I can't put it into words...

Ye take the high road and i'll take the low road and i'll be in Scotland before ye! That is awesome that you are chilling in Scotland. I can't believe you are way over there. Enjoy yourselves because next time you are taking me :) just kidding. 

Another good week! I feel like i was just emailing yesterday. It went by fast. We have been getting these wards revived slowly and surely.

We are still working with that kid that his dad won't let him be baptized. He has such a strong testimony of this Gospel. I'm just afriad that his testimony will diminish over time without going to church or receiving the Holy Ghost. I have hope for him though. 

I'm loving my mission, i'm trying to take advantage of every minute out here. I know my time is limited here but i want to make a difference in this ward. My companion and I are doing great! We have a lot of fun, we laugh a lot. 

I don't really know what else is going on that might be interesting to everyone. I think i'm going to miss how close i have been on my mission to the Spirit. It is amazing how easily revelation comes if we are ready and the Lord needs His work done. It has been such a humbling experience. Hopefully i can be worthy and open to the revelations from God when i come home. I don't want to think about that though. I'm starting to want my mission to slow down. I don't know if i'm really wanting to go home. I love you all but my mission is...i can't put it into words. My mission has just been a blessing. Thank you for you continued prayers towards me!  I love you!  

p.s.s.s. mom i love ya. Dad sent a picture of you on like a green field. You still are just a shortie! That is okay though, i still will call you on mothers day! :) I miss ya big time.

Become as Little Children

Another great week up in LOP. (Lake Of the Pines) I feel strongly that our ward is turning in the right direction. We set a baptismal date on Saturday that was great and really unexpected. We asked one of our investigators to come to a baptism that was happening in the stake. Before this he decided to wait till he turned 12 to get baptized to wait for his testimony to grow more, which I was kinda sad about and we had a couple lessons where we explained that God has gifts and blessings that He is willing to give to you now. Don't wait! But he was still pretty set on getting baptized when he was 12 which is in December. We were talking to him after the baptism and he was saying "the feelings I had made me feel like I have to get baptized now. I can't wait, it is supposed to happen now." 

I just love that example and will probably never forget it for the rest of my life. No wonder Jesus said we must become as little children. They are so open and willing to listen to the Spirit. It was just humbling to realize he was open to the spirit and it came to him because he asked for it and he was willing to act upon whatever the Lord had prompted him to do. Just a special experience. So he's getting baptized on the 30th, so we have to hurry and prepare for it. 

We are about to pick up some new investigators that I'm really excited about. One of them that really wants to change his life around, I'm hoping we can teach him and he will understand that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the way to turn your life around for the better. And eventually be saved in the Kingdom of God. But he will find that out later. 

Anyway life is just good, I'm having fun just living life. I can't believe transfers are in two weeks. And then it is my last transfer. Ah...crazy. 

Anyway we are going to play some ball today as always so that will be good. Anyway I love you all and thanks for everything you do for me! This Church is 100% true and Christ is Living and Loving.

Elder Simons

The Lord is hastening His work

Thanks for the email mom, it was so great to hear from you. 

This week was great...well except for the fact that my companion had strep throat since Tuesday morning. So he was in bed from Tuesday till like Saturday night. So I had to do so much paper work by myself! It was okay though, we had ZLC on Friday and also stake correlation on Sunday so that was fun. We discussed how we are getting 31 new missionaries on Feb 19th. We normally get like 7-12 each transfer so this one is a huge! I'm pretty excited and really, really want to train another missionary before I finish my mission. We will see. 

So we had [name removed] baptism on Saturday, and that was amazing. Such a special spirit that is at baptisms that you won't find anywhere else. It is really cool because when we are baptized we physically follow our Savior. He stood in water waiting to be baptized by John and we can do that same thing. I think that is amazing and really humbling.

 

We do need to find more people to teach. We haven't found someone new in a while and it has been hard because our teaching pool is quite small right now. We are teaching quite a few less-active members and that is going great but we want to focus on both sides of missionary work. 

Life is great though. We actually had this big meeting with all the Bishops, Ward missionary leaders, high councilors, stake presidencies in the Redding and Anderson stakes and with President Weston and Elder Trythall the area seventy so that was amazing. Only the zone leaders were able to attend but it was still sweet. The message I got is the Lord is hastening His work and we need to be ready and be willing to do whatever He asks and whenever. It was a very enlightening meeting. I loved it. It is really cold in this FHC so my fingers are cold so I will end this email now but I love you all!

Elder Simons 

I will cherish this challenge

Hey mom,

It's good to hear from you. It was amazing seeing the whole family on Skype. I feel so blessed the Lord gives us amazing tools to interact and share memories together through this amazing technology. We truly are blessed people. 

I finished my Book of Mormon last week. Man that book is more than amazing. It has changed my life once again. Before I took President's challenge I felt the spirit so strong when I testified to [people I was teaching] that it was and is the word of God. But now I can feel it in my fingers and toes when I testify. The spirit illuminates my body and I feel the spirit literally pushing my words into their soul. It has been an amazing experience to watch. I have been humbled to dust and I will cherish this challenge as something so spiritual I can barely describe it. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. People ask "Is the Book of Mormon needed to be saved?". And I'm here to tell everyone who asks that it is. It gives us the knowledge of our Savior that we can't find anywhere else. There are people out there who are in a famine of the word of God. They are missing the piece of the puzzle. The Book of Mormon is convincing evidence that God loves us so much that He sends prophets on the earth to teach us how to be "saved". I'm grateful for this divine book. And I will read it everyday for the rest of my life. I need the pure flow of spirit that comes from it. I need that so I can withstand the adversary.

We are so blessed to have a baptism this week on Saturday. [Our investigator] is going into the waters of baptism to receive an essential remission of her sins. She has come to find out that without the Savior and His priesthood authority she cannot be saved in the Kingdom of God. A bit of useful information wouldn't you say? I also have a testimony of that. We cannot come unto the Father or enter into Celestial glory except we fall on our knees and proclaim and confess that Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer. There is no other way to receive eternal life with God. I can testify to that and will till the day I die. I love this perfect and only true Church. I will pledge my allegiance to it forever. The church and gospel work hand and hand. I love them both. We should thank our God every single day that we belong to this true church. That we are somehow and in some way blessed by it. Member or non-member, I'm sure we all have been touched by how this church runs and how it is perfect. I can testify it does because God himself is at the head of it. No one else. I love that fact. I'm sorry for babbling on and on. The spirit constrained me to do so. I love you all and I appreciate the prayers that you send my way but more then that I appreciate the prayers you send to the wonderful Children of God that I am humbled to teach. Send more prayers their way will ya? Thank you so much.

Elder Simons

Snow in Redding

Hey Mom,

So its funny that you talked about opening presents early. And yes I did but this year I won't. I remember when I was kid I would always go and find the presents and very carefully pull the tape back and look at my presents. I did that for a couple years. I got pretty good at it actually. Yeah I was a bad kid I know but I feel like I should confess now as opposed to when I'm home. I think I did that because I wanted to be able to focus on Christmas on the most important things, not presents. [ya, right!....] I was such a bad kid.

So our YSA investigator got baptized on Saturday. Such an amazing experience. After she said to us that should wouldn't have been here if it weren't for us. I thought about that for a bit and replied that no, I think that if any missionaries were there she would have been baptized. Which is so true and so humbling. The Lord needed her in His church so He called her and she responded and then in turn was baptized by the Priesthood of God. It is so wonderful to see God's hand work His mighty miracles. She is truly a miracle. She is such a light to everyone that knows her and I'm excited to see her grow and progress in the Gospel. 

On another note, an investigator from my old area got baptized as well. I heard it took him three times to get under. I wasn't able to go, which was too bad, but that is how life goes. 

Life other than that is amazing. I'm loving life right now. It snowed up here on Saturday. It was so awesome it reminded me of good old Utah. 

snow in Redding

I'm excited for Christmas. It will be a good day to just relax and take it easy. I love Christmas time. It is frustrating though because this time has been given to us to take it easy and reflect and ponder on the blessing that Christ is in our life but yet we still make it the busiest time of the year. Why is that? I don't even think there really is an answer but that's okay. 

I love life though. I have to go but thanks for all the prayers!

I wanted to jump for joy

Thanks for the email mom. 

This week has been a good one indeed. So we had a lesson with our YSA investigator on Saturday and we told her that she needed to decide if she was going to get baptized on the 15th or not (she had said earlier in the week that she thought about that date) because we had to schedule things and do all that good stuff. So the day before we were telling her when we come over she needed to say yay or nay. So we come over and she is like "So I prayed last night and God told me that I need to be baptized on the 15th. I'm not backing down from this one. I'm still nervous but I'm getting baptized on the 15th." I wanted to jump for joy but I restrained myself. I love how we can get answers to our prayers. I have such a strong testimony that God will answer every one of our prayers if we but ask Him in full faith and are willing to act on whatever answer He gives us. I'm thankful she recognized the Spirit prompting her to be baptized. I'm thankful for the ordinance of baptism and the symbolism and sacredness of it. I'm thankful for the priesthood of the Almighty God that is given to worthy men so they can perform this saving ordinance. I love life, and I'm thankful for everything God has given me, and the wonderful people that He has put into my life on my mission. 

Let's see what else happened this week...no mushrooms incidents thankfully.Transfer went smoothly. Well mostly smooth, we had Elder Jackson with us for a couple days. His comp had a baptism on Wednesday  so he stayed down there for a bit till Thursday. Elder Jackson is a good missionary. It was fun to have  him with us. 

Oh also Brother "Jones" [name changed] is getting baptized! This Sunday night. I'm talking to President Weston to see if i can go. If so Elder Rasmussen and myself will be going down there. I really hope he lets us go, its just a really far drive and the baptism is at a weird time. That would be like one of the best baptisms in my mission. He son is baptizing him I think. AHH I hope I can go. Speaking of which I better call President soon. 

So today for p-day we are playing pickle ball with this less active member and his wife who is of another faith. They talk smack like crazy. They told us we need to bring  notebooks because they are taking us to school and they are going to feed us dessert. So I'm kind of nervous actually. I really think they are good. I will let you know if we beat them. But thank  you for everything that everyone does for me. I truly appreciate it!

I love you all

Elder Simons

Mushrooms the size of California

So this week was a good one. We had some weird things happen but that is okay. So first we got a text from one of our legit investigators in our family ward that was going to be baptized soon. And he said he was going to have suspend his Mormon studies. That was bad. It was really hard for us to hear that and deal with it, because he is so ready and willing to do what the Lord wants. We just boiled it down to the fact that maybe we just are not "his" missionaries. That's okay, just as long as eventually he is baptized into the true church. 

Also the YSA girl is doing good. She wanted to postpone her baptism so we are pushing it back and still working on a date. We will let you know when the date is. But she is still happy and doing good. 

So something crazy happened. we were driving to the church on Wednesday I think it was (it was really windy, 50 mph wind gusts, and it was also pretty rainy) and all of a sudden we hear this motorcycle revving its engine and we look ahead and this genius of a man was doing a wheelie and was doing it for a couple seconds and he starts getting really shaky and eventually falls and crashes and it was just crazy. His shoe was thrown like 80 feet and his motorcycle got beat up pretty bad. He was going like 50 or 60 down this road. So we are like "wow we better go and help him." It was just crazy so i figured I'd tell you. I never have seen someone crash like that. It reminded me how precious life really is and that we are so close to the other side every single day. Just interesting. 

So we had transfers this week. I'm staying along with my companion. So we are excited about that and are really expecting to see some good things happen this next transfer. 

I love Christmas. Its so interesting to think about Jesus Christ and how He is the only Begotten of the Father, the Prince of Peace and all these other amazing names that describe Him. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and yet He descended below everything. He descended below how I, myself, was born. I just marvel on how he could have born anywhere. He could have been born in an awesome kingdom with all of these amazing amenities but yet he let himself be born in a little barn of sorts. Christ's example is amazing. I fully believe that as we follow His perfect humble example we will be blessed and we will eventually return to live with Him once again. 

Another random story that is kinda funny. So we were over at this cool family's home and we had this good looking salad and I was pretty excited until I looked closely at it. It had mushrooms the size of California in them. They were huge. So I skillfully sifted what I grabbed with the tongs in hopes of not grabbing an extra large and nasty mushroom. So I put the salad on my plate and I sift thru it a bit and find that I have this huge mushroom. I was like "how did that happen?". So the whole time I was stressing on how I could hide this mushroom so the family wouldn't see it. So I continued to eat the rest of my food and the next thing I know the mushroom is gone from off my plate. I'm like "wow did I eat that thing, where did it go...oh no?"...but at the same time I was like "Sweet! I don't have to eat the dang mushroom anymore". So I just kind of shrugged it off and considered it a miracle. So yesterday I was telling my companion about my miracle and how I was so blessed and he just started laughing. I was like" yeah yeah what?" And he continued to tell me how he ate my mushroom while I was not looking. It was pretty funny. No matter how the mushroom left my plate I'm happy and blessed. 

Life is great! I love having these amazing experiences and having a smile on my face at the same time. I love my Savior and I know that He is with me every second of the day. This is His work, not mine. I'm just trying to be a tool and trying to sharpen myself through prayer and study so I can be better prepared to serve His Children. I love you all

Elder Simons

Faith and Testimony

This week has been good. We had our zone training meeting this week (zone conference is tomorrow), but our meeting this week was on how our faith and testimony should effect our obedience level, work ethic, attitude, gospel knowledge. And if we are struggling in any of these categories we are struggling with our faith and testimony. It was pretty intense. I loved it. So the Redding zone has been averaging about 9.5 lessons a week and according to Elder Maynes the  missionaries and the ward should work together so that the missionaries teach at least 20 lessons each week. We were getting about 16 or 17 in Antelope and I really wanted to improve it but I didn't know how. Because I can't go into every ward council in the stake and ask them to give the missionaries more teaching opportunities. So I thought a lot about it and what Elder Leithead and I could do about it. I felt strongly that we should commit each companionship to reach 20 lessons per week whether or not the ward is giving us names of people to teach. Everyone was pumped about it when we issued the challenge. And so later on this week when we recorded numbers (Sunday night) we pretty much doubled in every key indicator! It was so awesome!! Also our average went up to 15.5 lessons per week. I can't wait for the growth that is going to come from this. It was so legit! I love this work. 

We picked up these two YSA aged girls and one of them committed to baptism for the 8th of December. Its so exciting. I was so pumped. The other one is really great as well and will probably have a date this week. The work is truly picking up here in Redding. I can't wait to see some of the great results but I'm not forgetting to enjoy the moment. 

Anyway, life is great. I love it up here in Redding. It is getting really cold up here. I'm always freezing!! 

Elder Simons

Seeing God's hand work in people's lives

Thank you for the email yet again mom. It means a lot to have the support of an awesome mother. I feel as the 2,000 strippling warriors felt about their mothers. They did not doubt that their mothers knew the gospel. I'm sure they had this knowledge because their moms lived and taught the gospel in the home. I am eternally grateful for the amazing example you and Dad have set for me in the home. Even when I wasn't always what I was supposed to be you stayed strong and did what the Lord always asks us to do: keep the commandments. So thank you for always doing that. I feel like I'm reaping the blessings from you being obedient. So thank you.

Anyway,[our investigator] is doing good. She is struggling just a little bit. She doesn't know if Joesph Smith was a Prophet. Actually she feels like he was for half of his life. So we are working with that. We are going to be meeting with her everyday till Saturday in hopes of helping her receive her answer for herself. I know that she could receive her answer at any moment. I really hope and pray that she will be baptized this week. I will let you know how it goes and I will send you pictures next week. 

What else happened this week...our truck was acting up so we had to go get it fixed, and when the mechanic guy sat in the car with me while I was driving of course it didn't make the sound. I hate it when that happens. But eventually is made the thumping noise. He then got in the car to take it for a spin and he I was really scared. I casually grabbed onto the handle and slowly slipped
my seat belt on, hopefully he didn't notice. I guess I should have been wearing my seat belt in the first place. 

We are teaching this part-member family and they are coming along slowly but surely. The guy is a less-active member and his girlfriend is the non-member. She has such a great desire to do the things she has to, to get aligned with God's will. It has been a huge testimony strengthener (maybe not a word?) to see herand her progress. I love teaching them and watching them grow. I love seeing God's hand work in peoples' lives. It really is such a blessing to be able to just sit and watch him work. I love it! I love seeing miracles. It strengthens my testimony so much!! 

Thank you for all you do!

I love life

Thanks for that wonderful email Mom. I appreciate it so much.

This week has been so fast, it was scary. This week I'm fully expecting to go by fast as well. Its good though.

What to talk about, so many things happen in my week its so hard to express all that happens. We had a wonderful meeting on Friday with Elder Trythall from the 5th Quorum of the Seventy. And he talked to all the district and zone leaders on the ward council. The ward council has become a subject that I have deep feelings for. Its something that I have spent much time trying to figure out how I can help the most being just a boy in a suit and tie. I have had many frustrating experiences and I have had many wonderful things happen. So I was very excited for this meeting to truly figure out what my purpose was in the ward council. The meeting was truly edifying and uplifting. It gave me so much information that I know will bless my life for the rest of my life with regards to how ward councils are supposed to work. And I received much direction on what I can do. It was just a great meeting. It truly inspired me to go and do great things. 

What else new has happened? Oh I'm going to the temple on Friday with [a recent convert's wife from Gridley]. They both are 100% active and she wants to go because she is getting weak and older so we are going through for the first time with her. Such an amazing experience to see where she has come from to where she is now. I know [her husband] is preparing to get to the temple as well. I can't wait till that day comes. 

So some of our baptismal dates have dropped but we still have one on the 20th of October. This lady is amazing. I can't wait for that beautiful day. 

I love life. I don't want to be anywhere else. I love my mission and it is sad and frustrating that I'm coming to the close of it. I feel like I still have so much to accomplish and so much of myself to change. Thank you for the prayers everyone! I love you all!

Elder Simons

A miracle right before our eyes

Thank you for the email mom, it was great to hear from you.

You asked a little bit about how transfers work and this is what goes on. On Monday night the departing missionaries and the assistants to the president stay with us (Elder Frank stayed the night, it was sad to see him go)  and then the next night the new missionaries stay the night with us. There were 15 elders staying the night, it was crazy. (and yes Elder Heniger was one of the new ones. I forgot to take a picture with him) so that is how it works on transfer week, which is so crazy to still do missionary work and have to clean the house and everything.

So Friday night we had a lesson with [the lady who was going to baptized the next day] and we taught about enduring to the end and why that is so important. It went great and we went over her baptism for the following day and we all were really excited. We left basically praising our Heavenly Father for the blessing that she has been in our lives and everything was going great. So we wake up on Saturday and I see a call and a voicemail from her on my phone. And getting calls from her was never good. We have had the same Tuesday and Friday at 7:00 lessons for months and nothing has changed so we really never had to call her or she call us. And when something has changed or something has gone wrong she calls us. So I was super scared. We listened to the voicemail and she said she got food poisoning and didn't sleep at all and wasn't going to be able to make it to the baptism. My heart dropped into my stomach. I was so sad. We called her and her husband said she was asleep and wasn't going to be able to make it today. We called back about 2 hours later, aka 9 o clock and her baptism is at noon, and we asked her husband to wake her up and he did. So I talked to her and asked if we could go give her a blessing. She said yes so we went over at about 10:30 AM. This is an hour and a half before her baptism. So it was crunch time really. We walk in and we were talking to her and she was explaining how she was too sick to go and then we were explaining exactly what a blessing is, and we performed the blessing. And after we ended the blessing, she said "When is my baptism again? I better get ready quick then"...It was one of the most amazing moments on my mission. The Lord performed a miracle right before our eyes, to help His daughter come to the waters of baptism. Thinking about it makes me get kinda emotional. Man I'm a baby. She made it to her baptism on time (and this is a lady who is older and it takes her some time to walk around because she gets tired easily) and it was a wonderful baptism. I felt so honored to be able to enter the waters of baptism with her. I'm so excited for the step she has made in her life to get closer to the Savior Jesus Christ. I love this lady so much. I'm excited to see her progress in the church. 

This week was really great. We have some great potential! I love this work. It is so awesome. Thank you for the support you give me.

Elder Simons

Plugging up a hole in my heart

Well we now have 4 baptisms scheduled. One this weekend, which will be one of the best moments on my mission. This is a woman who is truly amazing, and she is so willing to follow the example of Jesus Christ no matter what the cost is. She has taught me so much. I have loved teaching her. 

I have never had this much work on my mission before. It seems like everything is just falling into place. It truly is such an amazing and humbling thing to be a part of. Because when I back up and look at it, i feel like i have nothing to do with it, I'm just kind of there watching God's hand influence a person's life to do good. Its awesome. I love this work with all my heart. 

So the lady that will gladly get married still wants to, but her [less-active] boyfriend is holding back a bit. She is so willing to follow Christ. God and Jesus Christ come first for her in her life, and I think that is starting to bug him. It is amazing to watch her growth though. When we first came over i had to like force her to say hi to me while we were teaching him. Now she is growing and she wants this gospel and is willing to give her life for it. What dedication! When we first starting actually teaching her she always said "there is a God-shaped hole in my heart" and on Saturday as we were teaching her she almost randomly said "i feel like the things you elders are teaching are plugging up that hole in my heart" That was one of the best things anyone has ever said to me. 

I love having this privilege to be able to preach this everlasting gospel. I can't tell you how many times i have broken down and cried because of how humbling of an experience this for me. I am so grateful for the blessing of being able to meet these wonderful people that i find, that i have an immediate love for. 

Another story for you is about another lady with a baptismal date who is really smart and knowledgeable about the New Testament. We had a lesson with her on the Plan of Salvation and she had so many deep doctrine questions about Adam and Eve and was really troubled by some of the stuff we were teaching aka God giving Adam and Eve a commandment he knew they would have to break. She just could not get over that. So we left feeling very discouraged. But the next time we went over (we expected her to still have trouble with all of it) she was amazing and had no questions or concerns about the Plan of Salvation. All of her concerns were met because i feel like she got her witness from God that the Book of Mormon was true. Such a neat experience. Another one where we did nothing, but God did everything. Like I have said before, I'm just here watching God's hand. And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. 

I love you all.

Elder Simons

We barely have time to breath

Hey!

This week has been amazing! We were blessed to be able to set another baptismal date. We were worried because the lady we set the date with, (her boyfriend is LDS) lives with her boyfriend. They have a kid together. But we went over again on Saturday (we set the date on Tuesday) and she said "something has to change about the living arrangement here huh?" and she said "well we don't have enough money to be married." And then we told her they could get married for free by the bishop. They were like "okay, want to get married tomorrow?" Such an amazing experience. I can't wait! 

Life is great. Dorothy our investigator getting baptized on the 15th, is doing great. She asked me to baptize her. Which is such a humbling request. She couldn't decide if she wanted Elder Ellsworth or me to baptize her so she just asked if Elder Ellsworth could go in the back of the font and hold her back as she goes down. What a awesome experience that will be. 

I love how the Lord is building me with these wonderful situations. I feel so blessed I have been able to serve Him for 15 months of my life full-time. Let's see what else happened this week...Elder Coburn and I are doing great. We are working hard and we are seeing so many blessings. We had 13 member-present lessons last week. Which is the best I have ever had on my mission. We are teaching some less-actives as well. We barely have time to breath, we are so busy with teaching. Which is a good thing. Well I love you all, and continue praying for missionary experiences. They will come. They always do.

Elder Simons

Baptisms and a new companion

[Editor's note: You may notice that I try to omit the names of the investigators and new baptisms... Those of us who are doing missionary blogs have been told that there are some crazy, mean people out there who read these types of blogs, and then try to find those who are investigating the gospel or newly baptized and harass them with anti-Mormon garbage. Whether that really does happen, I'm not sure, but I think I will try to keep things on the safe side! :)]

What a week, what a week. It was such a blur. One of the most rewarding weeks of my mission though. I truly have been humbled by the Lord. We were able to have the 2 baptisms we hoped for. They were amazing. I did get to see Sister Farr from the Sacramento Mission. That was really awesome!! She is doing great. 

So first we had the baptism of the [girl from the young adult ward] and I was super nervous for that one, let me tell ya. But it was fine and I didn't hit her head on the font. So that was good. 

Then we had Mike's [name changed] baptism. Man I love that guy. He is so cool!! He is truly humble and a wonderful man. We have seen huge changes in him.

 

I love this gospel. It truly changes people for the better. I have seen it many times on my mission, in my life and in others. Elder Ellsworth is getting transferred. Well technically as of right now he is gone. He got transferred across the freeway so he is just like 15 minutes away. I will miss him. We had a lot of fun while working hard together. I'm excited for my new companion too. Elder Coburn is such a good missionary. I love that kid. He is from Murray Utah. He has been out for 1 transfer less then me. We are going to work our hardest and I have no doubt that the Lord will truly bless us. He has before and He will again. We have an investigator that is amazing. She knows this church is true. She is just afraid to come to church. Every time we bring it up she says she will come when she is ready. I'm confused with her. She did come to a chapel tour we were having and loved it and totally felt the spirit!! How can we get this wonderful daughter of God to church?? We are meeting with her tonight. I'm not sure what we are going to share, but I will find out soon. Every companionship in the zone was changed except one of them. It was crazy, I'm excited for the change. We are going to have a wonderful transfer.

Being in Antelope, I am like 2 minutes from the mission office and I get to go there like every other day. I have gotten so close the office couples! They are amazing, they are so nice to us elders and without them our mission would fall apart. They do so much.

This has been the fastest six weeks of my life. I can't believe I only have 7 transfers left. Is that a scary thought to me? Yes. It terrifies me. But all I can do now, is put my head down and press onward! I love you all so much. I hope you have a wonderful day. Continue to read your scriptures. This is where we find true happiness. Again i love you and think and pray about all of you a lot!

A letter from Sacramento

[Editor's note: I got this note in the mail on Monday...]

Hi Sister Simons!
I am in one of the wards your son is currently serving in here in California. I would just like to say you have raised an amazing missionary. He has such a bright spirit and sweet personality, but I think the best thing about him is his love for this gospel. I've had the chance to work with him in our ward missionary effort and every lesson he has definitely touched and enlightened the people. Especially my best friend who he will be baptizing this weekend! What I am most grateful for though is the effect he has had on my parents. My parents are not members, and are currently investigating the church. Elder Simons has only truly taught one lesson with my parents, but he has found his way into my parents' hearts. His presence in our house has changed the whole atmosphere. My parents are now very interested in being baptized and scripture study. They always volunteer to let Elder Simons and Elder Ellsworth teach lessons here. He truly has an amazing testimony and I feel so blessed to be able to be around such a great missionary. Thank you for sacrificing time with your son so he could change as many lives as he has thus far. You should be truly proud to be his mother.

An "Elder Simons sighting" in Sacramento

[Editor's note: We received an email from a sister in our ward who is serving in the Sacramento Mission. She  wrote the following in her blog about seeing Elder Simons at a baptism...]

Sister Farr and Elder Simons

"I was invited to a baptism today of a young woman who had began investigating the Church with a friend in the Roseville mission.  She decided to be baptized and to attend in her own Young Singles branch in our mission, so she finished her lessons with our office elders.


When I arrived at the baptism I discovered, to my delight, that she was being baptized by Elder Wilson Simons, of the Roseville Mission, and formerly of Corner Canyon 5th Ward!  I can report firsthand that he looks great, performed without a hitch, and is thoroughly enjoying his mission.

His companion is from Orem, Utah, and the Bishop of the Young Singles Ward is related to the Smiths in Draper.  I tell you, the Church is a close-knit family."

Someone somewhere whispers a prayer for me

I appreciate that email mom. Thank you for your love and your prayers. I feel them strengthen me when I feel like I have no energy to endure. I feel sometimes that when I have no power or motivation to get up and do the Lord's work that someone somewhere whispers a prayer for me and our Heavenly Father gives me the desire needed and I get up and can go do my work. I would not be able to serve this mission without the people back home standing behind me. I love you all and thank you.

This week has humbled me to the depths of my heart. We had to "pass off" the young adult girl on Saturday and that was one of the hardest moments on my mission. But the Lord never leaves us feeling like we didn't get the best out of a situation, and she asked if I would baptize her. I felt so honored. I'm so excited. 

We found another golden investigator on Sunday. I really feel like it was the Lord blessing us for giving up our other one willingly. I'm excited about this new investigator and the potential he has. 

We taught these two foreign Exchanges students from China and I had the chance to teach them about Jesus Christ whom they had heard of before. We gave them Book Of Mormons. Man it made me really sad that there are people in the world who don't know Christ. And who probably never will. But I ponder on the Plan Of Salvation and I realize they will have a chance to hear and accept this Gospel. I love that Plan and know its true.

So we have Zone Leader Council the very first Friday of the month. And then we train our individual zones the Tuesday after. We have stake coorelation the third Sunday of every month. I love these meetings because I feel the spirit teaching me new things about how I can become a better missionary and maginify my calling better. I love this work. Its not my work though, its the Lord's. I feel honored to be able to help him in such a wonderful way. So many blessings I have received where I felt undeserving. I love the Lord. I love my mission. Again thank you for your prayers. I love you all!

OH and a mini missionary stays with us for about 3 days and lives with us and sleeps in our home. We had a lot of fun with this one this time. When he came he wasn't sure if he was going to go, but the last thing he said to me was that he was going to go. What a neat experience! I love you!

This church is pure and real

Hey mom!!

Well this week has been interesting!! So first ZLC last week. We have all the zone leaders in the mission and the assistants there. And we talk about policies and then we hear from President and Sister Weston. We got an email from Salt Lake (well President did) that says after every ZLC the zone leaders have to give a three hour training meeting, on what we have learned at ZLC. So I might have mentioned this last week but we were so underprepared!! But the Lord made all the difference and totally took control of our meeting and taught very well through us. I hope all the missionaries in the Zone got edified and enlightened. There are 8 elders 4 sisters and 1 senior couple. I love this zone so much. They are all such great examples to me.

Life is so much like a blur its crazy. I feel like it was yesterday that I hit my year mark, and I feel like it was like a week ago that I left the MTC to fly out here. Its crazy.

So this week we had stake correlation. That is where Elder Ellsworth, Me, the stake presidency, President Weston all come together and talk about the work in the stake. I have learned so much about priesthood leadership from this meeting. I love that I get this wonderful humbling opportunity to work so close with these leaders. They are teaching me so much just from their good examples. We are really trying our hardest to train the ward councils to just focus on the ward mission process and help them be more missionary minded. I got to sit next to President, and I just know that he is called of God. Everything that he says I feel the spirit confirm to me that it is true. I love that man. I look up to him so much. He is such a man!!

So I don't know if I told you much about Alicia (YSA girl). She accepted a baptismal date the first real lesson we had with her. She is so sharp and totally picks up the doctrine and runs with it. But she doesn't live in our mission :( So we have to pass her on. But I think we still can go to it. But we were asking President if we could teach her and baptize her but he totally explained and taught us about stewardship and how we can't receive revelation for her and the bishop can't either because she isn't under our stewardship and all this cool stuff. He doesn't miss a chance to teach us. He is amazing.

The Lord is real. He lives. He is amazing. I know that this church is pure and real and has the priesthood which is essential for anyone's salvation. I love you all!!

I love this work

This week felt really long and short at the same time. It was weird. It was good not to have as much drama in the zone as last week. We had a ton of lessons fall through though. It was extremely frustrating. But I know that we are working our hardest, and I know we will be blessed for that. Some of our investigators are progressing very well and some are not. I wish I could do the commitments we leave with them, for them. But I can't. That is in complete opposition to God's plan. They need to do it for themselves. As I learn more about God's plan for His other children I realize more about my own. When I get frustrated with my investigators for not doing the things they commited to do, I think more about how my Heavenly Father feels when I don't do what I know I should be doing. It is interesting how God works. 

We were going to have a baptism this Satruday, but he is not ready. which is so sad. I hope we can baptize him before I get transferred. We are teaching so many great people. 

We had ZLC on Friday. It was great to see all my buddies. We learned so much from President. I love that man, and I know that he is called of God. I truly have a testimony that he receives revelation for us and the mission. I love it. 

Speaking of revelation, I was asked to give a talk on Revelation, on Saturday for a talk like 12 hours later in the YSA ward. It went well I thought. I kept telling the girl before me to talk for like 18 minutes so I could just bear my testimony for like three minutes and leave, but she ended up taking 9 minutes and I also remembered that the YSA beginning part including the sacrament takes 10 minutes. So I was left with...25 minutes. I was not too excited because I only prepared a talk for 15 minutes. But somehow it worked out. Hopefully it sounded not too scatterbrained. But I learned a lot from preparing. 

Anyway I love this work. I'm so thankful I'm on a misson!! I love it!!

April baptism

Hey mom and dad!!

The baptism was so great!!! Both of her parents came and seemed to enjoy it. What a miracle that they came. 

Elder Rasmussen & Elder Simons at baptism

I still can't really believe it. I'm so thankful. And we have dinner with them tomorrow. So that's even more of a miracle. Hopefully we can spark some interest in them so they want to hear more of the Savior's message. It was just a great week overall. It went by really fast. But i really can't explain my feelings concerning her baptism. There are no words adequate. No definitions that would satisfy the pure feelings i have about this baptism and situation. It was a miracle. Her parents have had a complete 180 change of heart. And people think there is no God. 

If anyone says there is no God, I say come follow me for one day and you will see the Lord guide us to who needs to be taught, and watch the Lord put us in the right place so that someone who is looking for us comes and talks to us. If someone says there is no God it makes me speechless. How sad. We tracted into this house this week and we met a scientist. Oh what joy filled my heart. Not. So I have bashed with several scientists on my mission (they like to bash and when the days get long and it gets hot out there and i get frustrated i like to bash too) and basically they believe in nothing. They just pretend with fancy words (like a man in the Book of Mormon named Amalickiah). But yeah my conclusion on them is they believe in nothing because it is easier. But she asked and asked how i could prove God, and i told her many instances where God was evident in my life but she would just toss that fact away and ask for another one. So frustrating, while i walked away i was mad at her. But as i pondered more and listened to the spirit's whisperings i realized that its not her that i should mad at. Its satan. He is the one that has twisted her and her scientist friend club minds so they believe this foolishness and false doctrine. He is the father of lies. He desires to sift us as wheat, he wants us to be miserable like himself (lines from the BOM), but another line i found interesting is "...because they did yield themselves unto the power of Satan" Yeah their brains have been twisted and bent and destroyed to believe that there is no God. But at some point in their lives they let the power and will of Satan go before the Will of the Father. And that crushes me. How grateful i am that these people will have a second chance. But they still will have to accept the doctrine of Christ and i hope they can do that. 

Anyway sorry i just went off on a big tangent. So we haven't set a date with our other investigator but he did say he wants to be baptized before June so that is sweet. I hope he gets baptized before i leave. We did a lot of tracting this week. Met some pretty cool people. Didn't pick up any new investigators but i know that the Lord is preparing people as i type this email. I know that and i can testify of that as well. 

Thank you for you prayers. I feel the power of them everyday out here. I appreciate them and always will. I pray for you as well. I love this work. I feel lost in it. In a good way. I have lost myself in the work and I'm happier than ever and i feel like i know my purpose more than ever. I'm so thankful for that. Interviews with  President are this week!

Elder Simons

I love you!