Winter Storm!

February 10, 2014   Good Eye Mates, (try saying that and not sound Australian)

This week has definitely been a crazy one! Oregon was hit with a huge winter storm that hasn’t been seen in over 30 years. It shut down the whole town. It snowed almost 2 feet on Friday to Saturday and on Friday night it rained freezing rain, which covered all the new snow in almost 2 inches of ice. Ice on everything including cars and trucks. Trees were collapsing everywhere! My companion and I went out for a little walk to see if we could do some service on Saturday.  Missionary work was slow but service was high.  We were standing under a tree that started to crack. We moved and about 5 or so minutes went by and the whole thing came crashing down right in the middle of the road up to our house. Now everything is flooding because of all the melting snow. But it feels so fresh and renewed.

At the beginning of the week last, Monday’s Pday, we played ultimate Frisbee. I have found a new passion for that game. So fun. We played with all the elders in our zone. Everyone is way good at it. We played on a turf field by the campus. Got scrapped up pretty bad. Hurt the good ol’ knee; so worth it. Later on that night I found that my ear had begun the process of hurting again. I started to take my anti biotic that I had left over in hopes that it would help. It did but as the week has continued I have had to rely on priesthood blessing and prayers. I have a dr. appointment today. Hopefully it will just be nothing big.

Tomorrow we will get our iPads. President Y has asked our district to test them out. It should be a great tool. We will be on Facebook for an hour every day. Everything I post has to help others come unto Christ. Thursday nights we will have a Book of Mormon class that you can add yourself to from my page.

We didn’t really have any great missionary moments this week. The storm shut us down Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We had to stay inside and watch church movies. We did however find time to get outside and help people unstick their cars. or unstucked them. What ever that word is, the cars were stuck and we helped them get unstuck, if that makes sense. haha. I will say though we had a somewhat decent experience with a lady. She was very knowledgeable about the bible... so we went up to the door and it was my turn to knock and give the whole shabang thingy. So when she answered, y’all have to understand I’m new and totally suck at door approaches. I told her how God loves her and through the BOM and Jesus Christ’s gospel our families could be blessed. It sounds so much better in Email, but in real life it stunk and my comp had to save me. She then let us into the house where my companion rocked it and talked for like 15 minutes straight while I stood there dumb founded. He taught her that “technically, all of Christ's teachings are in the Bible, but the Book of Mormon is for the gathering of Israel and the Gentiles. It is to convince the Jew and the Gentile that Jesus is the Christ and that his exact church is once again on the Earth today. Elder Tad R. Callister gave a great CES devotional on the topic of Christ's Church and used an analogy of a blue print on a house. He then compared the Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day Saints to the Church that Christ organized. So we gave this lady a Book of Mormon. By the way she was an amazing lady, she had such a strong testimony of Christ and understanding of the Bible. Credit to her. It was tough to get her to listen to us. Many people hold the Bible as the benchmark for all religion, but the Bible has been translated and handled by so many people that it isn't in its perfect condition and has some simple and plain truths are left out, so that confusion can creep in. That is why there are so many different Christian sects on the Earth today. This is why the Book of Mormon is so important.” (Elder Mecham). So glad he can teach a learnin’ kid. I feel sooo rooookie. Anywho, I ended up giving her my testimony and inviting her to read the BOM. Hopefully she does. We will find out sometime this week. We also taught BOM class and it was great. I love teaching it and it has helped me figure out the most important thing in life...

My family, your family is the most important social unit of all time. I am so grateful that I can be with them forever as we follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must endure till the end. Which means STUDY and PRAY daily. As a family is strengthened by doing this. Even if its a prayer at the end of the day. WE are commanded to!! 3 Nephi 18:21. Read it!! I don’t care how busy you think you are there is always time for God. Pray to him. He wants to hear from you. It doesn’t have to be fancy or special, or when you are in a time of need, let him know how your day has been. Thank him for everything. I promise you that you will be blessed in your lives. I am learning this lesson too. For when I was in the non-missionary world I lacked the faith, and time to talk to my Heavenly Father daily, but now I see how important it is. Ask for his help and understand that he is always walking by your side. You will feel of his love and comfort and you will be a portal in which the Holy Ghost can reside. For all you out there struggling to get your kids to go to church or to say prayers or to read their scriptures, try harder. Don’t give up. Don’t quit trying. I can guarantee that if know what awaits us, you would try harder. Now I’m sorry for all the harshness. I want an eternal family and I want all of us to receive the blessings of eternal life. This gospel blesses families, and strengthens us and makes us one and whole. The family is the only people you have that are always on your side. They are always there to take care of you when you’re sick or inflicted. REMEMBER your purpose in this life and strive to stay on the path that leads to immortality and eternal life in Gods greatest kingdoms. I love my family and I miss them heck of bad. I miss my brother’s laugh and kindness when I’m having a hard day or hanging out with me. I miss my best friend and sister, Megan. I miss my daddy who teaches me the importance of being a man, responsibility and respect for others. I love you dad. And most of all I miss my MOMMY. Who’s love will carry me down through the ages. Who unconditionally takes care of her babies. Who teaches them right from wrong. Who nourishes her children with laughter and love, kindness, and understanding. I love you mommy and I miss you dearly. We all need to HOLD TO THE ROD! And ENDURE till the end. Don’t just grasp the rod. CLING to it. Grasp the gospel with both hands and endure in faith. Cry out repentance to the lord above and help your fellow neighbors, and family members. BE a missionary :)

Well that’s all I have to rant about. I love you all dearly. Later!! Elder Workman