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. 

Deaf people and Psalms

 I am back in the ASL branch! This will be month 19 of serving in Fremont. It's nice to be back. 

My companion is Elder Ardinger. He's one of the most deaf people I've ever met. Brother has been through a lot and it's a miracle he's out on a mission. He's been helping me with my ASL. I keep thinking I know everything and then he teaches me more signs and stuff and it feels like I am still a beginner. 

Elder Reed Johnson is finally back to the California San Jose Mission! He went home because he destroyed his knee like 6 months ago. I trained him last August and now he's back! It's poetically beautiful that I get to be with him again. 

Our 4 man apartment is actually crazy. 2 Deaf 2 Hearing. We have a lot of fun, but we also have a lot of frustrations and really difficult days. A few times every day something is misunderstood and it leads to somebody being in a bad mood. We are trying so hard to understand each other and it's exhausting in every way. Sometimes it feels like it's hearing versus Deaf and it sucks because we forget that truly, we are all on the same team. We all have the same goal. If we can't work together in unity then nothing is ever gonna happen. 

When I was in ASL before, we also covered an English ward. Now there are 2 companionships that ONLY cover the ASL branch. What are we supposed to do all day long? I have no clue! We end up on Facebook a lot. We have been trying to make videos that will actually mean something to a non-member Deaf person. We do lots of video calls where nobody answers. And we drive a lot. Elder Ardinger and I have been visiting a Deaf Woman who wants to be baptized but has a lot of doubts and concerns that we’re trying to help with. She lives an hour south. Add California traffic to that and we're taking about 4 hours of our day to have a 45 minutes lesson with her. That's actually insane. 

Here's some things that you probably don't know about having a Deaf companion.

You have to wake them up every morning 

Car rides are awkward because you can't really talk

For some reason they love playing around on guitars and pianos

Interpreting is mentally exhausting.

They're insanely expressive so you always know exactly how they feel

During study time they always ask me what words mean and I have to try and explain (some good ones from this week were ‘confide’ ‘proceeding’ ‘supposed’ ‘deliver’ and ‘sariah’)

With that, I am also constantly asking what signs mean 

Idk if this is all Deaf people, but elder Ardinger loves games, cooking, and handmade crafts.

Sometimes they throw stuff or slam doors and you think they're mad but they're actually just Deaf.

A Lot of Deaf people have tender feelings. This makes them so lovable. You just gotta be careful with what you say or how you joke or what you do. 

“Listening” is actually just Watching and showing you care with your facial expressions

If you wanna talk to them while they're in the bathroom you take a video of yourself signing and throw it under the door. (We've already done it a few times)

You can listen to music whenever you want and they'll never know.

We visited some Deaf people in Pleasanton (30 minute drive) and while we were in a care home I heard some Indian on the phone talking in Hindi so I peek around the corner and I'm like “ कैसे हो?” And he was like “क्या….”

Then we had a super good talk about my adventure learning hindi and he just couldn't get over the fact that a white kid was talking in hindi. We're friends on fb now and he challenged me to learn Punjabi as well. 

We played volleyball with some Deaf friends and some hearing people from the ward.

One of the Deaf girls had a super tall big hearing boyfriend (that doesn't know ASL(?)) And he was way way in the game. Like diving for balls and shooting out when the ball was his. Then there was one serve and it was going right for elder Ardinger and this giant guy shouted “I go! I go!” And ran right into elder Ardinger and sent him flying and crashing to the floor.

Then he went over to apologize and literally actually said “sorry, I did call it though” and everybody else on the team was like “bruh….he's Deaf” 

I could see the mental work happening inside as he realized Deaf means they can't hear- even if you yell really loud. 

We filled a balloon up with dry rice and air and then threw it at the ceiling fan. 

Elder Ardinger gave himself a haircut.

Elder Johnson fell out of his chair during a video call

I started using a gallon jug as a water bottle and drank all of it a few days this week.

I got pushed in the shower with my clothes on then they turned the lights off and the shower on. So then Everybody hopped in.

Interpreting church on Sunday for the Hearing people that come to ASL branch actually destroys my mind. 

Then interpreting zone council on Monday into ASL also kills my brain.

We went fishing and got a sting ray.

Today my heart is full of gratitude for the Psalms. Jesus himself said “all things must be fulfilled, which were written. . . in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44)

The psalms are not just cool poems written by King David about Jesus. They are legit scripture full of pure doctrine and prophecy, all conveyed in a beautiful and symbolically stunning way. 

Here a few that have become guiding phrases of my life:

“Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night”

“Stand In awe and sin not”

“I have set the Lord always before me”

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me”

“The lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall i fear? The lord is the strength of my life”

“They repent and in a moment [his anger] is turned away. . .therefore, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”

“In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.”

“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it”

“I am thy salvation”

“But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave”

As I come to the close of my mission I hope to echo the words of the 40th psalm and say 

“ I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness in my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth”

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

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.

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

Duck Curry 🦆 🦆

 Indian followers of Christ https://m.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61553352077449

Memes upon memes https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYM8hzqfMfgxUFWZ7

Well. Elder Holladay is home now. 

Now I'm with Elder Lewis. He is actually a stunning missionary. I am legitimately impressed with him.

It is an absolute honor to serve with him. 

We found this one indian brother, दीपक, he actually only knows Hindi and actually wants to learn about Jesus. This is really exciting because there is solid evidence from God that the hindi program is necessary. 

We went to an Indian market and it was incredible. Everybody was talking in Hindi and they had Hindi words all over the walls. Got some more lentils. (2 Samuel 17:28) We cooked up a bunch and now we're putting them in smoothies.

On Friday we got to give 4 priesthood blessings to some sick Indians. One परिवार gave us a bunch of duck curry  . We prayed for them in hindi and the older grandma of the house was crying with gratitude.

That evening I was offered sugar free soda and I said “no thank you, I don't eat sugar” and only ⅓ of the people there laughed. 

Elder Lewis and I have decided to give a lot more attention to social media work and we've been trying really hard to post often and come up with ideas lol.

We met with 14 year old Shubh again this week. This time his mother joined us! She was very impressed with हमरे हिन्दी. Shubh asked very deep questions about after death and how we really know this is all true. We talked about the Holy Ghost (पवित्र आत्मा) and the “warm feeling”. He said he felt it when he went to church. We tried to expound on that but then his mom was like “Ya, sometimes I get hot when I do hindu things” 

So that was tricky to sort out but I think we did.

We went to a hindi member's home and they fed us like 10 different curries and we did Come, Follow Me with them, miraculously, the sisters that cover that area in English stopped by! So they got curry and shared a powerful message as well. Then one of the sisters ate a habanero by accident. 

This week I read from 1 Kings 8 almost every day. It's one of the most profound chapters I've ever read in the Old Testament. It's the dedicatory prayer of Solomon's temple. It's all about covenants, Repentance, and God's power in delivering us. 

My favorite part is this little sequence in 46- 51. 

Basically its says if the people sin or get carried away captive (addictions…) and then

Consider in your heart (the sin) (the scripture uses “bethink” but look at the footnote

‘Repent’ and make supplication

Confess 

RETURN to God with FULL purpose of heart and soul (and return to the temple)

Pray

THEN, God will

Hear your prayer

“Maintain your cause” (I'm not exactly sure what this means, somebody with more wisdom than me, which is all of you, please let me know)

Forgive your sins

Have compassion on you 

Make you His

It's the doctrine of repentance?! Clearly taught in the Old Testament? No way.

Yes way.

And I know it's all true. I have experienced every single part of that. I know it's true. Repentance is just so so so good. It's not a bad thing 

Solomon says in verse 46 “for there is no man that sinneth not” we all sin. It's part of life. Of course we still try our best NOT TO- irregardless(), we all mess up→ thus we all have the सुन्दर opportunity to repent and have a stronger relationship with Jesus Christ because of it. 

The relationship with the savior that comes from repentance is the most precious thing we can have.

New Brothers

 Wednesday night we took our good friend Emma to a baptism in Spanish. Even though my English/Hindi brain didn't catch very much, the spirit still taught me the importance and truly cleansing effect of baptism. 

Emma was so happy and also we got pupusas after the baptism so that's good. So now she is as ready as you can get for her baptism. 

Thursday was a meme. We tried to get the apartment ready to occupy 5 elders. And then we drove to San Fran to give a Priesthood blessing to a Deaf Member from Utah who had to come to the hospital cuz she's pregnant and her gallbladder is breaking. So they can't do anything till the baby is born. 

I expirnced the gift of charity perhaps the strongest I ever have. We had to drive a hour to come to the hospital then search for 20 minutes to find their room, it's in the pregnant section so a nurse needs to check and make sure we can go in. We couldn't so we waited another 30 minutes to go meet them. 

It is pretty easy to be upset by this point. But, we weren't. 

They let us in and we saw Veronica and Fabian for the first time and- I was filled with love for them. A sweet sweet couple, overwhelmed with all of the problems coming up, trying to prepare to become good parents for their unborn son whom they already love so much. They hadn't even been baptized for a year yet but their faith is so strong. 

I was able to seal the blessing and with my minimal ASL skills I just kinda sat back and just let God operate through me. This wasn't a blessing from me at all. I had no plans for what to say. I just tried to listen to the spirit and letvit happen. 

After the blessing they asked us to teach them about temple marriages. They really want to be sealed in the temple but they can't yet. I got to testify about how I know my family will be together forever because of the choices my parents made so they could be sealed in the House of the Lord. She asked me if I was going to get sealed in the temple I told her proudly that I will. Then she asked if she could go, I said yes. So far they're the only ones officially invited to my wedding lol.

Well. Then we had to leave. We made sure they had a copy of the Book of Mormon and started the trek back home. So fun. 

Then we picked up our new Elders. And oh my. 3 new babies who still have everything to learn. Good thing Elder Searle and I are here. 

That was fun.

Then we went to Menlo Park and met Elder Bednar. He was just a few feet away from me. One thing I love about him is he just says what comes to his mind and is not afraid. He also loves to laugh- so he's so funny he makes himself laugh then has to ask somebody else to speak so he can laugh about whatever he said and then recover. 

The 2 big things I learned are that I can always trust the spirit to help me. And disciples of Jesus Christ and people that want to become disciples focus on sincere true repentance, which means turning to the lord and turning away from the world. 

Well, then we had Emma's baptism. And surprisingly, to me, it wasn't anything to incredibly spectacular. I felt the spirit for sure and I know it was beautiful and powerful. But part of me was expecting like…more….

I still don't know what to learn from that… maybe I needed to prepare more. Idk.

I also gave a talk on Sunday about scriptures and I had like 4 notes and just relied on the spirit. I guess it was good cuz everybody is saying it's what they needed. I also "spoke" in the ASL branch and that was a similar experience. 

It was still amazing and I'm amazed at the goodness of Emma and her example to the ward of selflessness and joy. 

Then we met with Pugal and he's like "bro. I want to be baptized this weekend"

So we're like "sure!"

Brother had his interview and passed with a 100% and will be baptized this weekend. 

Training has been kind of hard. I would be a little scared if it wasn't hard..i mean..there's 4 young Elders whom I am responsible for. I have to teach them everything I can. I know it's still up to them and I can only do so much. But so much is so much. I love them all individually and they all need different things and they all annoy me in different ways lol. So. I guess we'll figure it out. 

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

rip Elder Rigby

 

So we went to the Korean BBQ place where they just give you raw meat for 2 hours, unless you get the Orange chicken- then it's already cooked? But turns out there was a big fire pit in the middle of the table so lucky for us cause then we could cook the food. One of our members brought us and he ate like 100 baby octopuses. Every time I looked over he had a tentacle sticking out of his mouth. 

Then we practiced Interpreting with some members in the ASL branch that can hear and oh boy, Interesting is just so. Much. fun. 

If you’re one of the people that actually read the emails then you’ll remember a few months ago we helped a Deaf man move into an old peoples’ home. Well- He’s in the spirit world now, receiving the gospel, so we went over and took everything out of his unit. So many Deaf people came and helped so it was cool to see so many people using ASL and understand what they were saying.  Later we had dinner with our bishop and the whole time he was groaning in pain, turns out he's been in pretty incredible pain the past few days. We were getting ready to give our spiritual message then he was like “I actually need to go to the E.R.” so we gave him a blessing and then everybody sped outta there. Turns out he has Galblladder stones, so they're gonna take them out sometime this week. 

On Friday we went to the TEMPLE! On the ride up me and Elder Holladay, the other Secret Hindi Missionary read verses from the Hindi Book of Mormon together. On the ride home I made a bunch of Quizlets for every word in a few of those verses. But the temple was incredible! So beautiful in every aspect. It was just so wonderful!

The next day, our friend Steve, the one who was playing the spirit of God and told us the story about “our prayer to thee” playing when his cancer treatment started, he brought us to the most fanciest restaurant I’ve ever been to and we just had a blast. Turns out we’re both Scorpios! Which means we’re mysterious and Inscrutable. I had “wood grilled salmon” and it was pretty impressive. Afterwards we went back to his place and sang The Spirit of God with him around his piano. 

Then Sunday. The difficult day. Elder Rigby’s last day with us. We were at church and his family came in. Then we had dinner with some members and his family was there too. The whole time i'm trying to convince myself that I'm ok. But then of course brother Topham asked me to say the closing prayer and that was a oof cuz then i was crying and then i couldn’t stop. And so Elder Rigby was all like “I’m, not worth your tears! Save your tears” and that just made it worse. But ya. Then we headed to the MO and dropped him off. Said bye. Final hug. Then I drove home and didn’t look back. 

Luckily it was fathers Day so I could call my dad and he helped me out alot. 

So now it's Elder Searle and I. We have so much to learn! And we're gonna grow a lot together.

On Monday we asked our Mentally Impaired friend, Terri, if she wanted to be baptized and she said yes! We have to figure it out with president, because, you know, 38.2.4. 

Then we bumped into a few nice Indians and I used my Hindi powers to communicate with them and help them become more interested in us and our message. I think I need to learn ‘Hello’ in at least a few of the 3,000 Indian languages. It seems like every single Indian I meet has a different combination of languages. Some speak one but read another. And it's like I hear them say a Language that I’ve never heard before every day. There are so many it's hilarious. like . . .why do you need so many languages? 

We had exchanges on tuesday and woah- elder Rousseau is a legend. Brother knows everything about everything. We ended the exchange, and the TRANSFER with a cute little mexican ice cream place while we waited for the transfer roster to come out. I had one that was like ‘Chongos’ or something and it was like cinnamon cheese ice cream. And another that was like ‘ Fruta Seca’ and it was sooooo good. Definitely going back there. 

Also here is a Hindi Phrase for you all: aapka shuB DiN ho 

The B is capital because its really stressed and the DiN is like that because the i is barely even said its like ‘Dean’ but without the ‘ea’ if that makes any sense. 

It looks like this :आपका दिन शुभ हो 

It means “Have a good day”  but it’s arranged like “your day good be” 

Fun fact about the word “shuB” (शुभ) many many indians here will have this word on their door along with “laaB” (लाभ) which means benefit and profit. 

Anyways, 

आपका दिन शुभ हो !

Love you all! R.I.P Elder Rigby!

Read the Book of Mormon Every Day!

-Elder Owens

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

 

My Hindi powers are growing

This week was pretty important. On Tuesday I got to go hang out with my brother Elder Holladay and learn Hindi for an hour and it was wonderful. I have learned alot about myself on the mission and recently one thing that I've learned is I get frustrated when I don't understand why I don't understand something. If there's a way to figure it out and I have a rough idea how to get there then I'm ok. But if not then it makes me pretty upset. And when I see a character In Hindi that I have never ever seen before- there's no way to even begin guessing what sound it makes. That made me kind of mad. 

Turns out they 'borrow characters from Sanskrit' sometimes…? 

But it's ok because now I know.

But the same thing is happening with driving and training and ASL and all sorts of stuff. So this week has been that kind of frustrating → but it's ok because that means I learned alot. 

I really want to be able to accept constructive criticism better and I want to be more meek. It would be so much easier to learn of I just already accepted that I don't know everything AND I WILL make mistakes. It makes sense here as I'm writing it but when it is actually time to apply it in real life its like- nope.

ANYWAYS

We picked up Elder Noah Searle. My man, what a legend. He knows a pretty good amount of ASL (prior to mtc he knew 0) → that shows how powerful the spirit is in helping us learn. He's pretty cool. He's from West Jordan and is the oldest of 4 brothers. He went to college for culinary arts- so he's a chef. He loves Indian food! Which is epic because there's Indians all over here. He also did not have a mtc comp! He had one Elder who he was sometimes assigned to be with from a different district but most of the time his companion was a trio of sisters! I'm really excited to become best friends with him.

The day after that we drove all over the place to visit Deaf friends so Elder Rigby could say bye. I learned that I actually know a whole lot more ASL than I thought I did. I was able to carry the conversation pretty well! I also learned the sign for dialysis. One of the members brought us to a pizza place and we ordered a margarita pizza- they told us they had no basil and asked if that would be ok my mind was like "duh- that's not ok. Then it wouldn't be a margarita pizza dude" but our member said yes so we had a cheese pizza with tomato slices on it. Luckily, we also got a MEAT-E-OR.

Sunday was good, all 3 of us Elders went up and shared our testimonies in ASL church. In English church. . . .oh guys it was so bad. 

Everybody bore their testimony on how America is true. It was like fine for a minute- but when you go 10 minutes without hearing about Jesus Christ and all you hear is people crying in red white and blue and the founding fathers and the secret combinations and eagles. . . .it's not ok.

The last one to go up started out surprisingly well (one of the only ones to actually mention the Book of Mormon being true) then he invited everybody to pray for him and come to a protest against drag queens with him. And he was loud and proud. Our poor wonderful bishop didn't know what to do. 

So

Ya

That was something. And THAT was Elder Searle's 1st Sunday here! 

Well. After church we had another Hindi lesson and man I love it so much. I am 100 percent going to India later on in my life. Maybe I'll go live there!

Monday was NOT PDAY.  because it's Wednesday now.

We had our zone and district council, held a funeral for Elder Rigby. It was tough. I've been with him since December. I love him so much and look up to him more than he'll ever know. He has taught me everything I know about ASL and has helped me become such a powerful missionary. He is literally the coolest ever and I really hope we continue to be friends. I am going to have a really tough time after he goes home. 

There's this thing he says often, "why you gonna let something stop you from having a good day?" Or something like that. And he is a living example of that. Every time something dumb or frustrating happens or every time we have a 'disagreement' I am in a bad mood for a bit, meanwhile he's smiling and making jokes and singing random songs. He just doesn't let anything stop him from having a good day. I'm really gonna miss his influence and power.

Well, then that night we brought our friend Pugal to the Oakland temple for a temple tour. The temple sisters never saw our appointment and luckily there were 2 that were still at the visitors center and they were willing to give a tour real quick. That was a miracle. It was incredibly powerful. There was one part where we were sitting in front of the Cristus statue and the sisters asked Pugal who Jesus Christ was to him.

He sat there for a few minutes and was nervous at first cause we were all watching him and then just started going off trying to express his love for the savior- but he couldn't. Words can't demonstrate what a relationship with Jesus is like plus, his English is still kind of a lower level. But that didn't matter. The spirit was there and made it very clear to all of us that Jesus Christ is our savior, He loves us, and Pugal loves and knows Him. 

We got to walk around the temple and the roof garden, could see all of the bay area from up there, and got some pictures. It was a beautiful, wonderful experience. 

Then yesterday we were knocking and contacting and we ended up meeting an epic Indian woman. She had शुभ and लाभ on her door and I explained I was learning Hindi and the read her door "shubh and laabh" she was freaking put and then I said "it means goodness and prosperity right?" Then she was freaking out even more.

Then I pulled out my favorite book, the Book of Mormon in Hindi and opened to Alma 7:11 and was like could you help me read this? 

Then! I read it! First time ever doing it in a contact! And she was freaking out so much there were only a few words that she had to help me with! 

My companions were watching like 'wow. I knew he was good but not THAT good' Elder Sealre actually had like no idea I was learning Hindi so he probably was pretty confused.

Anyways, I asked her to read verse 12 and then we kinda talked about it, she wants us to come back on Saturday! Oh, and get this- her husband plays cricket! 

So that was perhaps the most wonderful coolest thing ever.

So that's what's up with me. 

I invite you all to try and take Elder Rigbys advice and choose to not let things ruin your day. Sometimes that's pretty difficult and I understand that- but for the little things and maybe even medium things- just don't let it make you have a bad day. You all deserve to be happy. But it's up to you to be happy. I will be working on this with you all so lemme know how it goes.

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The Spirit of God and Miracles

 Let's see, this week started 7 days ago right? 

On Wednesday we were knocking around and the most random thing every happened. This guy was excited to see us. . .then started asking us all kinds of questions about the difference between a church and a temple. Then started singing 'The Spirit of God' he explained he went to 'The Nauvoo Pageant' up by the Oakland temple a few years ago and they closed it with a epic version of that song and it's the best sing he's ever heard and he's been trying to play it and we're like- sacred music app and gospel library have the music. So he's like "can you come in?" CAN WE COME IN. Yes! Please! So we gather around his piano and he plays 'The Spirit of God' and adds in all sorts of beautiful harmonies and sprinkles in the song. It was incredible. Then he's like "also I have cancer, I go in for more radiation next week please pray for me" so were like we cam say a prayer with you right now, actually wait, we have the priesthood authority from God to heal people- we can give a you a blessing with that portion of God's Power that is in us. 

He cried the entire time. He said as soon as we said the word "Melchezidic" he felt it. So cool. Then he talked about how his dad played cello and the first time he got radiation they asked him what kind of music he wanted and he was just like "classical" and as soon as the first 'beads of radiation hit- his father's favorite song to play started playing.

(Just wait, it gets cooler) 

He said he felt his dad with him THEN he started playing the song on the piano and I'm like 

That's "Our Prayer to Thee" 

So I'm like hold up, pull out sacred music and was like "our prophet wrote words to this song" And we listened to it and he was just tearing us through the entirety of the song. (April 2022- check it out) 

Then he gave us each a box of granola bars and said he wants to take us out to eat after his next radiation thing.

Then he pulled up to stake conference! 

My man. Soo epic. ALSO he wanted a book of Mormon- so we gave him one and he wanted us to write our names in it. So epic.

But ya! Stake conference! We had Elder Hal C Hunsaker. He hasn't spoke in general Conference yet. . .but when he does…he's gonna blow us all away. He was soooo bold! He wants there to never be empty seats in any vehicles going to the temple. Bring everybody you can. Do whatever it takes to get everybody to the temple. He also looked out at the stake amd was like "what I see does not match what Fremont actually looks like" meaning he saw a bunch of White people with a small portion of other ethnic groups. When Fremont is a bunch of people from all over the world (especially from the India part if the world) and a small group of White people. He was saying how yes, many people left California, but our future is coming from India, Asia, Europe, Pakistan, everywhere! And we need to be ready to love them and share the gospel with them! 

He also said, in relation to the new children and youth program, we need to be setting goals too! This is exactly what God wants us to be doing! This program is divinely inspired. He said "Do you have goals? If the answer is no you should be ashamed" 

We need goals. We need to have things we want to accomplish so we can actually move towards them. Goals help us become more Christ-like! Which is kind of a huge purpose of life! So why would we not have goals? 

He shared so many incredible stories and I could fill a few pages. But those are probably my favorites. Also! His 2 main focuses that all bishops should have were to get everybody to the temple and to pray for miracles. So I have started praying for Miracles and they are coming. 

My Hindi learning has been epic! I took Alma 7:11-12 and learned every word in it this week! So that was epic. Cricket was fun! We actually had a guy come up to us to tell us we were doing it wrong lol but it ended with him asking if we can come pray for his family! Of course he's in a different area, so I'll ask about how that goes. We met a man from Indian named Vishal and he had no idea about heaven and hell or Jesus Christ. So we threw the plan of salvation at him as a power message which is probably the hardest thing ever because every other word is a word you have to explain and within those definitions there's more that won't make any sense unless you explain it. But I brought up baptism, as one of those things we need to do while we are on Earth and he seemed interested. He said he will ask his family if they're interested. He also asked us to come tell him more on Thursday! He said he knew Hindi and Telegu. But they study in English(?) So even though he didn't speak great he wanted the English Book of Mormon. Over Telugu and Hindi ... .maybe I'm learning Hindi for nothing. Idk, well see. 

Also we got a call from President Smith, Elder Searle actually won't get here till Friday. So not today. So that's a bummer but hey- that's 2 days. I can wait. So ya. 

 That's the cool stuff. . .

I guess my invitation is to do all that.

Share the gospel with everybody, post on social media from the Come Unto Christ accounts (like share a video from them) 

Set goals in every aspect of your life- write it down so they actually last for more than 3 days. 

Listen to "Our Prayer to Thee" april 2022 soooo good. 

You can also find the version of "the Spirit of God" in the sacred Music app.

Don't ever have empty seats when you go to the temple, invite as many people as it takes.

Pray for Miracles

Read the book of Mormon every day.

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