New Storms

 What a silly week. Elder Johnson can juggle for like 30 seconds. I had 9 eggs for breakfast on one day. I pulled a hangnail off during a lesson and had to hide the blood til we got out, Elder Howes can make the Incredible Hulk face, and we drove to Pleasanton 3 times. The first and second were to help our dear Deaf Friend, Jennifer, write a talk because she's giving a talk in her English ward that she goes to sometimes. 

Then the last time, Sunday, I voice interpreted for her ward. And it was a challenge. Usually when she signs she's super easy to understand and it makes sense. But for some reason when she's giving a talk nothing made sense. 

So that was fun. Since we were In Pleasanton I stopped by and ate with my Ward Mission Leader from the beginning of my mission. 

We also had the trunk or treat! That was good. 

Then we did another one in ASL at the Deaf School. 

Also some general conference ASL interpreters showed up and asked to have us over so we could talk about the work. Basically we're doing a lot of silly things that don't really work and now we have a bunch of lists full of new stuff to do that does work!

And I won't really be involved! Because the Hindi Program starts tomorrow. So all my stuff is packed up. I gave some ties to my companions. Took my sticky notes down. Used the microwave for probably the last time…

I've been in the ASL program in the same apartment for 11 months. That's basically half my mission. It's been a very long and truly difficult and demanding journey. I spent a lot of time thinking I wasn't good enough and that I was the wrong person to be in my position. Now I'm on the other side and it's honestly breathtaking to look back.

Now I can have a confident ASL conversation with anybody. I enjoy interpreting and I enjoy the challenges! I don't know all the reasons God asked me to learn ASL, but I do know that part of it was so I could grow a bunch and have awful dark days and then end up on the other side and appreciate the light even more. 

Now…imma run into a new storm of trials. This time it will be in Hindi and smell like curry...

Hobab and service

 

Have you ever helped move a 4000 pound safe? Well, it's a little bit concerning and stressful and looks like and feels like it's not supposed to work. I really thought somebody was going to get hurt- but we were all OK. 

We helped a Deaf family move 2 uhaul loads to a storage unit and that was great fun. It took the entire day too lol.

The next day we just destroyed a yard in San Jose. There's a guy in the ASL branch who had like 3 strokes and so his yard is now all weeds as tall as me. So we just attacked it pretty hard. Then the lawnmower broke. So we'll head back over there later.

Then we went and tactiled general conference for our Deaf Blind friend, Indiana. For me- when tactiling I do not retain anything from the talk. I also retain a very small amount when I am asleep. . .so. 

I'm planning on watching those sessions again. (My body is mega exhausted from all the service ok!)

I took some notes- but I only wrote down action items that I knew were specifically for me. One that really hit was "focus on covenants more" I am not sure how to it yet, but that's my focus right now.

Monday we went and tutored at the Deaf School again. It was great. When nobody wants help with homework we get to kinda just sit there and watch all the Deaf things happen. It's good exposure to ASL for my trainees so I hope they'll pick it up real quick.

Last night Elder Johnson and I went down to Pleasanton to teach a couple some ASL- the husband is going Deaf and so they're learning as much as they can. 

Pleasanton is where I started my mission and I have 1 really solid friend who kinda stopped meeting with missionaries when I left the area. I was telling Elder Johnson about him and then we drove past his house and we both were like…why don't we just go visit him?

So we did. Turns out it was the perfect time. Sam had just found out his best friend is going to die In a few days from a blood clot and was crying. He had dog food all over the place because he literally threw it. But we were there and he was really happy to see me. 

Since I left, he and his girlfriend got married and also had a son! Sam is a dad now! I really love Sam. I hope it all works out for him.

This week in Numbers I read about Hobab and and Moses. It's Numbers 10:29-32 so you'll have to read it after this. Basically, Hobab is getting ready to leave and Moses is like "Hobab, my friend, please don't go! Stay with us, travel with us! We need you. If you come with us you'll receive all the blessings that God has promised me! Please don't go!"

And Hobab says "nah, I'm just gonna go home"

And Moses won't take no, so he asks Hobab to go with him again!

I love this story because I feel like we invite people to 'come with us' a lot in discipleship. With our own friends and family it's like "hey! God has promised me these blessings, I want you to have them too! Come with me! Please don't leave, come with me! Read the book of Mormon with me! Come to church with me! Come to the temple with me!"

And maybe they say no.

But we should ask again. Because realistically-there are zero good reasons to say no to anything in the gospel because it all leads to Jesus Christ and there is nothing better than that. People get confused, like Hobab, thinking that going to their home or 'what they already have' is better than the promised land or 'what God can give them' 

So, don't be a Hobab, be a Moses.

And

Keep the fire burning (levi 6:13)  

And

Think celestial  

And

I love you!  

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

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

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