New

 

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

Elder Johnson made 40 waffles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jeremiah 3:23

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

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

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

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

It's just a bit.

 

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

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

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

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

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

“...ok….(?)”

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

So im like “actually? For real?” 

And she explains something about tendons. 

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

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

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

Here's a really bad thing that happened:

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

However,

We forgot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you practice perfectly you will perform perfectly. 

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

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

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

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!

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 have no idea

 Elder Lewis was sick for a bit. So I got 3 days of naps, Old Testament and Hindi studies, and pondering. 

On Friday night one of the Deaf Elders taught all the missionaries some basics in ASL and I pretended like I wasn't fluent. Then Elder Ardinger and Elder Tien wrestled and we ate cookies.

Saturday afternoon was the youth “missionary madness” activity. We pretended to be missionaries all day and helped the youth get a slightly more realistic idea of missionary life.

Sunday evening we stopped by one of our Indian families in the middle of a birthday party. They not only invited us in but also requested that I say the blessing on the cake. I asked, “Bless the cake?” and I guess in their culture that was really funny because everybody kept repeating it and laughing harder and harder. Then I got them again by asking how to say “cake” in hindi- its just cake. 

We had an exchange where we just took Elder Howes with us down to San Jose and all around. We got to visit some friends Elder Lewis met while serving down south and that was fun. Also walked around the grounds of the future San Jose Temple! Indians are such strange people. One day I will figure out how to contact and teach Indians effectively…

I also went on exchange with Elder Searle. He is my brother in every way except blood. I look up to him more than any other missionary I’ve met. I know that bold- but this man trained a Deaf missionary when he had only been serving for about 6 weeks. He has been the father of the ASL program since he stepped off the plane. He has only had Deaf companions other than the 6 weeks with me. He is also a chef. Needles to say, our exchange was absolutely incredible. We found an old Indian man-only spoke hindi- and I got to teach him about the restoration and it felt SO cool. His name was “bebebe.” 

Also- that evening we had the craziest, most ridiculous lesson ever. We taught a Deaf Indian man and his Deaf Indian wife as well as their Hearing Indian mother. I was teaching in ASL and Hindi and figuring out what's going on and translating using english. I almost passed away, it didn't help that his mother was actually crazy. She kissed us on the forehead and would start singing, fall asleep,or start shaking her hands with all her steel bracelets on randomly. It was so hard to not burst out laughing. 

In the beginning of Ezra, which is actually near the end of the Old Testament chronologically but only about ½ way through the book, we read about another different kind of restoration that happened. The apostasy was only for about 80 years prior to this restoration but what happened was the Syrian king Nebudcanazzer destroyed Jerusalem and carried away all of israel. He also destroyed Solomon's Temple. There was now no “church” on the Earth. There was no prophet for a sec, no priesthood, no ordinances were happening on the earth and God's people were mixed with Syria and started adopting Syrian religious tradition.

Then we have 4 superheros that fixed everything- Zerubbabal and Jeshua- 2 legendary very faithful levites who rebuilt the temple. Despite the Samaritans trying to stop them and other silly garbage, they never stopped.

And also Haggai and Zechariah- 2 prophets who hung out with Jeshua and Zerubbabal and helped build the temple and encourage the people to come back.

I think these 4 were probably best friends. I can see them having district councils before they head out to go build the temple and preach the gospel. 

Basically apostasies have happened before- so have restorations. When God wants to restore the church- he calls prophets. It all makes SO much sense. The church is incredibly true. Anybody who has a desire, logic, and faith can easily find out for themselves that it's true. 

Keep the fire burning

Curry and a heart perfect with the Lord.

 

Photos

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

Pugals video:

https://www.facebook.com/BayAreaChrist/videos/7043080879094308/?mibextid=l2hJJHjNVOBSwHk4

This transfer I have had so many indian foods it's just a little concerning- My belly feels spicy just about always. I am starting to smell like curry. Normal American food is starting to just taste….bland. 

I had so much curry that on pday while we were playing a pool-ball game called “skunk” I was playing a whole different kind of “skunk” if you know what I mean. 

Pday evening we had no plans and also no meals. However, we got ready to plan and Elder Lewis and I both were like “We could go visit Sana..?” Same person on both of our minds- I'll take that as a yes.

So we drove over and they were home! (It's also raining like CRAZY outside at this time)

Sana tells us “Elders, I'm so glad you are here. I need you to pray for me- my grandfather just passed away earlier today.”

So we taught her about the spirit world, resurrection, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She cried through the whole thing. We got her kids to join us for a quick book of Mormon study and got to practice our हिन्दी. Sana's English is like 6.5/10 so if we can teach or testify in hindi that would be best for her. And just a little extra miracle to this miracle salad- she fed us dinner. More spicy svadisht Indian food- but absolutely incredible. 

I know that God is watching out for all of us!

We also met with Pugal this week! He gave us a bunch of curries and other exciting Indian foods and spices! We watched his video the SM sisters made. And he was shocked at how amazing it was. I feel the spirit so strong every time I see his video and I know Pugal was too because after a few moments of thick silence when it had ended he said “Elders, I need to share this.” Pugal is somewhat popular on Facebook lol. So having the courage to post his testimony like that for over 1000 people (most of whom have very different beliefs) taught me a lot about what his true values and priorities are- and before friends and even family he has: ‘tell everybody about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon.’ if you have not seen Pugal's video- what are you even doing? He is the most incredible and extreme disciple of Jesus Christ I have ever met. 

We have one fairly eccentric Indian buddy, Praveen. He is not a member but has been in contact with missionaries for YEARS. This week he specifically requested as many missionaries as possible to come over so he could cook for them. (#itsanindianthing) We had like 2 hours so we texted everybody whom we thought would be near and 1 trio of amazing sisters pulled up. Then we ate a bunch of vegetarian curries! The sisters taught Praveen's friend and ended up giving him a hindi Book of Mormon, while we taught Praveen about how to actually pray. What a powerful feeling when there's 2 sets of deep sincere testimonies being shared in the same room st the same time! Super cool.

This weekend was stake conference! Our (old) stake president specifically requested that we come to the leadership meeting and be prepared to tell everybody about the hindi program. So when he asked us to stand and share, I handed Elder Lewis the mic and he concisely and powerfully shared the purposes and goals of the Hindi program. I hope it ignited some fires in the hearts of those present. 

In 1 kings 15 we get a few brief histories of some kings of Israel- most are pretty bad. But one of them, Asa, was actually a legend. Verse 14 days “Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days”

This started a round of introspection for me about my heart and who I am and if my heart is perfect with the Lord. I think I still have a lot to do before I can confidently say “My heart is perfect with the Lord” but I want to be able to.say it! I will work for it every day and continue to repent daily. There is 2 reasons I can pull from my study of why Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord.

1. Asa knew how to repent.

The first things Asa does when he is king is removes all of the idols and idol stuff (and other bad stuff) from the kingdom of Judah. We need to be like Asa and remove all of our idols and "bad stuff" from our hearts and lives. That process is called repentance! I'm sure Asa faced a lot of opposition from friends, family, and everybody else when he totally changed the kingdom- but he did it anyways. Repentance requires courage but it is always worth it.

2. Asa was a peacemaker.

From king Solomon up to this point the rich have been getting richer and the poor have beem getting poorer. One cool thing Asa did was he gave a bunch of gold and silver to his servants. This helped a lot of things to balance out and be just a little more stable. 

Another cool peacemaker move he pulled was when he sends some presents and a nice letter to another ruler named ben-hadad. The letter basically says "hey, we are on the same team, let's work together"

How can you repent and be a peacemaker so that your heart can be "perfect with the lord?"

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.

The valley of the shadow of death

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

Srihari Is back In town! He was baptized just under a year ago and recently traveled to India to go get a wife! So he is back preparing a house and everything for her and in a few months she'll have her visa and everything and will come here! 

He took us out to eat twice this week! First chick fil a and then a स्वादिष्ट biryani place. Biriyani is like Indian fried rice and it's absolutely amazing. 

I was able to go on exchange with my brother, Elder Vest. We stayed up till about 2:00 am watching the Josiah movie in gospel library, talking about college, working out, jumping off the bunk bed, and then having a spontaneous companionship study about how God works in the light while Satan works in darkness. Found some incredible scriptures about it! ( 2 Samuel 12:12 and 2 Nephi 25:23)

Then that morning we had to go start filling a baptismal font up at 7:00 so I ate a carrot (turns out carrots have like 5 calories- so not a very good breakfast) and we got over there quickly. We found out we didn't have the right keys so we had to go to the Chinese elders and wake them up and steal their keys. Then we got there and found out we didn't even need keys in the first place  so now we're filling the font as fast as possible and we took recycling bins full of boiling water from the janitorial closet and wheeled them over and dumped them in. What an adventure! 

By the time everybody arrived, the font was full. Baptisms are so cool. Once everything was over we noticed the font was still full! They forgot to pull the plug. So we made a plan. 

After everybody left Elder Vest basically had to make a make-shift swimming suit out of paper towels. He got in there and yanked the plug. Then I gave him a towel and turned around lol. We went back to the apartment and got him some dry clothes. It was the most hilarious thing I've ever been a part of. 

We were visiting some members and I instantly recognized the home- basically- over a year ago I had visited this family with Elder Rigby and Elder White and we sang “we wish you a merry Christmas” to them! So I asked her if she remembered that and then all these other girls ran out like “that was you?!” Apparently, it was a big deal to them and they talk about it all the time. One of her(non-member) friends living with her ... .was an Indian! So she saw my tag and then freaked out again. We talked in some urdu/Hindi. 

It's so crazy because the night we sang to them was kind of a tough night for me and I barely even remember singing to them. But little did I know, it was exactly what they needed and now over a year later they still remember and treasure that. So crazy.

I figured another cool thing about the 23rd Psalm. 

This might be hard to convey through email, nevertheless, imma try.

“Though i walk through the VALLEY of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art WITH me”

What is a valley?

It's the land between 2 mountains(  valley  )

I was thinking about this a ton- mountains sometimes represent God's presence, those were the temples in old testament times. 

So the “valley of the shadow of death” is in between 2 peaks of God's presence. Ready?

The first mountain is the premortal life, where we lived with God. After that we come to earth  or in other words, the valley of the shadow of death. 

The second we are born our fate is sealed and one day we will die. That truth follows us everywhere we go, like a shadow. Earth life is full of darkness and temptation and trials thus it is called “the valley of the shadow of death” then the next mountain-

It is returning to God's presence again after this life. It's being an eternal being and living with God forever! 

There's more. “Thy rod and they staff, they comfort me” remember the other part “ I will fear no evil for thou art with me” 

God and Jesus Christ are not literally with us. They are with us through “they rod and they staff” 

Rod. Rod. Iron rod. The iron rod is the word of God! You guys, it's the gospel!

Staff. I just see it as either like a shepherd's cane or a wooden stick. The shepherd's cane/staff is used to pull the sheep and lead them; it creates a connection between the shepherd and the sheep. It's covenants. I see Jesus holding one end of the staff and i'm doing everything I can to hold on to the other side. 

So- I don't need to be scared or worried about anything in this life why? Because “you(god) are with me! How? Through thy gospel and my covenants- these things comfort me!”

Boom. So that's what it means. 

Sad news time

Elder Holladay will officially be traveling home. He has served an incredible mission and has been one of the most incredible men I have ever met. He's truly going to be great. I love him so much. 

So, I will receive a new companion this week at transfers and we're gonna attack Hindi as hard as we can. 

Good news time

Pugal's video will be up soon. Please go check it out. And then send the video to every single person you know because it's incredible.

Love you all very much!

Robin Hood

 I finished 1st Samuel and oh my- Saul's life was such a tragedy. Brother made so many bad choices, it hurts to read it. However, we also read about so many incredible accounts of David's absolutely solid character. He really was a pure legend before the . . . Incident. David was a peacemaker. After first running away (because Saul chucked a spear at him out of jealousy) David pulls a Robin Hood and his Merry Men and takes all the outcasts and men with debt and they start a club. He ends up with 600 guys! On 2 separate occasions David could have effortlessly killed Saul. His guys really wanted him to- but he refused to kill the very man making his life awful. Istead, he ripped off some of Saul's skirt and messed with his water bottle and javelin to prove to Saul that he had been there and could have killed him. 

There's another spot where the David and His Merry Men leave a city they're staying in for a bit and the Amalekites come and burn it and steal all the wives. Everybody is crying when they come back and see the destruction- they cry so hard they run out of strength! David's 2 wives had also been stolen but instead of crying- he prays! God says “go get them!” So he and all the men who can go fight the amalekites and restore everything along with getting a whole bunch of treasures! His Merry Men didn't think the other Merry Men who didn't come deserved any treasure (400 went, 200 stayed) David tells them they're silly and divides the treasure equally in true President-Nelson-Peacemaker fashion.

If only he would've kept being a legend. . .

We were home quite a bit this week. Elder Holladay and I have decided to go “plant based whole foods,” the healthiest lifestyle ever. We had a deep study of the word of wisdom with another Elder who has had unbelievable experiences with Plant Based Whole Foods and the Word of Widsdom. It seems like it will only make things better. So if you have any recipes or questions let me know!

We have been playing alot with “pitch'' Elder Holladay has perfect pitch and he's trying to prove that I do as well. So far it looks like “maybe” 

We play all sorts of games like just trying to start singing a song and start on the right note (I keep getting it right and idk how) and last night we stayed up till 2:30 trying to spell/sing words like “cabbage” or “feed” (just words with the music letters) it was really difficult and used parts of my brian I didn't know were there

We were driving on the freeway and some guy was racing through everybody, weaving in and out around 100 mph. And so I said “what in the criss cross applesauce” 

As I have been home a bunch I have been reflecting on a lot. 1 experience in particular has been on my mind a lot.

Before my mission I attended a self-mastery group for teenage guys called “Sons of Helaman” this group equipped me with all the tools and lessons I needed to free myself from the plague of pornography. I loved recovery so much! Being free felt so good and made every moment of life so much better! I eventually made it past 100 days and was still going so strong. Suddenly, everything in life came crashing down. I had problems with friends, school was more stressful than ever, many other bad things going on and I started feeling depressed. Everything got so bad. Eventually, I had another lost battle. After being clean and free for so long I couldn't believe what I had allowed to happen. I stopped going to group meetings. I didn't want them to know I had messed up. 

The depression continued and I struggled to get sobriety for a while. 

Then one day mom asked me to drive some of my siblings to the school for a play of something. So we got in the car and drove up. We happened to be at the school 30 minutes before Sons of Helaman would be starting. The building where they met wasn't far at all. 

Somehow I drove over there and parked at the end of the street. I fell apart. I was crying and shaking and so scared. I wanted to go in! But I also really didn't! I would build up strength and unbuckle and even open my door- then close it and cry. 

I must have gotten out of my car and back in at least 10 times. This went on for a over a hour and a half. 

Eventually, I did it! I made it all the way to the building and walked in for the second half of the group. With every single footstep I could feel satan and his legions trying so hard to get me back in my car. But, I was being supported by power beyond my own. I walked in and everybody greeted me warmly and expressed how happy they were that I came back. That night was the most powerful meeting I had ever attended and helped me so much to get back on my feet and start recovery again. 

This experience is significant to me because it clearly shows the power of the adversary against the power of God. I know there were demons in there yanking me back to the car and screaming at me to drive away and telling me the group would never accept me. 

There were also angels among whom were certainly some ancestors pushing me and encouraging me and telling me the group still loved me, and that I was a strong, good person. 

The good guys won, but only after an extreme war. 

I know that through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can receive strength! Strength to overcome depression, addictions, discouragement. Even strength to get out of your car when it seems impossible. 

Pretty cool.

Have a fire week!

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