I am honored to be a missionary

Hey mom!!
So Elder Buhler and i get along so well its crazy! I love this kid!  He is doing great, his wrist is feeling a lot better so that is good. We can ride bikes again! I missed bikes a lot!
This week was crazy! We had a lesson with our deaf investigator and i had this lesson plan that i thought was great and was fit to convince everyone in the world to be baptized. But as soon as we got in there i was inspired to ask him if he had any intentions of being baptized and what was holding him back from taking that step and that leap of faith. And he said he wanted to at some point and he just had a couple things he needed to find out. Then Brother Brock (his fellowshipper) was inspired to have me ask him the Baptismal Interview questions, so i asked them to him and we figured out the problems that he had and we were able to resolve them and help his progress which was being hindered by unknown things to us, but known things to the Lord. I know that Heavenly Father was there with us and he wanted us to follow that spirit that he was giving us and we did, and we were able to get a soft commitment to baptism. Which is such a change from how it normally goes in there. He has been investigating the church for (his wife said 50 years) a while. The Lord is totally blessing us here! We hope to get a baptismal date with him for November 19th. Ah i can't wait!
We also are planning on getting another date for our other investigator. He has been investigating for a long while too. I have a feeling that baptisms are coming soon!
So we had to do some service (mow a lawn) and so I decided to do it in my church clothes so here is a picture of that:

then Buhlers bike got a flat so i fixed that too. It was a good week.

So we have totally tracted all of Gridley and Biggs so we are on to the smaller cities in our area (Richvale, Nelson, Butte City) Tiny, tiny places. In Richvale they teach anti-mormon doctrine at their church, so it is pretty fun going tracting there and everyone wants to bash with you. Man i just wish people had the truth and weren't blinded by what their pastor taught. I'm so glad we have the same church everywhere. We teach the same truths. We are so blessed for that. I love the Church and I'm honored to be able to be a missionary! But anyway we never get to go out to the small towns because they are super far away so we usually get a member to take us. We got Romney, the bishop's son. He is way cool and we are like the best of friends. Here is a picture of all three of us and a way cool sign:

Elder Buhler finally did get his new bike. It is pretty nice and really lightweight. Yes both of my brake pads got stolen. It happened in Biggs though. Crazy, weird stuff happens in Biggs. Like it doesn't surprise me that my brake pads got stolen. Next it will be like my handle grips or something. I will replace the pads as soon as i can find a place that sells them. We have nothing in Gridley so there aren't many places to shop. Oh well, i love it here and the Lord wants me to be here for a reason. 
I love you guys!
Have a great week!

100% Committed to the Work

Training has been a humbling experience. My companion is named Elder Buhler and he is really great. He is from Highland, Utah and he already is such a great missionary! I feel like he has been a missionary for quite a long time. I have already learned so much from him, mainly how to be teachable. He does a great job at that, and that is something that i want to work on. He is great. We (Bo and I) picked him up at Yuba City. It seems like i was just in that same building when i was meeting Elder Osejo. 
Seems like you guys had a great week! I did too. It was pretty tiring though, but that is always good. We tracted a lot on Elder Buhler's second day and we met this lady and she had some questions about the Plan of Salvation so we answered and taught a little about the Book Of Mormon. We are going back Wednesday night, so i am super excited about that one. We really need to pick up some solid investigators. We are going to visit some former investigators this week for about the third time over. It's pretty funny because they all know me and pretty much are my friends now, so maybe this time around they will let us in and start teaching again!
We had such a good Trainer/Trainee meeting on Friday. President Weston taught some of the doctrine of Christ and our missionary purpose. Man i love that man. He is awesome.


President Weston, Elder Buhler, and Elder Simons

Still doing some good work with the less-active people. We have fully activated one woman in our ward. She is so awesome. I love going over and teaching her. We have been working with her for basically my whole mission and she is totally coming every week. Heavenly Father is showering down blessings upon us. I feel so lucky to be on my mission. It has been hard. It is hard not having too much success in the baptism area but i feel so successful as a missionary, because my success is based on my commitment. And i am 100% committed to this work. I love this work so much, this is the Lords work!
So this week when i got Elder Buhler they totally forgot to bring his bike down from the mission office. So we had to use a member's bike that is from the sixties with some newer parts put on it. I let Elder Buhler take my bike and i used the other one. Man that bike needs to be retired! It is so insane to ride.


Elder Simons, on p-day, riding the old borrowed bike from the 60's

But then we got Elder Buhlers bike and on Friday night we were riding around and he used his front brakes (he was used to mine, where both of my front brake pads have been stolen) and totally fell over the top of his handlebars and sprained  his wrists. So now we have to walk around. We are on direct orders to stay off bikes. So the Lord is truly trying to humble me. I loved the car so much, then i started loving bikes incredibly a ton, and now i get to start loving walking! Haha i love the Lord. I have to go but i hope all of you are doing wonderful! I love you very  much.
Elder Simons

All these things shall give thee experience

So we were supposed to get transfer calls on Saturday night but that didn't happen. So then we were going to get them Sunday night but no, and we just barely got them and this is the verdict:  Elder Peterson will be going to Colfax and I will be staying and training a new missionary from the MTC!!!  I am super excited, but a little nervous. I feel so young! Maybe because I am only four and half months out! But don't worry, I am going to train a warrior! He is going to be such a good missionary! AH! Hopefully I don't mess him up though. I am sure i won't because the Lord is on my side and He will help us figure this thing out.
This week has been a good long one. We have done a lot of service for people, which is always fun because you get to meet new people.  We helped clean up Biggs the other day. I love Biggs alot, its a great little town of about 1700. There are some really nice people and really hard-core gangsters there. Well not really but "wanna be" gangsters. The other day a little girl made fun of my helmet as i rode past and I frankly agreed with what she said but i am wearing the helmet for you, mom,' and thats the only reason.
Haha funny story so on Friday for lunch i called Elder Osejo and was telling him goodbye (he is going home tomorrow) and i saw a craw-dad in the canal across the street from our house so i run inside and grab a pan and i catch two of them. And i am looking for more and then a cat (not gangster) came and started messing with my lunch and ripped one of the claws off. So i just decided to go in and start cooking them. So i threw them in a pot and boiled them up real nice. And then cracked them open and ate the meat. Two good sized pieces of meat. One was the size of a quarter and the other the size of a dime. Haha good eating in Gridley!
This week we still have been doing some good work with our less-actives. We met some nice people tracting too. It was cool. Nothing much has changed. I love my mission so much though. I love Gridley and Biggs so much. One of our investigators came to all three hours of church yesterday! It was such a miracle! Also we had six less-actives come to church this week. What a great week!! The Lord is truly blessing our efforts!
That is really wonderful about Lindsay and Ryan getting married in the SLC temple. I so wish i could be there but i understand why they are going ahead with it. A temple marriage is what we should all strive for. I don't understand how people could turn away a church that binds husband and wife for eternity. I guess alot of people don't really understand it, but oh well, i am working to find those people that are looking for the truth!
I want to share a sweet scripture with you. It's in D&C 122:7:
"And if thou shouldst be cast into the ^apit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the ^bdeep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to ^chedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of ^dhell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee ^eexperience, and shall be for thy good." 
Holy cow! When i was reading this i was like "oh sweet, this is going to end with something like 'you will be saved and you won't have to endure this if you are faithful' ".  But no. It just ends with "it shall be for thy good"! Wow. This is just a testament to me that life is hard. It isn't meant to be a breeze. We are meant to get tested and prepare to meet God. And if all this stuff happens to us we need to realize and have the faith to be able to accept that it is for our good. We go through trials to learn from them and grow. I have found that to be true in my mission. The hardest days are the ones where i grow closer to the Lord and learn the most stuff. Also, on those hardest days, that's when i find new helpful insight on the scriptures. I know the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. We must read it daily. We must know that book cover to cover. READ IT DAILY! I love the Lord, I love my mission, I love my family.
You guys have a great week! I will send you a picture of my new comp next week!

Loving Gridley

Elder Simons & Elder Peterson

Elder Simons taking a bike for a spin

Hey mom!
I'm sorry for the delay on the email! We had to move a member into our ward and it was...insane. There was so much stuff to move. It was..ah crazy. But i am here. I feel a lot better which is good. I am excited for this next week to finish out this transfer strong. So this past week was kind of slower which isn't great but that's okay.
So conference was so amazing!! It was so much different now that i am on a mission. I felt the spirit so much stronger this time around. It was because i actually paid attention.
But anyway I hope you guys had so much fun at the cabin, i thought about you a lot but i didn't have trunky thoughts. How much did dad sleep during the sessions? Just kidding dad!
But yeah i hope i don't leave Gridley. It's so awesome. I went to Oroville today for groceries and there were so many cars i was like getting aniexty! I was like wow i am too crowded here. I want to go back to Gridley. So that made me realize that i want to stay. But we get transfer calls next Saturday so we will see what happens. I know though wherever i am sent that's where the Lord needs me.
But hmm what to tell you. Still mostly less active work right now. I love to see people bear their testimony who thought they had lost it. It's a miracle. I want an investigator way bad though. A solid one that is. I know the harder i work the closer i come to him or her. I love the Lord. His hand is in all things. 
anyway i love you guys. Have a wonderful fhe!
Elder Simons!

Under the weather

Hey mom!
Its funny cause i am really really sick today. Oh well. I have had some stomach issues but hopefully they will go away. But this letter will be short cause i want to go and lie down. So i am sorry about that.
I love everyone in the ward. I love this work. I love the lord. I love everything, except me being very sick. So i will tell you a quick story then probably head out so i am sorry about that.
So about two months ago a less active family lost their dad while he was traveling to work. And it hit them pretty hard. And everyone has been trying to be able to reach her and get a visit with her. So randomly i thought i would call her on Wednesday night and see if we could come over Thursday and she said sure! (Thursday night we go on exchanges with one guy from the Elders and one from the High Priest group) so it worked perfectly. So studying in the morning was very interesting.  i was like super stressing on what to teach them and got the feeling to quit studying...i was like...wait...what?? nah i have to study, but i stopped studying for her. But anyway later on in the day we go over and we are talking about life with them and then the guy is like okay do you have a message for them? I was like uh yes (that is a new kind of scary, when you have to deal with a family who just lost a father)...and the spirit took over. I can't even remember everything that was said. But i talked a little about the Plan of Salvation and testified that they would see their dad and husband again and also one of the sons does not believe in God so i had that to deal with. I was pretty nervous. But it went great. Everyone was crying at the end.  I hope i helped them remember what they are missing out on, by not going to church and doing the things they are supposed to. I hope i made a tiny difference on their lives. Anyway i better go lie down. I love you guys.
Elder Simons!

All Slicked Up

Wow! What a blessing us four kids have to look at you guys and see basically a perfect marriage. (I know it’s not perfect, but I still haven’t seen you fight or anything). It’s funny cause when elders talk about marriage they are like "of course there will be lots of fighting in marriage cause we have seen our parents".  I just sorta laugh, because i have never seen my father mis-treat my mom or any harsh words thrown around. I am so grateful for that and know that, that will and has left the standard of what i want my marriage to be like!
This week there was a lot of less active work. I think the key to this work is being yourself with them. They know what missionaries are and they know what we do. But the first few times you visit them you gotta let them know that you are there to get to know them and stuff. You want to have them know that you love them and care for them.  We have been working with a lady and she is about 60 or 65 ish and she is pretty cool and has a really strong testimony. But we usually go to her house every Friday or so and we read the Book of Mormon with her and she usually shares some insight that she gets from it which is awesome. So i think i was blessed with being very bold. Not too bold but bold enough. So i straight up ask her every time why she isn’t coming to church and tell her how blessed she will be if she comes. i told her i wanted her to see me in my suit all slicked up and i wanted to see her in her nice Sunday dress. And she loved that.  But anyway she was there Sunday and i seriously almost did a little dance during sacrament. It was the best. Man i have seriously grown to love the people. It is so amazing. I love being on a mission where i get to come in contact with people who are just a little lost or need a little push in the right direction. Ah i hope my mission never ends! Its so amazing.
Funny story. so one of our investigators is very very deaf. like insane deaf. but he sorta does not want to progress to baptism because that would mean he has to give up smoking and coffee. So i said to him if Jesus Christ was right here with us and asked you to give up drinking coffee would you? (hoping that he would say yes, then i would say well i am a missionary who represents Jesus Christ, what i say is what He would have me say. That brings a real strong bold spirit that is amazing) but he said "thats a stupid question, you are stupid for asking that" Well thank you! I love you too man. After that the lesson sorta got unraveled but that’s okay. It also didn’t help that i was on exchanges with an elder who doesn’t really care too much for his mission so he didn’t say really anything. But oh well! Next week i am going to commit this man to be baptized and he will not think i am stupid but he will consider me a representative of Jesus. That was funny though just cause this old man just called me stupid so i was like wait wait wait...what?
But i fell on my bike trying to get air of a curb. Didn’t work. I will try my hardest to remember to strap the good old helmet on.
I may have already talked a little bit about Ether 12:27 but it totally reminds me of Enoch in Moses 6, i believe (sorry i forgot my scriptures back at lil Macedo). But i love how the Lord comes to Enoch and says that he needs to prohecy to these people who are really evil, who have a hell prepared for them, and instead of running away or doing any of that he humbles himself and asks the Lord why he was chosen. And he says he is but a lad and all the people hate him and he is slow of speech. I can’t remember the verse perfectly but the Lord comes to him and says basically I got you covered man go out and do as I commanded and nothing will stand in your way. This always reminds me of Nephi when he says "i will go and do the things the Lord commands". We need to realize that what the Lord says and asks are commandments and we aren’t only supposed to do them, the Lord expects us to do them. So i see if i am not confident in myself as a missionary or i don’t understand this rule or that rule i can get on my knees and pray and i know Heavenly Father will let me know what i need to do. He has done it before with Enoch and countless others in the scriptures, and in this church we believe that God still talks to people and we believe that we can receive personal revelation so why don’t we get on our knees more and ask God? He promises us numerous times that if we simply ask He will answer. I love the Lord, He is my Savior. I love Our Literal Heavenly Father, who gave us His Son. How blessed are we. I say these things in Jesus Christ name.
I hope you all have a great day. I am constantly praying for each and every one of you.
Love Elder Simons
Sorry so many typos, but i have to rush mom sorry!

A couple of photos

Elder Simons studying

Keeping up on the driving skills