April 28. 2014

Talofffaaa

       This week has been pretty great. Things feel back to normal now that our baptism is over. Back to finding new investigators and working with old ones. Elder Edwards and I are excited for May! transfers are coming up and were hoping to stay together. We have had miracles MOVE IN to our area. And we know that the Lord has prepared them to hear our message.

        This sweet, sweet, older single lady named Sandra moved into our area and she is one of the most optimistic and enthusiastic people I've met. She is very open to hearing our message, and she even came to a ward potluck by herself. I was stoked because it wasn't the best turn out of members but she came anyways and had a great time meeting people. After the Potluck we had a Church tour with her and. She had expressed that "The Book of Mormon has to be true, it makes so much sense". You don't know how happy that makes a missionary feel :) We are so excited to start teaching her and helping her have spiritual experiences so that she can recognize the convincing and comforting power of the Holy Ghost.   

         We also had a family of 4 move into our area as well. And they are looking for the truth. WE HAVE IT! we are going to start teaching them and I am so excited because I love working with families. The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings so much happiness and peace in the home, unifies, and strengthens families. My experience with the Edwards family in my last area has caused me to have such a soft spot for families. Today I am gonna get my hair cut from Sister Edwards and she always expresses how grateful she is for us coming over and spending time with her kids and having good fun. I try to pattern and have fun family experiences like we had back home, fun, crazy, loud, but when it came to the lesson or the Gospel, love fills the atmosphere and the spirit is invited into everyone's heart. And we get to look across the room and see that we are where were supposed to be. Surrounded by our loved ones, "encircled about eternally in the arms of his love" (2 Nephi 1:15)

  

        This week I've realized how vital the Holy Ghost is in conversion and the work. That He is the 3rd companion to us, as well as to the Father and the Son. I had the opportunity to read a talk by Elder Holland called " The Divine Companionship" this talk helped me understand how important it is to strive to be worthy of the gift of the holy ghost. To qualify for the blessings and gifts he provides.

 I am grateful for everything I am experiencing on my mission.

 I am so thankful for My Savior Jesus Christ and his continuous Atonement.

I miss you all and Love you all

hope you have a great week:)

Elder Soren

April 21, 2014

HEY HEYYY

HAPPY EASTERRRSSS<3

Hope yall had a great Sunday with the ones you love, and a great Easter dinner cuz I did! (not a good thing... packin some extra poundage lately...)

This week has been soooo good. I feel as if there is a weight lifted from my shoulders. There is a great desire that has crept its way into my heart to go forward with my whole soul to serve the Lord and show my love for him.

There has been so many tender moments this week, which have opened my heart, and have reminded me of my true self.

I had a wonderful experience interviewing a 9 year old girl for her baptism this past Saturday. She was nervous but as I joked around with her and made some weird faces she opened up and was comfortable so we began. She answered the interview questions flawlessly and I could tell she was speaking from her heart. At the conclusion of the interview she said a closing prayer. It was one of the most humbling experiences I have ever witnessed. She prayed for the missionaries, she prayed for the homeless, the poor, family, friends, and "for a good baptism". She prayed for everyone but her self. There was so much power in the sweet words in which she spoke. Not because of the words that were said but the meaning behind them, for the Charity she expressed for these people who had less than her. The song "a child's prayer" started to come to my mind. I was filled with light as she expressed the final desires of her heart. As I sat back in my chair I was overwhelmed with this young girls prayer. I thanked her and reunited her with her Mom in the foyer.

Often times we mistake children for being incapable of possessing certain attributes because of their inexperience. But we have a great lesson to learn from them. They have more knowledge than they are conscious of, and more than we are aware of. There is so much that we dont understand about "these little ones" as Christ taught the multitude, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." -(Mathew 18:10) I understand why Christ blessed the children, I understand why children shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven for they truly do behold the face of the Father. They are examples of our Christ.  Mosiah 3:19 expresses the thoughts and observations I have of these childlike tendencies. "becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." I know that as we learn from the children we our selves will start to be more obedient, patient, loving and giving, to our fellow brothers and sisters. Through them we will be able to learn how to become Christ like.

Saturday was one of the most beautiful and the most peaceful days in Idaho. The morning air felt different the sky was a little more blue. And there was a familiar breeze that reminded me of home. This was the peace I felt, this is when I felt the weight leave my shoulders. As we drove to prepare for Anthony's baptism. The process of guiding Anthony to this point has been one of the most stressful things I've had on my mission so far. Just because of all the outside sources that tried to stop this from happening. But it was one of the most rewarding learning experiences as well. He has completely changed his life from being incarcerated to be a disciple of the Savior.

The baptism was small, short and powerful. He was so excited to know that everything he once was will be forgotten. That everything from this point on will be so good. It won't be easy but it will be so good. I had the privilege to preform the baptism, and as we changed into dry clothes he expressed how he felt, a common response but a truth of this ordinance "I feel clean" he said. No other words could describe this sacred feeling. True cleanliness.

 The Sunday after he was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the holy ghost. He left right after for an Easter family function, but later that night texted us words which made my day 100x better "thanks guys, I am happy". Simple but powerful.

I love my mission especially after the trials are over haha I think we all are. But like Anthony our trials dont stop at Baptism or Temple. It only gets harder, but we know that we have the capabilities to overcome these things because of HIM. The enabling power of the Atonement is the greatest force we have in this life. we receive strength not in our selves but in Him.

I love my Savior and I am so very thankful for His selfless sacrifice he preformed so that we may LIVE.

I love my family and all who support me in this experience I feel as if I do not deserve.

What a joy it is to know that we can live again because of Him.

I been day dreaming about surfing a lot lately, you can ask my companion I always walk on the bottom of the hill and act like im hacking hue tail whips on the grass hahha and making weird noises to emphasize the buckets Im throwin hahaha

Miss ya Love ya

Elder Soren

Anthony's Baptism

found some LARPers hhahhahaha I thought this was only in movies

nutella on erreh thang

April 14 2014

HEY HEY HEY

          I am grateful that there's finally consistent weather here in Poky, I can finally wear short sleeves everyday. Hopefully get some of my tan back... hahah farmers tan that is. It defiantly has been a very busy, but fruitful week.

           We have a baptism coming up this Saturday for Anthony Norman. He's 30 years old and is ready to forget his past and move forward as a disciple of Christ. This baptism is the first in 5 months in this area. So we're very excited.

          Anthony has had a very rough past. He just recently got out of prison and has been reading the Book Of Mormon for years while he served his time. He is definitely doing all he can to be a faithful member. His motivation and diligence is humbling to me. He reads everything we invite him to read, He is at Church every Sunday without fail. His life has been turned upside down as he has been taking the lessons but he never failed to miss one. It's so amazing to see someone completely do a 180 in life and we are here to help him do so. This is one of the reasons why I love my mission. We have the opportunity to help people change their lives and have a happiness one could never find anywhere else. A life in Christ.

          This will be a quick email. But before I leave the first presidency of the Church has asked all of us as members and non members to view this Easter video and share it on all social media.

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

or youtube: "Because of Him"

It's an amazing video, the video clips and typography is very inspiring and uplifting. Please share this with as many friends and family members as you can. Share this video that shows what's most important in this world... a Life of peace, happiness and change.

I miss you all and hope you have a great week

Love

 Captain Jack

April 7. 2014

Alohaaaaaaaaa

       Idaho is almost just as bipolar as Hawaii. Sun. Rain. Snow. Hail. Rain. Sun. all in the same day. But I love it. Makes it an adventure everyday. We're so spoiled here in the States, Elder Edwards and I guess what were having for dinner, and make bets whether were having pizza, potatoes or Mexican food (not authentic)... I feel bad when I read my Foreign brothers emails and they are in the real struggle. Humbles me. but i'm still over pizza and tortillas...

       Things have been great I have such a testimony about the power of the atonement. One of my new "heroes" since he came here is, Elder Bednar. I feel like for some reason we have a connection... haha probably just stoked I shook his hand, and the fact he was the president for BYU-I. But as I read and listened to his talks and studied his teachings I came to realize I love looking for patterns and reoccurring inspirations that point out different gospel principals in everyday life. His talk in conference yesterday confirmed one of my recent reoccurring personal revelations about the power of the Atonement. That it's not only a power to forgive and redeem, but its the power to do, the power to act. I've witnessed this power as we proselyted this week. We put one foot in front of the other walking into darkness, applying all the principals we've been taught.

Nothing but miracles have been happening everyday. The Lord has literally moved people into our area who are ready to be baptized. 

        I feel as if it's the Faith in Christ to Act, it is the Striving, and Doing part that brings miracles. It's not how well we succeed at memorized scriptures or how successful we are at executing the principals we are taught, or how many people we baptize each month. It's the act of doing. If we DO our best to fulfill our Fathers will, he will see our efforts and the righteous desires of our hearts and bless us with his grace and tender mercies.

        Elder Bednar's council that he shared with us about 2 months ago was again reemphasized in his talk. "these people were empower by the Atonement to Act as Agents and IMPACT their circumstances". He taught us this principal which changed the whole vision of our mission. I have used this principal to act, even though I don't always know what's coming or even how to exactly preform certain principals but as I did I was empowered by the Lord. Words came and the spirit spoke. Prepared sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father were Found. And miracles have brought heavenly happiness into my life.

     I know that the Atonement of our Savior will give us the strength to fulfill our Heavenly Father's will. It will help us "bare up our burdens with ease" -Bedanr. It will help us to BECOME who our Heavenly Father knows we can become. It will help us reach our devine potential that he knows we can reach. By striving and doing all we can to serve our brothers and sisters He will work miracles into our lives. Even if we don't succeed at first keep DOING because every righteous act is success in the eyes of our Eternal Father, especially when we turn outwards and serve. I have come to know the truth of these principals because I have done my best to apply them and ACT. I know it works and I know its because of my Savior and His sacrifice.

I love my mission and everything I am learning. But what good is learning if we don't apply what we learn. That's why missions are so special, it gives us the opportunity to act and apply the truths of the gospel so that we may gain a testimony of them.

I wanted to talk more about what I loved at general conference but I forgot my notes at home. But this is one of the things i've learned that really impacted my life. I hope your prayers were answered and your heart was full with the joy of his spirit.

I love you all and hope that you will ACT and apply what you have learned in conference.

I promise you will receive happiness in many different ways, as you act on the council from our beloved Prophet and his apostles.

I know these things are so true.

I miss you all and love you all

hope its warm where you are. cuz im cold.

Elder Soren :)

My trainer Elder Duano and Me

Conference lunch

short tie

Elders…