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Progress

July 28, 2014

Well this week has been a dandy one. Honestly love my mission and the

change I am seeing. We had some awesome lessons this week, and overall just a wonderful week.

We are finally seeing progression with *Jane.  We sat down and

read the BOM with her. We help her with a lot of service.

We started where she left off, in 1 Nephi 5. She is the type of

person who analyzes every word. And then asks questions about

everything. Which is actually awesome because it stretched my

knowledge and made me work things out in my head before I could

explain them to her. Which was wonderful because it strengthened my

testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. And then she

finally started asking some really good questions pertaining to the

restoration of the church and the priesthood. In which we got to

explain, in good detail, the prophet Joseph Smith and the many angels

that appeared to him. She could feel of our excitement for the Book of

Mormon and now we read every time we go over there. I love it !

Next person we had good progress with is a man named *JON. He is a

recent convert, but the second he was baptized he became less active.

We have been trying to meet with him forever and finally he gave in

and agreed to meet with us on Thursday night. After much thought of

what to teach him we decided we would get to the roots of his problems

and go from there. He explained to us that he loved all of his

Christian brothers and felt obligated to help others in their

religions that they were in. He thought that church was whenever you

gather with others and discuss doctrines or principles of the church.

He didn't see a need for Sunday church attendance. With much faith and

prayer we relied on the spirit to best see his needs and create a good

way to help him on that right path. Needless to say after an hour of

explaining the blessings of this wonderful gospel within the church of

Jesus Christ and telling him all he has to do is reach up and pull

these blessings down, and it all starts with church attendance, he

came to church yesterday.. Yes this was a victory. Now I hope he can

continue to progress, by renewing his covenant every week.

*Mary... slightly reminds me of my grandma Betty. So it's a little

more personal relationship with her. She's in her 70's and lives in a

beautiful section of forest off the beach front. Very beautiful home.

And what makes it better is all the cool little critters that share it

with her. She has 5 dogs. One of which is my favorite breed Australian

shepherds, border collie. Beautiful dog. And her dogs love us too. She

is almost a perfect investigator. Who progresses every time we meet.

Now if she could just decide to be baptized that would be awesome! We

have asked her 3 times. And the last time we met with her we read 2

Nephi 32 with her. We always have good conversations. And I think she

believes our message, but she has just got to pray about it. She is

fun to teach because I miss my grandmas. It's actually a funny deal

because 8/10 of our investigators are all elderly woman and widows.

It's actually kinda fun because they take care of us like we were

there grandchildren.

And finally to the last person I write about is my brother Elder

Goode. He honestly just feels like my younger brother. We are already

best buddies and plan to do great things together in the future. I

love this kid. Super awesome man. Ry and Con you would Totally agree

he's exactly like me. It's crazy haha. I am very happy with his

progression and diligence to this gospel. He is very smart and knows

the gospel well. I am proud to call him my “son” haha ! I hope his mommy

knows she raised a good kid.  He makes me appreciate Elder Mecham all 

the more. I see now how stressful training is. 

This week has been wonderful. As y'all can see by this tiny glimpse of

how everyone is progressing. We had 143 people at sacrament yesterday,

almost 4x the normal amount, thanks to a family reunion. I didn't even

know people went to church while vacationing. Also, just realized at church yesterday that we passed up the 24^th of July! (Glad y’all BBQ’d with grandparents!) We got to do a session at the Medford Temple… it’s really small but, the new movie for the endowment session is amazing.   I also got to teach my first District meeting, and went on exchanges. We be eatin wild berries and kickin rocks while we tract. It's a lot of fun. Being a missionary is great! :)

ELDER WORKMAN

Family, I am so glad that you got to go to President and Sister Young’s homecoming. I love them. Good people they are!

Congrats to Ditty and Jarin! Man our wards legit. I miss it. I am so proud of all the boys in our ward that are going out.

Weekly Letta

I received an email and photos of “Brayden in Bandon" painting the jetty on the beach this week from a member in Brayden’s ward. She said the Elder’s are  “GOODE WORKMAN” They love them in the ward. She told me he is a very nice, young “ham”. Photo enclosed. XOXO ~Diane

July 21, 2014

What a week it has been! I feel a tad bit overwhelmed, but I know, as I trust in the Lord he will help me out, and help me to become the servant he wants me to become.   

Craziness I tell ya! So this is gunna be short. I had a lot of fun this last week. Got my new companion who is awesome! Elder Goode from Altamont, Utah. Vernal boy so to say. He's already my best friend and I love him. He is 18 and fresh out of high school.  We did about 30 hours of service this week. Building houses, roofing and framing, dugouts, concession stands, painting bathrooms right on the beach, building fences and moving :) so it's been fun! I love service! Just makes me think of my best friend, my daddy. (By the way dad, have you seen the trailers for Hercules? Yea they got me to be Hercules for the trailers... so just sayin :) jk I love you dad!)

But now back to the grind stone of missionary work. Riding bikes sucks! Lets be honest, the seats suck, hills are around every corner, people look at you funny hahaha. Good times.    

I am SOOOOOOOO FLIPPEN EXCITED TO GO TO THE TEMPLE THIS WEEK! It has been way too long since I have been there! Pumped to feel of that love from God. We are going to Medford temple this week! A new movie!!! Oh I'm so excited to see it !!!! I'm so excited! Super Cool MOM! I love you so much!

Anywho thats all for today folks ! :)

3 Nephi 18:21  Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.

Mosiah 4:14-15 And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness. 15 But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.

It's that simple. It's a commandment. But it's also a must. The gospel unifies families. But how does it unify families... Family scripture study. Family prayer. Family council. WE as humans are never to busy for these things. Sacrifice is a requirement. But in the end it is worth every second. LOVE is also essential. I love you so much :)!

GRIZZ 👻

PS Connor… Happy Sweet Sixteen Surprise Party! I love you, dude!

Stretching

July 14, 2014

This is my weekly email home....

This week has been rather crazy. We have done so much service work it's crazy. As I ponder over the past couple days I am filled with much joy and success. And I realize that a mission teaches you to stretch. More than you ever could imagine. So I am going to relay a journal entry that I had last night... The night before I got the call..

07-10-14

Stretch!! Today I am starting with that word because it is so true!! First off, you have to stretch in the morning so you feel good the rest of the day. This is generally not that easy as you are super tired in the morning. Second... I have learned that a mission will stretch your abilities...  spiritually, mentally, and physically. You do a lot of thinking and at most times you rely heavily on the spirit to help you. Like today for instance; I had to build a fence. In which I had no idea how to do. But I relied on God to help me and He did. I had to make plans for another section of fencing and remember all the things my dad has taught me. Which by the way he has done a wonderful job. And thirdly, but not exactly last, you will stretch in taste buds or food. Today for the first time and probably the last time I had an intense selection of seafood. One of our investigators, the Capelles took us to the beach and ordered us some seafood. Naturally I thought "oh heck no!" Then I decided I would stretch. Needless to say I tried raw oysters (freakin nasty), clam (pretty good), and halibut (was pretty good as well). I will still much prefer a big nice juicy cheeseburger, and you will never see me order fish over that again. But I had to stretch. Because when we stretch we grow. And though it may seem unethical, or not logical to pick halibut over a cheeseburger I was willing to grow. I decided I would try to be different. And this is really something that has affected me my whole mission. Anyways the rest of today wasn't so great. This whole week has been nothing but service, which is ok because I love service. I love my mission, goodnight!

Now this brings me to my next journal entry. Which happened tonight:

07-11-14

Mind blown! Not only is it 7-11 like in Alma 7:11, but today I got some truly good news. Truly inspiring news. So yesterday I talked about stretching. And how being a missionary you are always stretching. So today, after a long day, after traveling to and from nor bend for ZTM, we had just an average missionary day. Appointments falling through and some good lessons with investigators. But what makes today different was I got some good news. This news confirmed my feeling that I have been having all week. I have had this feeling that Elder Taito was going to get transferred and I would be training a new missionary. And in all honesty it was only logical that the new mission president would keep us where we were so I didn't know why I was thinking and feeling this way. At 9:36 PM we got a call from pres. Russell and the APS confirming this feeling I was having. They told Taito that he would be training a new missionary and still be a District Leader in Medford. Then President Russell told me I would be doing the same but I would be staying in Bandon. He told me that I would also become a District Leader, and be training a new missionary. Than he told us how marvelous it was that Elder Taito and I were together and how he couldn't deny the promptings from the Holy Ghost that we were special missionaries.....

I can honestly say I attribute this all to the power of God. For I know that I am nothing NOTHING without his strength. 6 months ago when I came out here, I had a basic understanding of the gospel. Very basic. I knew who God and Jesus Christ were and I had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But I didn't have one with God. I felt inadequate. And though I may still feel from time to time this same feeling I know that God qualifies us for the work. I know if I put my trust in him all things are possible. I feel as though God has truly prepared me this past transfer for this wonderful calling. I know with all my heart that He loves me. That he knows what I need to grow. I know the words of Ammon in the book of Alma are true: Alma 26:12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

I know that without him I am a pile of dust. I know that he has given me everything I am. I will continue to rely on him. I will continue to put my shoulder to the wheel. I will become the person he wants me to become. For I know he is the master Gardner.

GRIZZ 👻

Mommy, I love you mom!!!:) I TOTALLY forgot that 7-11 gave out free Slurpee’s. Dang ! We even have one of those here. Haha I only related it to Alma because that's a popular scripture to show Christ's atonement. Check it out :) haha I do not write anything like Megan. She's awesome with words. I'm just gibberish. But thanks mommy :)  I'm awesome. Nervous to train and to be a District Leader.  I am so glad everything went how you wanted and it was fun. And y'all laughed. That's so awesome! All your prayers and fasting paid off. I’m doing awesome. Couldn't be happier. Well maybe... Haha. My bed and blankets are good. I brush and floss all the time. I think the only thing I could ask for is a flash drive and for Ryley to send me those CDs. Lol. P Russell said we can listen to spirit inviting things and what ever he approves. So that'll rock. But I need Ry to send me them.  I love you. Thanks for this awesome email ! Hope your week rocks! Oh… We get so many visitors from SLC and they all tell me it's hot there. It's like 60-70 here. So nice! I got Scott’s letter. Haha he's funny as heck in letters! Tell grandma Betty to write me!

So tonight we are driving to Coos Bay.. Staying with the Zone Leaders. Then tomorrow at 1 we will head to Eugene.  I'm driving. Haha. Bummer right. Then we have a meeting Tuesday night at 4-9 telling us how to train and do all that fun stuff. Then on Wednesday when they (new missionaries right from the MTC) come in P Russell will meet with them all and listen to the spirit to figure out who goes where. Then we will come back to Bandon on Thursday. In the photo it's Elder White. I love you so much! Thank you!

Elder White and I :)

 

Mending Fences

"Mending Fences"  This is a phrase to mean the upkeep of good relationships. Sometimes, we let important people in our lives crumble away. We don't give them the care that we need to have good upkeep or relationships. The same can be said of our Father in Heaven. Many times, we forget to turn to Him for help, advice and general upkeep. Elder Workman used the analogy in his farewell about a screwdriver. A hand driven screwdriver will get the job done. It is a lot of work compared to a power screwdriver. Both are important instruments in the hand... but, when we plug into the power source, use Our Father in Heaven as a guide, we are very powerful instruments in His Hands. The work is completed the same but with much more ease. Following our Savior's example and using the strength from Our Father is the easier way to live. 

Dad, Dude totally missed you ! I thought about you so much while I was

doing this. I had no idea what I was doing but relied on the things

you taught me and remembered how it's done. This is just a small

section of it. We still got another to go. Elder taito knows nothing.

And the lady we did it for is elderly. Lol. So it's been interesting.

I even poured the cement myself :) mixed and everything.  I sure miss you daddy.

Taito told me he has never operated a screw driver! Ha!!