blood just kept gurgling out lol. So she decided to have me just apply pressure lol.

Bleeding stopped about 20 hours later.

So the next 3 days actually sucked. I felt like I was missing a piece of me (lol) no, but actually- I felt like garbage and was always light headed and my thumb felt like it was on fire. What a dumb injury lol. All for some dang patties.

Went on exchange with Elder Palmer and we went full-beast mode. Talked to a ton of indians! Every time we saw an Indian I would call which city they were from and then we'd ask and I was right each time. I blew Elder Palmer away with that trick, I guess I'm just good at being racist with indians- but in a good way. The surprise on their faces when I speak hindi will never ever get old. 

One Indian man (from Delhi) answered the door and was like “is this urgent?” and I was like “Ya, it actually is” he let us teach him a bit. I felt pretty cool saying that lol. It's so fun to just go out and have a blast being a bold missionary who is just not scared of anyone or anything. 

I know that this IS urgent. The gospel of Jesus Christ is something to be urgent about. Now is the time to act. Now is the time. Don't wait. 

Cool verse:

Psalm 29: 2 “...worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” 

There's only gonna be a few more of these. . .

Love you all very much, especially you.

If I wasn't endowed I'd be dead.

 

We helped at yet another move lol. After we got everything into the truck we headed to a storage place and I was taking a giant mirror out of there. I was gonna put it to the side so we could get the big stuff out. Then a big blast of wind came around the corner and I hit the bottom of the mirror on the ground-oof. The mirror shattered and a shard of glass went right to my leg, it tore a hole in my pants and I felt it against my leg. I was sure this was gonna be pretty bad and there’d be blood. But I look down and there's nothing. . .

You wanna know why? My garments. The glass had been stopped by my garments. my pants were destroyed lol-But everything under the garments was fine. So we threw away the glass and proceeded with the move.

We started exchanges with the Chinese Elders. We ended up starting really late- which was actually divine because as we head out to the car, we see a ton of Indians all walking together. Prolly in their 20s. So I just shouted to them “मेरा यार क्या चल रहा है?!”(my dude what's up?) They stopped walking and stared at us so baffled and confused. And one of them is like “you speak hindi..?” and so I say “हाँ जी क्या आप हिन्दी बोलना है?” (yes sir, do you speak hindi?”) All the guys with him are laughing and can't believe there's a white teenager, dressed up in church clothes standing next to a Taiwanese guy in pajamas. The next thing the indian in front says is “what's your number i wanna be your friend!” then Elder Tien pulls out my hindi flashcards from my pocket and shows them my plan of salvation hindi phrases. It was insane. we got home at like 11:30 though… 

I made banana bread.

My trainer, Luke Prestwich, came and visited me. Man it was incredible to see him again. 

My ASL trainers, Hyatt White and Shepard Rigby, also came and saw me- super amazing. These 3 elders have impacted me so much and taught me everything. The mission is so divine! Now that I am training, again, It was eye-opening to see how much I love and respect my trainers and it's like…am I being a good-enough trainer? Will Elder LaBar feel this way about me? How can I make the rest of our time together sacred and significant for him? I hope I'm doing a good job. 

Yesterday we were on our way to our car when outta nowhere a car with 3 teenage girls pulled up. We’re already at the car and I’m told in my mind “I timed this just right for you to go speak to them. they need to hear your testimony” so I look to Elder LaBar who was already tryna get in the car and i'm like “hey, lets go talk to them real quick” I came over to the chick driving and motioned for her to roll the window down. She waves implying “no” and for 1 second I wanna accept it and just go to the next place, get outta the sun and get in the car. But, come on! I know better- so I wave again and the window comes down. I introduced us and saw that 2 of the girls were indian. All the sudden they all open up and keep saying “i have one more question” we answer it, testify, then they ask again “i have one more question” it was like a dream come true. I wish everybody would just ask us questions. lol We talked a ton about the Book of Mormon and prophets, the Word of Wisdom, Polygamy, missionary work. I also got to speak hindi with them and show off. There's not very many things I love more than speaking hindi. They also wanted to know what the best thing that's happened to me during the past 23 months was and so I shared the story of Pugal. It was crazy powerful and for the first time, all 3 of them were silent after that story. I wish we could have kept talking but then somebody's mom comes out and calls them inside. She gave us an interesting look lol. But I know that the spirit will make sure they remember us. They will remember the spirit that was there and according to God's plan they will meet with missionaries again and they’re gonna get baptized for sure. 

I love being a missionary in the California Bay Area. There is nowhere else in the world like this. I love doing God's work. I love the Book of Mormon. I love driving here. I love Indian food. I love American Sign Language. I love my YSA ward. I love Hindi. I love the missionaries I serve with. I love my mission leaders. I love this church so much. You already know I will never ever step away. Imma serve God for the rest of my life.

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

Despite the crap, this is the best

 I love my mission President. I've been having many concerns and questions recently and during interviews I was finally able to dump them all on President Larson. I came out with more answers than questions I went in with. I cried a lot. President gave me a blessing and told me several times how amazing I am. God trusts me. He has given me a greenie! I still can't believe He trusted me to train this Elder.

One completely unrelated pet peeve that's been popping up a lot recently is when people comment on me having the gift of tongues. I don't think I've been blessed with that gift. ASL and Hindi were both insanely difficult for me. I don't have words or phrases that come to mind. I don't find it miraculously easy to use my languages when teaching. I was blessed with companions who supported me (sometimes more than I wanted) in learning these languages. I was blessed with diligence and the ability to study. But most of all I was blessed with Love for all those who were relying on me to learn their language so they can receive ordinances. 

Learning hindi did not just happen. It was not easy at all. It's been an active struggle for over a year and I still don't know what to say lol.

I feel like people completely miss the value and true story of what hindi means to me when they think “oh, he must have the gift of languages” I have fought, and completely exhausted myself, and cried to learn how to speak this language all in hopes that 1 indian family will be able to accept the Truth and be sealed in the Oakland temple. That image helps me to keep going. 

I know God is helping me of course, but he still makes it just about as difficult as it could be lol.

We helped with a miserable move this week. All I would like to mention is that there was an actual turd on a bed we moved and it unfortunately smeared all over the place.

I promise every person reading this that my future home will not have poop laying around. In fact, my home will be clean. I don't care what it takes- my house will be clean. My wife and I will always have a nice, clean organized home.

Fotos:

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

Now this week wasn't all crappy (lol) we also were able to visit Fremont for the baptism of Haripriya, a Deaf Indian whom I was able to teach a ton. Before the baptism, we went to the Gurdwara with the hindi elders and got some incredible free indian food. My head scarf fell off and some precious amazing Indian woman came up and offered to help and retied it perfectly- I looked like an actual sikh. 

Then the baptism. Wow. I love every single person in the ASL branch so much and my heart was full as I was able to sign with all of them again and catch up. The baptism was beautiful and full of the spirit. My friend Pugal (the almost 1-yr convert with the amazing video on fb) came to the ASL baptism just so he could see me. Before the meeting he whispered to me “Elder Owens…..I am receiving the melchizedek priesthood tomorrow” I hugged him and told him how awesome that really is. Then I remembered my first time meeting him at church, then I remembered his baptism. He's come so insanely far. I could not hold back tears lol. I just looked at this incredible Indian man and saw him as a son of God full of sincere desire to serve the Lord and cried. 

There is nothing like this. There is nothing as precious as seeing people's lives change. God changed these people and trusted me to be a part of it! 

I cannot believe it's been 23 months.

Love you all!

Am I dreaming?

 Every morning I wake up with 2 Spanish Zone leaders on one side and over on the other side is a fresh new greenie called Elder LaBar. 

It's pretty good. 

As I take the child out contacting and teaching it's amazing to see how he approaches people and what he ends up saying. I am fully aware he's trying his best and that he's brand new- but it's still pretty….different. The amazing thing is- it works. And it's because the spirit is with us. 

Turns out the principles and practice and theory and concepts behind “missionary-work” aren't as important as I thought.

Knowing good scriptures to share and stories from the Bible and church history aren't as important as I thought 

Knowing how to ”down-tone,” make eye-contact, and use body languages aren’t as important as I thought.

Knowing the language and being able to speak with eloquence aren't as important as I thought either.

Turns out it's all about having the spirit with you in such abundance that those around you can experience the spirit as you speak is way way important. 

Of course plenty of people still cuss at us and slam and lock their doors and tell us how dumb we are and to “not drink the kool-aid”

But I don't care at all. It doesn't offend me. It makes me sad that they are so confused and rude- but nothing anybody does will ever shake me from doing what I know is right.

Pics:

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

Before picking up Elder LaBar I was able to serve 1 day with Elder Bishop. He doesn't like hugs which is too bad cause I really loved serving with him a ton. We had so much fun! Learned some tagalog from him and talked about our missions. We're both going home super soon. 

Then we picked up our trainees. Craziness. The English elders were an Elder Singh and Elder LaBar. Everybody with any common sense was sure I would get Elder Singh as his parents are hindi-speaking indians. Makes a lot of sense- so it also makes sense why i was suprised and a little disappointed when I didn't receive Elder Singh.

I figured it out a few nights ago tho 

If i got Elder Singh we would have had +1 hindi elders

But because I got Elder LaBar now he will learn hindi. Elder Singh was already set on learning Hindi as soon as I introduced myself. 

So now we get +2 hindi elders instead.

I've been in some strange mind places recently. I still feel out of place In this area after being in Fremont for a year and a half. It's weird being a senior comp/TRAINER In an area I don't even know how to get to the church or our apartment in. Every day going home becomes more and more real- which is super weird. I feel stressed a lot and I'm not able to find out why so then I just kinda feel frustration inside. I want to do hindi work. I want to do ASL work. Instead I'm trying to find interested people In a english area- instead I find not interested people lol.

It's not actually THAT bad lol. We invited 3 people to be baptized this week. 2 said yes. 1. Was an Indian I had just met and he said he'd think about it.

I'm trying to be a good example for Elder LaBar luckily that means I pretty much stay the same. 

Sorry. That's all I got this week. I'll try and be feeling better when I write next week lol.

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.

I got a new Job

 New area, New me. Not actually lol- it's still the same me. However, I did get a new area.

After spending a year and a half in the same apartment, going to the same Walmart, the same Wendy's, same church building– I'm finally in a new city. It's called…. Saratoga

I cover a big english ward that's all white people (hoping to get some भारत in there) as well as a massive ysa ward that covers a third of the mission (why have all my areas been unmanageably massive?)

New apartment is nice, there's a friend growing in the sink so I'll have to take care of that…

We have a sick gym, so your brothers getting buff. We have like…no food. 

Anyways. We went out and worked and….wow. Elder Millard is a legend. He is running after people and yelling across the road and doing whatever it takes to talk to these people. And when he does- they listen. I listen to cuz I'm tryna learn from this guy. 

He only weighs 120 pounds, he eats more than me, he was a soccer referee, he wants to be a mechanical engineer, He's from Bountiful. Pretty cool.

We've been running into Indians every day. I get to use my Hindi often. I haven't been able to use ASL yet though…

Being a zone leader is cool. I have 4 elders and 7 sisters… so this will be fun.

I set a goal to memorize 1 scripture every day. I didn't think it was possible…but so far it's working! It's been super cool to have one scripture every day that's just the theme of the day. 

I'm still reminding myself this is a new area and it's weird. Nothing here is familiar, it's all new and strange. It's super exciting but also really stressful. After 21 months this is like… my first time actually getting transferred.

So I don't know what to write lol.

However, this week I finished Job. I feel sorry for everyone who hasn't had a similar experience to mine with Job. I don't know how anybody could not love reading Job. Anybody who has read it and understood half of it won't ever really need to ask “why do bad things happen to good people?” unless maybe they go through a really tough trial. Then maybe they can ask.

Anyways. Here's one really cool piece of treasure from Job. 

Remember In the beginning he had 7 sons and 3 daughters.

 A house blows over and kills them all..a bunch of other awful things happen to Job. His friend tease him for like 3 rounds of silly debate. God speaks through a whirlwind and tells all of them (including Job) to repent and then all of Job's blessings are doubled. 

He ends up with twice as many camels, sheep, donkeys, oxen, and so on. 

However in 42:13 we see he got 7 sons and 3 daughters…..? What? 

Why not 14 and 6?

Well. It's because families are forever. Even though the other 7 are dead- he DOES now have 14 sons. Even though the 3 daughters are dead he DOES now have 6 daughters.

So it was doubled. 

Pretty cool right?

Email me please.

Keep the fire burning (Levi 6:13)

Elder Owens