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.

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!

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!

Cups

 

Had exchanges with my zone leaders. Got some good juggling tips. We visited ine of their friends who has been being taught since before I got to Fremont 17 months ago, Eddie Loza. I told him straight up it's time to get baptized buddy. We set a goal for it to happen before I come back to visit.

Every day this week I have said bye to a special family or friend. During the last 17 months I have come to love many many of the members. It's gonna be really hard to leave them. But I already know I'll be back. 

On Monday we found ourselves in Gilroy and I remembered the aslders had a friend down there. Gilroy is super far south and there are just a few friends there. So we asked them if they could send us her info and we'd go try and teach her! It all worked out and I met Natalie! She was so sweet! We invited her to be baptized and she said ya! So that was actually epic. Turns out I'm still a legend with ASL.

On Sunday I got to share my testimony in the central Park Ward one last time. Prior to the bearing of testimonies, Brother Jarman from the bishopric had said “please keep it to 2 minutes”

And miraculously, somebody's phone alarm went off while i was testifying and so i was like.”oh, is my 2 minutes up?” It was amazing. 

This week a member, sister carr, helped me realize what “my cup runneth over” in the 23rd psalm may actually mean by the way she talked about her trials.

“5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”

We anoint peoples heads with oil to give them blessings- we give people blessings when they are struggling. That's the first part.

Note that in the Old Testament Samuel and Elijah announced men to become kings.

Levies were anointed to work in the tabernacle. So it didn't always mean what it meant today. However, the “cup” is also important. So far there are 3 significant cups I can think of.

Joseph of Egypts cup that he tested his brothers with in Genesis 44

The cup that Nehemia used as the king's cup-bearer before becoming a prophet in Nehemiah 1

And most importantly…the bitter cup.

“Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Luke 22:42

This was the cup of all pain, misery, sadness, despair- everything bad about life.

When you read other psalms and recognize this is David writing it makes sense this could be David's bitter cup. During the first half of his life, the king who was also his best friend's father was trying to kill kill him nonstop, he faced the stresses and trials of becoming a king, was always involved in a war of some kind for the promised land, after being one of the most righteous men ever- he fell and nearly destroyed his soul by murdering and breaking the sacred law of chastity, his son, Absalom passionately hated him died trying to kill him. 

That's a pretty bitter cup.

It is also notable that the pslam immediately before is all about the final moments of the savior's life, including THE bitter cup.

The whole message behind the 23rd psalm is “The lord is my Shepherd” He leads me! He helps me repent! He comforts me! He takes care of me! Because of Him I can have peace and joy! My connection with Him makes everything ok!

so I makes sense 

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies

Jesus, you have a plan, you have a feast ready for me even though I am surrounded by trials and difficulties and temptation

Thou anointest my head with oil [because/despite] my cup runneth over

You are blessing me/ calling me to do some great work even though my life is full of (overflowing with) trials and mistakes.

Idk

Those are my thoughts. Maybe David is looking down like “cool thought but no, that's wrong” or maybe he's thinking I finally got it right. Idk

Lemme know

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

New tie who dis?

 

🌄We started the week off at 3:30 on p-day morning so we could go hike up a mountain with the other missionaries. However, it was raining a lot. So we got McDonald's and hiked a much smaller hill instead. 

Every 6 months the Central Park Ward (one of the wards I've been serving in for nearly 18 months) has a giant community activity they call the 'clothing swap' where everybody in Fremont and all the surrounding cities rounds up all the junk in their home and brings it to the church where we sort it out on tables. Then everybody comes and just takes whatever they want. 

Within the first hour there's unbelievably giant stacks on every table, more than 100 people in the gym, and an overpowering interesting smell that just sticks in your nose.

We got to help out with that thursday-saturday! I got a new tie- so all the weird smells were worth it.

Saturday morning I was studying Preach My Gospel about to finish a paragraph and to blow my nose when somebody knocked on our door- I answered the door and it was my ASL Trainers- Shepherd Rigby and Hyatt White! We caught up and hugged. It was so weird to see them again...at the apartment we used to all live in and then again at the clothing swap- a year ago I was with them serving at the clothing swap…

Then we went and got pizza- at a place I went to with them about a year ago. So many feelings lol. I love them very much and I'm excited to hang out more in like 5 months!

I got to go on Exchange with the ASLders again on Monday. We went and tutored at the Deaf School, some of the teachers recognized me and we caught up. 

That night we met with a family I had found a few months ago and they'd come to church and had been reading the Book of Mormon on their own...so Elder Serban and I asked them to be baptized and gave them a preview of our hope for their future. We talked about the word of wisdom, sabbath day, tithing, and temple and they just said yes yes yes! They are ready to change their life! It was actually amazing and had me wishing everybody was as good as they are with "Agency" . I have never met anybody who is so good at keeping every commitment we give them. They were at church the Sunday after we met them and They've been studying the Book of Mormon as a family every week since. So if you want, you can pray for the Vance family. They set a goal to be baptized on the 13th of April! 

This week in my study of the Old Testament I was reminded of something President Griffith taught me back when he was my Bishop. One thing I heard more than anything else was "the first leadership is self-leadership. You cannot lead others where you are not"

In 2 chronicles there's a few chapters about king Amaziah (we'll be focused on chapter 25:1-13). He was pretty cool (most of the time...had an unfortunate but sadly common ending to his story 25:14- 28)

Like always, he's getting ready for war and councils with the prophet about what to do. Before he talked to the prophet he had bought help from Israel (he's the Judah king) the prophet says "tell them you don't need their help- Gods gonna win this one for you"

Amaziah is like "dude I paid them like 100 talents- you really want me to tell them to go home?"

Prophet is like " yup- God can give you way more than 100 talents if you do it his way" (amen amen)

So Amaziah tells the Israel army to go home and here it is:

 "11 And Amaziah STRENGTHEND HIMSELF and LED forth his people" (capitalization added)

And if you're curious- they absolutely won.

I love that it says Amaziah strengthened himself BEFORE he led the people to war. That is leadership- you have to know how to build yourself up and get motivated and fired up- THEN you can "lead forth [the] people''

The first leadership is always self leadership. You cannot invite people to do things and go places when you're not doing those things or in those places. So- do amazing things and gain a testimony of them and then invite everybody to do the same! 

And like always, keep the fire burning (Levi 6:13)

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

Lentils and the 23rd psalm

 I had some lentils this week but more importantly, we had interviews with President Larson and I found out he used to work at Little Caesars so we had a special moment together as the only Little Caesars Past-Employees in the building. It was great.

We filmed the legends of Pugal. We baptized him like last July and he's getting ready to serve a mission this July. His story is amazing and should be up on Facebook eventually. The social media sisters were such an absolute blast. Also found out Pugal is an acrobat. My brother just pulled like 5 perfect cartwheels out of nowhere and we were all left shocked (he was in a suit)

I figured out what the last verse of the 23rd psalm means 

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

I thought dwelling in the house of the Lord meant the celestial kingdom. But I was in the temple today reviewing the 23rd psalm and what it actually means is living truthfully to our covenants we made in the temple (house of the lord). When we live our covenant they are involved in every day of our life- or ‘dwelling’ ‘inside’ of our covenants (house of the lord) forever. 

Sorry if that doesn't make any sense. 

Hindi is cool! We had a guy call us and tell us he saw us on his security camera so we thought we were gonna get In trouble. Then he invited us over for lunch and wants us in his home so we can bless his family.

Here's my pictures if you wanna see them:

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