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

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

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!

What shall we eat?

Hey mom and dad!

What a beautiful day we had yesterday! I love that we have holidays that are solely dedicated to our Lord and Savior. I love Easter and the meaning behind it. 

So we didn't have dinners this whole week which kinda stinked but oh well and my credit card that the mission gives us somehow got hacked on to and we got that cancelled and I'm waiting on another one. So basically what I'm trying to say is I ran out of food this week. Which was interesting. I feel like i lost some weight. Then i got my package. Full of nothing but candy. So all the weight i might have lost was gained back by Peep-mania. So thank you for the package!! It was perfect timing. I wonder how I'm going to get groceries today but I'm really going to take the Savior's request literally: "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father ^aknoweth that ye have need of all these things.33 ^aBut ^bseek ye first the ^ckingdom of God, and his ^drighteousness; and all these ^ethings shall be ^fadded unto you."  So we will see how that goes.

So our baptism for this weekend got cancelled on Friday night. Her dad said no. So that put a major damper on things. But I knew that the Lord was just testing our faith. I prayed harder than I have ever prayed. I pleaded my case with the Lord and i listened and i felt through the feelings of the spirit that everything was going to be okay. Saturday night before going to bed we got a call from the investigator, and she said her dad said yes. (and remember this guy is like...anti-mormon to the extreme) I was so humbled. In a way that i never thought was possible. I felt joy that i had only felt a few times before on my mission when an investigator says something that is an answer to a prayer. Like "yes" to a baptism or in this case "yes my dad is letting me be baptized". I was so happy. I could barely sleep. So the baptism is happening this Saturday. I can't wait. I feel like i don't deserve these blessings. But i won't complain that I'm getting them. 

We weren't able to pick up any new investigators. Which kinda stinks. But thats okay. Its interesting because everything can be going wrong and one right thing can be going on (the baptism) and its totally fine. I love my mission. I wish i could press the pause button though. Its going too fast. Like unfairly fast. 

So some pictures for you. One with me and Rasmussen:

and another with me and Elder Frank:

And the one with the kids is from Easter yesterday:

They are my favorite kids in the world. I love their family. They were awesome to take us in on Easter. This ward is amazing. But i feel I'm being transferred in May. I hope not.

I'm glad everything back home is all good and fine. I love you all. Have a good week. I can't believe its April!

A week of miracles

That was a good email mom, thanks.

This week has been a week a miracles. Miracles that are making me tear up as i type. First of all on Thursday we were street contacting and there was this girl, who looked like she had been through a thing or two and had piercings and all kinds of crazy stuff. So we ALMOST didn't go talk to her, but the spirit, prompted me to "go up right now and talk to her". So we did and did a street contacting schpeel and she said "well...I'm a member". (I was like "interesting...your name isn't on our records", but you can't just say that to anyone that is way creepy) So we had a great conversation and we got pretty deep into her life and we were discerning from the spirit what she needed to hear. The Lord had truly prepared her in the weeks prior to Thursday. Two days before she felt like finding her scriptures and reading the Book of Mormon. And she hasn't prayed in years but she prayed after she read. I bore testimony to her that the Holy Ghost which she received at baptism prompted her to do those things, which meant she still had a testimony of the Church. I believe that is exactly what she needed to hear. She started to tear up. I truly felt like i wasn't saying anything, but the Lord was directing my mouth to say things to her. It was a miracle. 

Another one was Friday night we had dinner with this family and the parents asked for blessings because they both in the past two years finished with ugly divorces so they have been struggling from that and with some health issues. So we said yes but we had to go visit someone and we would be back in like twenty minutes. I told Rasmussen as we got out that I'm glad we have time to think about what we are going to say. And we kept walking to the man's house we were going to visit, and I was thinking about that comment really hard, thinking "Did I really just say that? Do I really credit myself for when I give blessings? All that I have to do with it is that I'm the voice. I'm not the dictator of what the blessing consists of, but I just voice it." So for the twenty minutes we had to walk (the man wasn't home.. oh well) around I was just praying for the spirit. Not for things to say. But in aligning my will with the with Lord's. If I just thought of some great things to say that would be my will. And it would be pointless, but as I changed my will to the Lord's will I felt an abudance of the spirit fall into my mind. I received revelation of what she was going through (oh and fyi at this time I had NO idea I would be the one giving her a blessing as opposed to her husband) and what she needed and I knew that when I layed my hands upon her head I would be given everything that I needed to say. So we go back to their house and she sits down and she is says "I don't know who should perform the blessing" and all I say is "What is the spirit telling you?" And of course I had a feeling, but she chose me. And I have never before felt the spirit take over in a blessing more than when I gave voice on Friday night. I learned from the spirit. I ended the blessing and she looks up to me (teary eyed) and says "How did you know all of that?" I was like (teary eyed) "I didn't, that was all the spirit. I had nothing to do with it." That was a miracle because I think that blessing helped her out. 

The next miracle! So our young investigator's parents are letting her be baptized!! April 14th!! And they also are letting us come over to their house to read the BOM!! And these were the parents who were super 'anti' like in January. When i think about how much the Lord has softened their hearts it makes me want to weep. I can't thank the Lord enough. This week has been truly amazing. 

Oh by the way I get to stay another 6 weeks in Roseville. Its weird to think that after this transfer I will be ten days from hitting my year mark. So weird!!! I love life! I love you all!! Have a great week!

Aren't prayers amazing?

Hey mom and dad!
This week has been crazy, so we get to share a car with the Liberty Ward Elders, we get it three days a week and they get it four days. It already has boosted the people we see and the success we are having at finding people home later on at night.
So we had another lesson with our Deaf Investigator. Man that was stressful. I wanted to rip my hair out. He keeps pulling up crazy excuses why he shouldn't get baptized right now. So this next week we are going in and doing a "do or die" lesson with him. He needs to be baptized, if he says no we are dropping him until March or something. But i probably will be transferred by then.
We had a lesson with our twenty two year old investigator. (his wife is a member) I want him to be baptized before i leave too. He will be like the perfect member. I think we have dinner with him tonight. He is really cool. I lost my planner and pen this week so that has been more than frustrating. I lost my good pen.
We had a lot of less active lessons this week, i love that work. We were over at one of their houses this week and the wife said the closing prayer (and i have been working with these guys for six months) and her prayer was one of the most beautiful prayers i have ever heard. Her testimonoy has truly re-sparked and i was crying during the prayer, but luckily no one saw me. But the prayer amazed me. Aren't prayers amazing? Sometimes in my moments of weakness i forget to really think about what a prayer really means. Who we are actually talking to. And the true power behind it. A prayer is a simple gesture that can go further then we humans can comprehend. We talk to God. The Creator of our spirits. The Father of all. We as humans can ask Him for anything we want. (we can ask but it must be the will of Him for the prayer to be answered) I love the doctrine behind prayer. It is simply a miracle. Heavenly Father loves us so much. How do we know if the Book of Mormon is true? We pray about it. Prayer is how we know and find out the truth of all things. I don't know if I'm making any sense but i love prayer. I may not understand HOW it works but i know it DOES work. I have seen many miracles only thru and by prayer. Let us all pray more often and always have a constant open communication with our Father who is in heaven.
Elder Buhler has been sick this week but he is doing better. We are still loving each other's company. He is such a cool kid.
My mission gives me so many blessings, i just need to look for them and help those around me find them. I love you all, I love the Lord, i love the eternal and everlasting work.
Love,
Elder Simons

Amonds or Almonds?

Hey Mom!,
We have a lesson at eleven thirty so we studied earlier so we could get our laundry done quicker. So what's up? how are you guys? hopefully good! Had some very interesting things happen this week. I will write them in the letter.
So everyone here says warsh for wash or Warshington. There isn't an r in wash people! And i thought i left Dad's amonds (with no L) there. But people here eat amonds too. But for me and my house we will eat aLmonds.
So one day last week with our mini missionary we tracted into this old woman named Helen. She was from Great Britain and she was hard of hearing. But i am talking to her and i literally have to yell in her ear for her to even hear me. I kept trying to say stuff and she was like Huh? huh? But i was laughing so hard and she saw me lauging and she was just so happy and she laughed too. we really were just laughing up on her doorstep for like ten minutes about how deaf she was. we were both laughing so hard. It was the best. She was probably the happiest person i have met out here. And she lives in a tiny home and lives by no family, which is hard but she is happy. She has lots of Mormon friends but isn't interested right now, but we still talked for a good twenty minutes. It was nice.
ANYWAY...So i am pretty happy. I am just super sick. I have a really really bad cold which stinks. But the bishop's wife has me on this special weird diet thing and its supposed to help it. we will see what happens. We picked up an investigator this week! Her name is Lori. She is way pumped to read the Book of Mormon. we will see her again in two weeks. I can't wait.
We had such a good zone conference this past Friday. It was great. we talked about effective companionship study. It's cool cause if we do it right the spirit can be there. And it can be a great source of Revelation for our investigators and those we teach.
Anyway..Heavenly Father answers prayers. Saturday night i was really worried about a couple of things and i was stressing and not having a good time over it. so i kneeled down and said a prayer for help. And during the prayer i had a feeling to read Ether 12. So i did. And it was great. I love how it talks about faith. So let me just give a quick background. So in verses 23-25 Moroni is sort of but not really complaining about having to write and how the writing that he does isn't great and people will make fun of his writing. and then the Lord comes to him and says that all will be okay and he is watching over his writings and stuff. the Lord excuses his writings and weaknesses. But i got to verse 40..yeah 40 where Moroni says again his "weakness in writing" And i sort of got mad at Moroni. i was like "here the Lord came to you and told you all is well and you are still complaining? come on!" But then i was like wait...this thing that i have been thinking about i have gotten an answer too...and i am still inquiring of the Lord.. the scriptures slapped me in the face big time. It was really interesting and humbling to see that. We may have already had our prayers answered we just choose not to see it. we need to start having that different prespective on life. It will bless our lives.
Mom I am so sorry. I am pretty out of it. i am pretty darn sick. I love you guys. thanks for the packages this week. So great!