Letter From The President October 14, 2013...

Dear Missionaries.

I know that as a Mission, we recognize the importance of “doing” as a principle of action. The principle of faith and action starts with us finding someone to teach, just as Preach My Gospel tells us “Nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach" (p.156). The next principle of faith and action is getting them to make commitments. One of those important commitments is to get them to Church. We know that when we get them to Church, most of them get baptized. Setting goals to get our investigators to Church “Round-Up” (PMG p.148) will bring them closer to the Spirit and inspire them to make commitments and covenants that will bring them to Christ. When they experience the sacred ordinance of the Sacrament, they will feel the desire to make additional covenants... especially baptism.

After Alma baptized the converts at the “Waters of Mormon” he taught immediately the importance of keeping this commandment:

 “And after this manner he did baptize every one that went forth to the place of Mormon; and they were in number about two hundred and four souls; yea, and they were baptized in the waters of Mormon, and were filled with the grace of God. And they were called the church of God, or the church of Christ, from that time forward. And it came to pass that whosoever was baptized by the power and authority of God was added to his church. And he commanded them that they should observe the sabbath day, and keep it holy, and also every day they should give thanks to the Lord their God.” (Alma 18:16-17, 23)

When Alma taught this important commandment, amongst other commandments, to “observe the Sabbath day”, he saw a tremendous growth in the Church. They went from 204 members (Mosiah 18:16) to more than doubling their success in a short time to 450 members (Mosiah 18:35).

Coming to Church not only increases their desires and leads them to baptism, it helps keep them on the path to eternal life, as Moroni teaches, “to keep them in the right way”:

“And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith. And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls. And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and [water], in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.” (Moroni 6:4-6)

At Church our investigators will feel the love and familiarity of the members as a place of worship:

“Several weeks ago we were on our way to the place that we had picked out to go harvesting when we pulled over the car to pray with this man. As we were talking to him his sister in law came out and we prayed with them together. We invited them both to be baptized and she said yes! She came to church and discovered that she already knew people in the congregation. She said that she wanted to be a member of this church, and she said ‘aint nothin gonna stop me from getting my baptism on!’ and she was true to her word because she came and got baptized...”

They will come to Church and increase their desires to “want to be baptized”:

“It was about 8:40, and we had 10 spare minutes before we needed to get home.  My companion and I decided that we needed to use the time wisely, so we would just knock a door with the porch light on.  We walked down the street to the only house with the porch light on, and met and blessed a woman.  When we followed up with her, she told us, ‘I don't know what possessed me to turn that light on that night!  I have been making sure to keep it off to save on electricity, but that night, I remember consciously thinking that I needed to go turn the porch light on!’  I thought it was incredible how God used physical light to bring her the spiritual light that she needs!  She came to conference [Church], and basically begged us to let her be baptized the following week... of course you can!”

 They will come to Church and it will increase their desires to change:

“While harvesting, we came across a guy! He was standing outside his house smoking a cigarette and we OYMed him! He was open to the prayer and accepted baptism right off! We had stopped by the following day and he was not home! We decided to leave a note on his door and he called us back! He was wanting us back! Well, we applied the tools of the how to begin teaching and asking inspired questions! He was so open and told us everything he wanted for baptism! He later revealed that he was outside that day thinking of calling his friends to get some drugs after being clean for 5.5 months! It was a real struggle and that's when we showed up! We were able to invite him to General Conference and he came! He is now getting baptized this Sunday! What a huge miracle and power behind opening our mouths!”

Coming to Church will be an answer to both your prayers and their prayers. Church can give them the desire to be baptized immediately:

“We were driving past these apartments one day... when I felt that we should harvest there. So... as we were passing it again to go to the apartments that we have been working in, I felt like we should turn in so I did and we parked and said a prayer before starting. We walked right up to this apartment door without thinking too much about it and met this man who was open and inviting so he let us pray with him and really enjoyed the prayer. After, when we asked how he felt, he told us something that touched my heart. Three hours earlier, that afternoon, he had been praying to God that He would send someone to minister to him and then we knocked on his door that night. He couldn't believe it! He was so excited that he started giving us his information before we could even get our planners out and asking when we were coming back! We quickly told him about conference this weekend and he's been dying to go to church and was really excited to come, all he needed was a ride! Saturday comes around and he came all ready with his scriptures to the priesthood session and we gave him a tour of the church when he asked if he could get baptized that day! The members were so welcoming and he was fascinated with our church! Miracles truly happen... someone prayed and God led us to them. God answered my prayer that day too.” 

Elder Oaks teaches us the “why” in keeping this commandment:

“This is a commandment with a promise. By participating weekly and appropriately in the ordinance of the sacrament we qualify for the promise that we will ‘always have his Spirit to be with [us]’ (D&C 20:77). That Spirit is the foundation of our testimony. It testifies of the Father and the Son, brings all things to our remembrance, and leads us into truth. It is the compass to guide us on our path... The ordinance of the sacrament makes the sacrament meeting the most sacred and important meeting in the Church. It is the only Sabbath meeting the entire family can attend together.... In his writings on the doctrines of salvation, President Joseph Fielding Smith teaches that we partake of the sacrament as our part of commemorating the Savior’s death and sufferings for the redemption of the world. This ordinance was introduced so that we can renew our covenants to serve Him, to obey Him, and to always remember Him. President Smith adds: ‘We cannot retain the Spirit of the Lord if we do not consistently comply with this commandment’ (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 2:341).... How can we have the Spirit of the Lord to guide our choices so that we will remain ‘unspotted from the world’ (D&C 59:9) and on the safe path through mortality? We need to qualify for the cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We do this by keeping His commandment to come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit and in that wonderful weekly meeting partake of the emblems of the sacrament and make the covenants that qualify us for the precious promise that we will always have His Spirit to be with us. (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, General Conference, October 2008)

Missionaries, we will be at the feet of this very Apostle this week. Let us prepare well and get a record number of souls to Church!!!

Let us get 1500+, 8 by Wednesday, 5 dates, 5 to Church,  500 N.I., 400 MPL, 250 to Church. 200 Dates & 175 Baptisms !!!

You are Amazing!!! You are Incredible!!! You are Wonderful!!! And you are in the “Exciting Mission”!!! Remember our promise and that our names will be sealed in the Temple!!!

We Love you, We Pray For You, We can do this, We have work to do!!! Let us “Prepare for the Prophets with Elder Oaks”!!! Let us have a record week in getting souls to Church!!!

 

President Don E. Anderson

Letter From The President October 6, 2013...

Dear Missionaries,

What an amazing General Conference!!! I loved everything from the beginning with President Monson sharing with us the growth of missionaries to 80,000 and the Church membership at 15 million; to the end when President Monson said a temporary farewell until the next Conference. I pray that all of you received the revelatory guidance that you worked so hard and prepared for towards this sacred event. As I have told you before, General Conference will never be the same, and you will never be the same because of General Conference. That is exactly how the Lord intended this great blessing in our lives. Much was talked about concerning our partnership with members in the “Hastening the Work of Salvation” including Elder Ballard’s challenge that everyone have someone prepared to be taught by the missionaries before Christmas. That truly can be a “White Christmas” throughout the world, especially our mission. Please remember to review and study these prophetic words and teachings that we all had the blessings to experience. They will give you additional faith, Spirit, and power in your pursuit to represent our Savior Jesus Christ.

As with the words we heard at General Conference, we will need to trust in the prophetic counsel that we were given. On occasion I will look at the back of a coin or a dollar bill and see the words “In God We Trust” on the back. It reminds me that putting our trust in God will give us protection and security of the blessings He has promised us.  When we trust in God’s counsel through his servants, we will be blessed and “preserved by his marvelous power” as were the stripling warriors:

“And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the foes of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish. … And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God... Because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power. Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually.” (Alma 57:19, 21, 25-27)

As I have said before, when we “go and do” we show our trust in Him. President Eyring teaches us the importance of  trusting the great power of “doing” and in turn, we gain His trust:

“You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks. If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer ... you will find it. And if you then go and do what He would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you.” (President Henry B. Eyring. General Conference, October 2010)

We put our trust in God by being obedient and having the faith He will bless us:

“So on Wednesday I entered the area and there wasn't much work that had been done so far in the week, so there was a lot to do.  We got home and knew that we had to leave eight blessings by the end of the night in order to be obedient.    While looking around the neighborhood... I truly felt that this was the place we needed to be to find people to baptize.  I talked about it with my companion and he said he felt the same, so we locked up the bikes, said a prayer, and got to working.  Well as soon as we started we saw the miracles start to come.  We met a man...  who felt like he was at the end of his rope.  We testified that Christ had sent us there to pray for him at that time and as we prayed the Spirit was so strong.  He accepted the invitation to be baptized and when we went back later in the week to follow up with him he shared with us the fruits he had seen from the blessing.  He had been out of work for almost 5 months but he told us that the day after we left the prayer with him he had gotten a call from a friend about a job offer.  He was able to get that job and he truly does know that we were sent by God.  He said that he had seen the other missionaries pass by his house all the time and that he had always wanted to talk to them ...  I know that Heavenly Father guided us to him and his family so that they could get that blessing and begin to progress towards making a covenant with Him.”

We put our trust in God that His Spirit will direct us:

“On Thursday, we felt that we should go harvest this [place] we hadn't knocked before. The third door in, we knock and the door opens immediately. The lady gives us a somewhat suspicious look and we returned it with smiles and introduced ourselves as representatives of Christ. She said that she had just been debating whether or not to go to church, and then she prayed for the energy to go. Right as she was about to walk out we knocked on the door. We began to pray with her, and as we prayed, she began to cry. After the prayer ... We testified to her that that peaceful feeling was the spirit, and when we invited her to be baptized, her jaw dropped and she said ‘Are you serious!?’ She couldn't believe it, she told us that she had been thinking and pondering a lot about if she was ready for baptism and she had prayed and said to God ‘If you think I'm ready, send me something’. ...  When we [returned] on Saturday, her friend just happened to be there. As we got the lesson going, we began to direct our teaching at both of them, and because of the inspired lesson we created, they both committed to baptism and church! He is as elect as she is and the Lord just dropped him right in our path. Miracle! They both came to church yesterday and loved it... and are getting baptized this weekend! Conference and two baptisms, how's that for a transfer week miracle!?”

We put our trust in God as we endure and keep going:

“As we stood introspecting the Spirit was able to guide us, and my companion said, ‘We need to keep going with just this next floor.’ We continued and something amazing happened. The first door we knocked a nice younger lady opened the door. Immediately and without introduction this lady cried out, ‘I need a blessing from you guys! Thank you so much for coming!’ ... we said the prayer and an amazing Spirit filled the air around us. She smiled the biggest smile. Then as soon as the prayer ended she exclaimed, ‘I feel so good right now! I'm feeling Gods spirit and you guys have no idea how much this means to me.’ A little taken back we invited her to be baptized to which she said, ‘Of course I will! I need to follow the Spirit!’ We were both amazed. Nellie came to church yesterday! She loved everything about it. When we followed up with her afterward as we taught her she would randomly exclaim things like, ‘You guys were sent from God!’ and ‘Why couldn't God have sent you a week ago? I've needed this my entire life!’ and even, ‘I prayed that God would send me something and you angels showed up.’”

Our trust in God through His servants will increase our faith, and that increase in faith will show God that we are willing to follow His Son’s example, and to represent Him. We increase our faith in Him because we are relying that He knows what is best for us.  As Elder Oaks teaches: 

“Faith must include trust... When we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must have trust in him. We must trust him enough that we are content to accept his will, knowing that he knows what is best for us... The Savior gave us the model for that kind of faith and trust. Remember how he prayed to the Father in the agony of Gethsemane? This was the culminating event of his life, the climactic fulfillment of his mission as our Savior... “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done” (JST, Luke 22:42). Here we see the Savior’s absolute faith and trust in the Father. “Nevertheless,” he said, “not my will, but thine be done.”... But though the Son’s request was denied, his prayer was answered. The scripture records: “And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him” (JST, Luke 22:43). Strengthened from heaven to do the will of the Father, the Savior fulfilled his mission. (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, General Conference,  April 1994)

God will trust us and “deliver” us as we have more faith in Him and trust His will:

"But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him and serve him with all diligence of mind if ye do this he will according to his will and pleasure deliver you." (Mosiah 7:33)

Let us get 1500+, 8 by Wednesday, 5 dates, 5 to Church,  500 N.I., 400 MPL, 250 to Church. 200 Dates & 175 Baptisms !!!

You are Amazing!!! You are Incredible!!! You are Wonderful!!! And you are in the “Exciting Mission”!!! Remember our promise and that our names will be sealed in the Temple!!!

We Love you, We Pray For You, We can do this, We have work to do!!! Let us “Prepare for the Prophets with Elder Oaks”!!! Trust in God and He will trust in us!!!

 

President Don E. Anderson

Letter From The President September 29, 2013...

Dear Missionaries,

We had a tremendous transfer meeting this past week emphasizing the blessings of “preparing for the prophets” this General Conference, and announcing the coming of Elder Dallin H. Oaks to our mission on October 19^th. We will have a Mission Conference with him that morning, so now we have an extension of “preparing for the prophets” for another couple of weeks. Prepare well for the revelatory experience we will have this weekend. The harder we work, the greater the experience we will have.

I recall as a young boy of 10 years old, being glued to the TV set along with the entire world when the first man, Neil Armstrong, stepped on the moon. Everyone knows the words he spoke, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. Even though it was one normal step off the ladder of his space craft, the whole world understood the huge significance this act would be as it influenced the science and technology of man in a historic time. What seemed a small thing physically, created a domino effect in man’s exploration and understanding of space. Direction of lives changed, advanced and improved in an incredible way.

When Elijah was fleeing for his life from the wicked Phoenician princess Jezebel, the Lord directed him to a high mountain, where he had a most unusual experience. As Elijah stood upon the mount before the Lord, he felt:

“a great and strong wind … ; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice” (1 Kgs. 19:11–12).

Elijah realized that great things can start from small things including “a still small voice”. Some of the greatest miracles in this mission have come from the small things. I know that the smallest of miracles, which could be even after blessing someone, can be seen through the evidences of repentance as their countenance changes right before our eyes and they embrace Who we represent. They recognize the Spirit is from God and can feel the influence of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The small miracles we experience are the beginnings of great things, even great miracles. From the still small voice that we feel at the harvest blessing to the enormous change and conversion that takes place with those we teach and baptize.

Elder Ballard teaches how Alma taught his sons the importance of how small miracles, such as the Liahona, can direct our lives and the lives of others:

“Great and marvelous events seem to motivate us, but small things often do not hold our attention. Noting that the Liahona worked by faith, Alma stated, ‘Nevertheless, because those miracles were worked by small means … [the people of Lehi] were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works ceased, and they did not progress in their journey.’ (Alma 37:41) Is our journey sometimes impeded when we forget the importance of small things? Do we realize that small events and choices determine the direction of our lives just as small helms determine the direction of great ships?” (M Russell Ballard, General Conference April, 1990)

Small miracles such as the Spirit will change the direction of lives:

“As we were heading back to our car after harvesting...we heard a huge whistle about 3 times. At first my companion and I didn’t think anything of it until we heard a little yell. As I turned around I see this man limping as fast as he could towards us to get a hold of our attention. Now, he was a man that told us straight up ‘no’ to our invite in leaving a blessing upon his home and even shut the door on us! He told us, running out of breath, ‘I felt the Holy Ghost push me and told me to get off the couch and go after you two to receive the blessing, so, I want it! I want it now please.’ We were amazed and so happy that this man came out running after us! He accepted baptism and accepted to come to church even! He knew we were sent to him at that time because he truly is going through some things! I know that as we continue to press forward no matter what, we can touch people in ways we didn’t think they could be touched!”

Small miracles such as prayer and testimony will change the direction of lives:

“Week in and week out she would have an excuse that held her back from baptism, but she really wanted it. There was always just something that held her back. I have been praying and praying that she would make the right choice day and night sincerely before God. This week my prayer was answered. Last week she had disappeared and we had no idea what to do to help her. She wasn’t answering the phone or her door. Finally on Wednesday I had a prompting to go back to her house. We got there and the door was wide open. Not only that but her daughter who moved to New Jersey was there (we had taught her too before she moved and she is being taught by the missionaries up there). We had a member with us also that really helped the situation. I spoke to her boldly about baptism and told her she is ready and she needs to make this step. Then the excuses came. I was feeling a little crushed for a moment but then her daughter who is not baptized yet stepped in and told her mother.... ‘I don't get it. Why don't you get baptized? I want you to be baptized this Sunday. You always look so gloomy and so sad. This baptism is only going to help you. You need it. You need to be baptized this Sunday." Right after that our member jumped in and bore his testimony and then asked her, ‘Which of us three do you want to perform the baptism?’ He didn't even give her time to reject. She then chose, and on Sunday she was BAPTIZED!! The best part is that yesterday we saw her and she bore her testimony of baptism to people she didn't even know. I am so thankful for God's miracles. I know this is his Work! I am so glad to be a part of it.”

Small miracles of working hard, being obedient, and following promptings will change direction of lives:

“[Our investigator preparing for baptism] told us about the day she met us and the miracle that it was, which we had NO idea about! It turns out there was a family that used to be in the ward who lived with her a couple years ago. Last Tuesday, she was on the phone with them and was telling them about how she was really struggling and just needed a lot of help. The member on the phone told her, ‘...  you need to find the missionaries. Find the missionaries and go to church with them.’  It was at THAT EXACT MOMENT that we walked up to her and contacted her, introducing ourselves as representatives of Christ and letting her know that He had sent us to leave His peace and blessing with her. It is so amazing to see how the Lord can use us as instruments in His hands! When I walked up to that woman on the phone, I had no idea who she was or how much (and how quickly) I would come to love her and her family. I am so grateful that the Lord trusts me enough to put his prepared children in my path!”

My Father is a convert to the Church. It was a small miracle when he was baptized; he knew that he would never be the same again. He knew that he wanted to be with his family for eternity. Later he and my mother knelt at the altars of the Temple, to realize their dream to be sealed for time and eternity as a family. Their five sons, including myself, dressed in white were ushered into that same sealing room to kneel at the altar by their sides, to have that sealing power and miracle made complete. Direction of lives changed, advanced and improved in an incredible, eternal way. All five of their sons and ten of their grandchildren have served full time missions throughout the world where hundreds of souls have come to the Gospel and ordinances of the Temple. To those souls, direction of lives also were changed, advanced and improved in an incredible, eternal way. It started with the small miracle of my Father feeling the Spirit and progressing to baptism. It has progressed currently as huge miracles to all of those that have embraced the Truth and have been blessed because of the Gospel. This great miracle is eternal; it will not end, but become greater as we gain Eternal Life with our families in the presence of God. You will encounter many “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” miracles in your mission.

Let us get 1500+, 8 by Wednesday, 5 dates, 5 to Church,  500 N.I., 400 MPL, 250 to Church. 200 Dates & 175 Baptisms !!!

You are Amazing!!! You are Incredible!!! You are Wonderful!!! And you are in the “Exciting Mission”!!! Remember our promise and that our names will be sealed in the Temple!!!

We Love you, We Pray For You, We can do this, We have work to do!!! Let us “Prepare for the Prophets”!!! Direction of lives will be changed even through small miracles!!!

President Don E. Anderson

Week 2 in Fort Lauderdale...

What a week this has been! I feel so much excitement to be here in the Florida, Fort Lauderdale Mission with each day! This week I gained my first new investigator and was able to give her a Book of Mormon (actually a Libro de Mormon) and it was the first one I had ever given, I had tried at home, but my friends never accepted, and I learned here that its because I wasn't bold enough, I gave them an out and they took it. The most spiritual experience I have had this week has got to be watching the 183rd Annual General Conference with an investigator there! She was so receptive of the spirit and knew without a doubt that it was true and she feels the strongest desire to be baptized, and an even stronger desire to be sealed with her husband in the temple, her only struggle now is getting her devout Catholic husband on board. We are making every effort to get him to be involved but to no success yet. In The Book of Mormon I have been reading and learning about the need for faith even when you have seen miracles, because Laman and Lemul both saw MANY miracles and angels and  more, but still fell away repeatedly, and it just amazes me that they did, and so I have been trying to keep my faith high so that I never forget the miracles and testimony I have seen. In Conference one of the quotes that struck me that where along those lines was, 'doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith' and that is the type of missionary and person that I want to become.

ok first off I have gotten 3 packages 2 large square ones and the long odd shaped one with the hanger! Thank you SO much, at first I thought all the green stuff was because it's your favorite color and you were trying to remind me of you. It didn't even dawn on me that it was because I was green! But thank you so much!! Awwwhahaha, he knows me so well. That is totally something I would do! I didn't, but I so wish I had thought of it! And I have been sharing a ton. I can't remember all your questions, I can only send letters and packages on P-Days though and I'm sending you a whole lot of letters again because I realized I only have 2 American stamps left and I didn't have an opportunity to get more. Transfers are every 6 weeks, I will be with Elder Lamb for 2 transfers because he is my trainer. We get roughly $130 dollars a month on our MSF debit cards and that's great! We shop at a Windixie because it is the closest place and the cheapest. There is not a single Walmart in my entire area!! Conference was great we watched all the sessions at the chapel and we did get to watch in English so that I could understand everything. I really think you ought to try the thumb drive thing, I just don't know if I will ever have time to email all of the pictures I have taken! We asked about sending a thumb drive to copy his pictures on and send home so we don't have to worry about his memory card getting lost in the mail and losing all his pictures. We have kinda figured out the meal stuff we still eat VERY sparingly in the evenings and I value the granola bars immensely! I pack a couple of those and a jerky stick and spread that out over the evening. I have lost a ton of weight! the biking mixed with barely eating enough to have the energy to pedal has made this exciting. I bike roughly 10 miles a day which if you even have to ask, it is crazy! We have a LARGE area and our apartment isn't even in it. We have to bike about 2 miles to get to our area. If this was Utah our area would be 4 stakes, I swear, its like if I lived in Herriman but my area was all of Riverton! Its brutal! But I love it SO much! The bright side is that there are NO hills, mountains, raises or any thing, which I find really odd, there's something that feels safe about mountains... I don't know paranoia.

This was been so great the people here LOVE Christ and are so receptive to the spirit and want to be baptised! 

 

 

Letter From President Anderson....

I thought I would share this letter that came from President Anderson, the Ft Lauderdale Mission President. I can see why Elder Park is so excited to serve, it looks like he has an amazing leader to learn from.

First Week In Ft. Lauderdale Mission....

Hey Guys!

This is so exciting, so immediately as we got off the plane we got Huge hugs from the assistants and met President Anderson and his wife. They have an air about them that immediately lets you know that they have been called of God! I am so thrilled to be working under his direction! They took us straight to the mission home where we had a good ole, home cooked, American meal of roast beef, carrots, potatoes and gravy, wonderful homemade rolls and a great salad and more roast beef. Oh man was that good! And that was the last real meal I have eaten! haha!

After the meal, we had a brief lesson with the APs and interviews with the President. He is such an inspired man, he knows how to make you excited and calm at the same moment. Then they sent us to the hotel close by and that's where we spent our first night. The next morning we went straight to transfer meeting and that's were I met my companion Elder Lamb! He is AMAZING he has taught me so much and has made me feel so at home! After we met, we had some training. Here we do this thing called Harvesting, its where we go knocking doors and leave blessings on peoples homes. It is a practice that is very localized to our mission and is why we are such a high baptizing mission. Our goal in a month is 175 and this month we got 148. So we were close, but not quite the highest they have ever been! The first day though we got 8 blessings and that was amazing! I am so excited to see where the people that we blessed go, I hope that they can continue to progress and be baptized in the next 2 or 3 weeks. That's how fast this mission goes, most of the baptisms are within 3 weeks of meeting the person! How cool!

If you send snail mail and packages, make sure to send them USPS Flat Rate, don't use FedEx or UPS. The Flat Rate mail can be forwarded from the Mission Home free of charge, so they can get them to us quicker than waiting for us to go and get it on Transfer Day or Conf, etc.

It's been kinda rough because we haven't had time to shop yet and so there hasn't been much food at the end of the day or for breakfast. The members feed us for lunch about everyday so that's great! We can only have dinner with members if an investigator is present because the hours form 4-9 are the prime proselyting times!

I got the Bike and its great! The other Elders are super jealous of it, but I have to Ugly it up quick, it looks really new and nice and there is a high chance of theft. I think I might get some tape or clay and rub some thing on it, I just don't want it to get stolen.

Elder Lamb is the Coolest Guy Ever! He's from ALASKA! Like this is the most opposite state from Alaska!  He used to cross country sky and all kinds of cool stuff!

Its SO great to hear form you guys and I wish I typed faster so I could tell you more but I'm sending all kinds of letters!!

Love ELDER PARK

Last Day At The CCM...

Our new friend Tarcisio Juarez sent some more pictures this time including him! He is so wonderful!
This week Ryan and I got the chance to talk to Elder Park for a couple of minutes during his flight layover in Dallas. It was so wonderful to hear his voice. He sounds great and is very excited to start this new phase in his mission.

We didn't hear from Elder Park when he arrived to the Ft. Lauderdaly Mission Home. So.... I know, I know.... I called them to just make sure he got there. I got to speak to the most wonderful sister. She said that all 16 of their new missionaries arrived safe and sound. She also gave me a little bit of info about the Fort Lauderdaly Mission. This mission is the highest baptising mission in all of the US and Canada combined. This month alone, they are expecting 175 baptisms. How awesome is that!?!? He is going to be serving in the Miami Zone, Blue Lagoon area. She said that this area is like living in another country with the covenience of living in the USA. She says that he will only be speaking English about 10% of the time.

Monday's will now be my FAVORITE day of the week as it will now be P-Day. Can't wait to hear from him then!



Brother Juarez, Elder Park and Elder Pukahi