Hey mom and dad,
This week has been very interesting. I love this work, but the problem has been getting to it, unfortunately.
This week has been a week of about 153643 excuses not to go out and work. it has been a challenging week. In some ways i feel like i'm going through the refiners fire. In the Bible dictionary it says refiner means " A man who separates the precious metals from the dross" with which in nature they are usually found mixed. Part of the process consists in the application of great heat, in order to bring the mass into a fluid state, hence the term “refiner’s fire.” Christ is the great "Refiner" I feel like Jesus is trying to put me through a bit of test to see if my faith holds up and i stay obedient to the commandments and covenants i have made. So far im doing alright and i hope to win the battle!
Our only investigator was an eastern indian man and he was sooo promising! He
had a baptismal date for Feb fourth that we set like the second day i was here. But for some reason he called us and said he wasn't interested and didn't want to read out of the Book of Mormon anymore, but just the bible. It is interesting how many different ways the heart can be broken. But we need to remember and me most of all that the Atonement was performed by our Savior not to heal the whole hearts but the broken. I love the Psalm 147:3 "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds". It just really is quite powerful to me. Jesus the Christ is so powerful. He can do all things and through him we can do all things too if we are faithful and obedient.
In our apartment its just me and my companion. So its okay to send stuff straight to our apt. Interviews with president went great. I love that guy. He is so sharp and he knows what's going on. We set a mission goal of 600 baptisms this year and i think we can get it. We got 484 last year. So pray for that goal for us in CRM, will ya?
And P-day's here are just straight basketball. I love it! Its so nice. But i'm so tired after! But thats okay its so worth it!
I love helping and learning from my district. We have some of the best elders in the mission. The interesting thing about being in some form of leadership is you have to be perfect. Especially in this young district. Their eyes are always on you so you have to be doing everything right, which has overall been a blessing to me because it makes me better. The lord truly does bless us in interesting ways!
Thats wonderful that you got a letter from Bill and Joann. They mean so much to me. I hope you one day get to meet them. They were so funny!
Anyway! I better go. If there is anything i can do for anyone let me know. Oh also! I'm in Shawn Goff's cousin's ward. I didn't get a chance to ask him his name but its such a small world! But it was neat to talk to him. He went to Alta in 92 so that was sweet.
Its so weird that i will hit eight months on Wednesday. I feel like i have been out for a week. I still have so much to do in such a little amount of time!
Tell Grandma i love her and i will just start praying harder for her. She is often in my prayers. I love her so much. And that is so cool about Dad and Ron going and using their priesthood. What a blessing it is to have that restored priesthood. I love the gospel!
Love Elder Simons!
Monday, January 16, 2012
New area: Roseville 9th Ward!
[Editor's Note: We have been out of town, so this is last week's letter, posted a week late!]
Hey mom!
This week has been crazy. I really like Roseville. But it is very different from Gridley. I miss Gridley a ton but what do you do?
My companion is Elder Shock. My new apartment is really nice. Its a lot better than the one in Gridley, but it was really, really messy when i got here so i got it all cleaned up nice and good looking. So we are back on the road.
My comp is from Cushing Oklahoma. So thats crazy. I have only had one comp from Utah. How weird is that? I know. Very weird. He has been out for 17 months. We get a long great. He makes me laugh because he is really sarcastic to everything in the world. Its a really interesting sense of humor.
Bill's baptism went great. That was such a much needed blessing for their home and also for me. I wish i could be there to help teach the new member lessons to him, but oh well.
Elder Leone is really such a great friend. We got so close serving 4 transfers together. He is now a ZL in Rocklin. So that is cool. I'm excited for him. We had some great times.
The Lord has called me to something that i wasn't ready for. Being a district leader. I have five other elders in my districts that are amazing missionaries. The best in the mission if you will and i have been called to be their leader. I feel under qualified. But i know as i give my 100% and my best the Lord will help me out tremendously. He already has for district meeting this week.
I love the Lord and the many blessings He pours down upon me. When i am having a hard time with life i just recall all the blessings and i am filled with joy.
The ward i'm serving in is the Roseville Ninth ward. Its a great ward. Very young ward. We picked up an investigator this week and set a baptismal date with him the first lesson for Feb fourth. He came to church this week and loved it. I can't wait to see more of his progression in the gospel. i feel he is a "golden investigator" so that is really exciting. He knows he needs to quit smoking to become a Mormon so he bought all these patches and stuff so hopefully they work :)
Well have a great week wherever the heck you are! (you didnt really tell me!) Pray always!
Love Elder Simons
Hey mom!
This week has been crazy. I really like Roseville. But it is very different from Gridley. I miss Gridley a ton but what do you do?
My companion is Elder Shock. My new apartment is really nice. Its a lot better than the one in Gridley, but it was really, really messy when i got here so i got it all cleaned up nice and good looking. So we are back on the road.
My comp is from Cushing Oklahoma. So thats crazy. I have only had one comp from Utah. How weird is that? I know. Very weird. He has been out for 17 months. We get a long great. He makes me laugh because he is really sarcastic to everything in the world. Its a really interesting sense of humor.
 |
| Elder Simons & new companion, Elder Shock |
Elder Leone is really such a great friend. We got so close serving 4 transfers together. He is now a ZL in Rocklin. So that is cool. I'm excited for him. We had some great times.
The Lord has called me to something that i wasn't ready for. Being a district leader. I have five other elders in my districts that are amazing missionaries. The best in the mission if you will and i have been called to be their leader. I feel under qualified. But i know as i give my 100% and my best the Lord will help me out tremendously. He already has for district meeting this week.
I love the Lord and the many blessings He pours down upon me. When i am having a hard time with life i just recall all the blessings and i am filled with joy.
The ward i'm serving in is the Roseville Ninth ward. Its a great ward. Very young ward. We picked up an investigator this week and set a baptismal date with him the first lesson for Feb fourth. He came to church this week and loved it. I can't wait to see more of his progression in the gospel. i feel he is a "golden investigator" so that is really exciting. He knows he needs to quit smoking to become a Mormon so he bought all these patches and stuff so hopefully they work :)
Well have a great week wherever the heck you are! (you didnt really tell me!) Pray always!
Love Elder Simons
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Baptism and changing lives
Hey mom and dad,
What a week, what a week! So we had a lesson with Bill on Wednesday to get him all prepped. That went great, then i went on exchanges with Elder Leone and we went in his ward. So that was sweet. Then on Saturday we baptized Bill! It was so great!!! It went so well! I love that guy. He was so happy, i was too. I never have felt so much happiness in my life. That is so weird. My happiness has totally changed in seven months. I used to get my happiness on completely other stuff, now its other peoples' salvation. I love this work. It has truly changed my life. I love that i get to help people change their lives! Its been such a blessing.
We then confirmed Bill a member of the church on sSunday. What a neat experience. Again i love this man. I'm so proud of him and everything he has done to change his life. I am glad i had the chance to watch him change his life. What a blessing.
So we were supposed to get the transfer calls on Saturday night but instead we got them on Sunday night. And the call was....Elder Buhler........is staying! and I'm.......going to Roseville ninth ward!!! As a district leader! Holy cow, right? I'm really nervous. But one of my buddies is a zone leader there so that will be sweet! My new companion is Elder Shock. I'm excited to be with him. I hope i can help and serve him in any way he needs me. I guess the apartment is really nice, so I'm excited to get out of ours but i will for sure miss Gridley. I don't know what I'm going to do without the ward members here. I will miss them so much. But i know change is good.
I decided I'm going to make a couple goals because I'm being transferred and there are many things I need to diligently work on. But the one i want to work on most is loving the people i serve with. The other missionaries. I love all of them but that isn't really enough. I need to show Christ-like love, maybe not washing their feet but serving them as much as i can. So you can check on me in a couple months to see how I'm doing. This Christ-like attribute is really important for so many reasons. Christ showed the ultimate example of love by atoning for us. To save us. He loves us so much. Seek out in the scrips and the words of prophets to find out about this love. It will change lives. Christ changes lives. He changed mine.
Love you!
What a week, what a week! So we had a lesson with Bill on Wednesday to get him all prepped. That went great, then i went on exchanges with Elder Leone and we went in his ward. So that was sweet. Then on Saturday we baptized Bill! It was so great!!! It went so well! I love that guy. He was so happy, i was too. I never have felt so much happiness in my life. That is so weird. My happiness has totally changed in seven months. I used to get my happiness on completely other stuff, now its other peoples' salvation. I love this work. It has truly changed my life. I love that i get to help people change their lives! Its been such a blessing.
 |
| Elder Simons, Bill, Elder Buhler |
So we were supposed to get the transfer calls on Saturday night but instead we got them on Sunday night. And the call was....Elder Buhler........is staying! and I'm.......going to Roseville ninth ward!!! As a district leader! Holy cow, right? I'm really nervous. But one of my buddies is a zone leader there so that will be sweet! My new companion is Elder Shock. I'm excited to be with him. I hope i can help and serve him in any way he needs me. I guess the apartment is really nice, so I'm excited to get out of ours but i will for sure miss Gridley. I don't know what I'm going to do without the ward members here. I will miss them so much. But i know change is good.
I decided I'm going to make a couple goals because I'm being transferred and there are many things I need to diligently work on. But the one i want to work on most is loving the people i serve with. The other missionaries. I love all of them but that isn't really enough. I need to show Christ-like love, maybe not washing their feet but serving them as much as i can. So you can check on me in a couple months to see how I'm doing. This Christ-like attribute is really important for so many reasons. Christ showed the ultimate example of love by atoning for us. To save us. He loves us so much. Seek out in the scrips and the words of prophets to find out about this love. It will change lives. Christ changes lives. He changed mine.
Love you!
Monday, December 26, 2011
Miracles literally everyday
Hey mom and dad!
It was so great to talk to you yesterday! I loved seeing your beautiful shining faces. And im so excited for you to go on that trip! When do you leave and when do you come back? I want pictures ya hear??
On to the next year. My baptized and confirmed goal for next year is at least five. I'm hoping to get more. Our upcoming baptism counts for this year. I can't believe i get to baptize him. I'm so excited. I will send you pictures for sure!
Gees i dont even know what to say! We had a great week! I'm sad this is our last week together (Elder Buhler and I) But it has been so great to work with him. we have seen countless miracles. Miracles literally everyday. I have loved serving with him, but I'm glad we are both young on the mission so we will be able to see each other quite a bit later on. Maybe we will serve around each other later on.
Today for p-day we are going to play some basketball i think. I'm super excited. I need to get out there and just run and run till i drop.
This last week in Gridley is going to be like that. Work until i can't work anymore. I'm pumped. I gotta make this last week count!
I wonder where i will go. I will let you guys know next week. Hopefully i know by then.
I still can't believe i have a baptism this week. It is so unreal. I'm just not used to it i guess. Also we picked up a new investigator two weeks ago and this past Friday we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and commited him to baptism for January 21st. It was crazy! I'm used to it taking seven months! But the Lord prepares people in different ways and on a entirely different time table.
I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for every person i teach. I love that i get to help Him fufill His plan. I love being God's instrument. The same God who created our spirits. I love that I'm working side by side with Jesus Christ, the Creator of the world. The only person who could perform that Atonement. With Him all things are possible. Who wouldn't want Jesus Christ on their side? I do. I need him. I can't do anything without His help. Together They give us power to do all things that we must do. I know with surety that we can't access these powers from on high unless we pray and not just simply praying, but fervently and pleading with our Maker. If we want to use the Atonement, we have to prove to our Heavenly Father we deserve its healing powers and to Jesus Christ that we were worth the suffering. I love Them both in ways I can't really describe. They live. They love us. And i love them.
Have a wonderful week.
Remember that just because Christmas is over doesn't mean that Jesus Christ wasn't born :) Still think and ponder about what He has done for us. It still amazes me the circumstances He came down to. What a true testament of His humility.
Love you all!
It was so great to talk to you yesterday! I loved seeing your beautiful shining faces. And im so excited for you to go on that trip! When do you leave and when do you come back? I want pictures ya hear??
On to the next year. My baptized and confirmed goal for next year is at least five. I'm hoping to get more. Our upcoming baptism counts for this year. I can't believe i get to baptize him. I'm so excited. I will send you pictures for sure!
Gees i dont even know what to say! We had a great week! I'm sad this is our last week together (Elder Buhler and I) But it has been so great to work with him. we have seen countless miracles. Miracles literally everyday. I have loved serving with him, but I'm glad we are both young on the mission so we will be able to see each other quite a bit later on. Maybe we will serve around each other later on.
Today for p-day we are going to play some basketball i think. I'm super excited. I need to get out there and just run and run till i drop.
This last week in Gridley is going to be like that. Work until i can't work anymore. I'm pumped. I gotta make this last week count!
I wonder where i will go. I will let you guys know next week. Hopefully i know by then.
I still can't believe i have a baptism this week. It is so unreal. I'm just not used to it i guess. Also we picked up a new investigator two weeks ago and this past Friday we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and commited him to baptism for January 21st. It was crazy! I'm used to it taking seven months! But the Lord prepares people in different ways and on a entirely different time table.
I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for every person i teach. I love that i get to help Him fufill His plan. I love being God's instrument. The same God who created our spirits. I love that I'm working side by side with Jesus Christ, the Creator of the world. The only person who could perform that Atonement. With Him all things are possible. Who wouldn't want Jesus Christ on their side? I do. I need him. I can't do anything without His help. Together They give us power to do all things that we must do. I know with surety that we can't access these powers from on high unless we pray and not just simply praying, but fervently and pleading with our Maker. If we want to use the Atonement, we have to prove to our Heavenly Father we deserve its healing powers and to Jesus Christ that we were worth the suffering. I love Them both in ways I can't really describe. They live. They love us. And i love them.
Have a wonderful week.
Remember that just because Christmas is over doesn't mean that Jesus Christ wasn't born :) Still think and ponder about what He has done for us. It still amazes me the circumstances He came down to. What a true testament of His humility.
Love you all!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Man alive, I love my mission
Hi mom!
I cant believe we have a baptism coming up!!! The Lord has blessed us so much for our efforts! I feel so spoiled! I cant wait till the thirty first! It still seems unreal to me though.
I also cant wait till next Sunday. That will be so weird to Skype! So we are going on at one our time, which means..two your time. Hopefully everyone will be there. or whoever can. At our members house that we email at we come and use two computers and i always call him on Skype and say we need to practice for the big day so right now we are practicing what we are going to say while emailing. It is really fun. But i really am excited.
I opened all my presents :) sorry about that i just couldnt wait!! I showed the pictures to like everyone, and Sister Pratt. She liked them. I loved them and the GPS is like amazing!! Its so nice. and everything else is so cool! The pen is really nice Dad, thanks papa!
Anyway i have seen so many miracles this week. We are doing the Stop Smoking Workshop with a couple of people and they truly are doing great. They are putting their 100 % trust in the Lord and they are seeing the blessing from it. I love watching them grow and their testimonies of this restored gospel. I love the gospel so much, it is so interesting and so powerful.
Elder Buhler and I talked and we are going to do everything we can to be exactly obedient. We need all the success we can get and that is only through living the law of obedience. We are getting blessings already by going out of way to be obedient. We are having happier days. The amount of disapointing things isnt decreasing but our attuitude towards them is improving.
Man alive i love my mission. It has been the biggest blessing in my life. Im so lucky to be out here. I will most likely get transferred on Jan. third. I think wherever i go i will be homesick for Gridley. I have come to love every bit of this place. I used to want outta here so bad! Heavenly Father has a bigger plan for us all. I know it. I cant deny that i know it. I will miss the people. Dang its going to be weird!
Anyway we have a half p-day today and we get the rest on Thursday. We go do a Santa run on thursday. That will be in Yuba city.
I better go, i wish i had more to email about but all we are doing now is just cranking out the less-active lessons. We are getting Bill ready for baptism. Cant wait! make sure you remind me to tell you about his baptism on sunday. Dont forget. I love you guys so much! I love the Lord incredible amounts. I would literally be no where without his Atonement. Let us not take that for granted. Use it daily. Not just in the repenting process but in everything. Have a great week! talk to you soon!!!!
Merry Christmas. Dont forget the real reason of Christmas!
Elder Simons
I cant believe we have a baptism coming up!!! The Lord has blessed us so much for our efforts! I feel so spoiled! I cant wait till the thirty first! It still seems unreal to me though.
I also cant wait till next Sunday. That will be so weird to Skype! So we are going on at one our time, which means..two your time. Hopefully everyone will be there. or whoever can. At our members house that we email at we come and use two computers and i always call him on Skype and say we need to practice for the big day so right now we are practicing what we are going to say while emailing. It is really fun. But i really am excited.
I opened all my presents :) sorry about that i just couldnt wait!! I showed the pictures to like everyone, and Sister Pratt. She liked them. I loved them and the GPS is like amazing!! Its so nice. and everything else is so cool! The pen is really nice Dad, thanks papa!
Anyway i have seen so many miracles this week. We are doing the Stop Smoking Workshop with a couple of people and they truly are doing great. They are putting their 100 % trust in the Lord and they are seeing the blessing from it. I love watching them grow and their testimonies of this restored gospel. I love the gospel so much, it is so interesting and so powerful.
Elder Buhler and I talked and we are going to do everything we can to be exactly obedient. We need all the success we can get and that is only through living the law of obedience. We are getting blessings already by going out of way to be obedient. We are having happier days. The amount of disapointing things isnt decreasing but our attuitude towards them is improving.
Man alive i love my mission. It has been the biggest blessing in my life. Im so lucky to be out here. I will most likely get transferred on Jan. third. I think wherever i go i will be homesick for Gridley. I have come to love every bit of this place. I used to want outta here so bad! Heavenly Father has a bigger plan for us all. I know it. I cant deny that i know it. I will miss the people. Dang its going to be weird!
Anyway we have a half p-day today and we get the rest on Thursday. We go do a Santa run on thursday. That will be in Yuba city.
I better go, i wish i had more to email about but all we are doing now is just cranking out the less-active lessons. We are getting Bill ready for baptism. Cant wait! make sure you remind me to tell you about his baptism on sunday. Dont forget. I love you guys so much! I love the Lord incredible amounts. I would literally be no where without his Atonement. Let us not take that for granted. Use it daily. Not just in the repenting process but in everything. Have a great week! talk to you soon!!!!
Merry Christmas. Dont forget the real reason of Christmas!
Elder Simons
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The trial of your faith
Such a good week!!
So first i will start off with the training we had down in Citrus Heights. Wow! That's about all i can say. I learned so much about the Atonement, and how we MUST use it in our finding, teaching, and every aspect of missionary life. It the central theme in our church. They really helped us all understand our purpose better. I love what they said about waking up in the morning: "at 6:30 you wake up and show the law of obedience and at 6:31 we show the law of sacrifice and get going to exercise" That is always how it is. Sometimes it makes no sense at all why i have to exercise. I bike a thousand miles a day usually! But i still exercise because Heavenly Father put that in my path to see how much i want it. It takes sacrifice but the blessings from it are far greater than the worth of getting myself out of bed and exercising. I love the sacrifices i get to make on my mission. They ALL result in an abundance of blessings. They also said at the meeting if we truly understand our purpose we will double the amount of people we have in the pool for baptismal dates. So we had zero. But double of zero is one right? :) I was a little down. But i figured if (and these guys are from SLC, that were teaching us) they promised it, we could do it. So the next day we had our "do or die" lesson with the deaf investigator, and we watched the Resoration DVD and let me just tell you the spirit was there. Everyone could feel it. No one, absolutely no one could deny that this Church is the Church that Jesus Christ set up personally and under His direction. And i said "our purpose is to teach and baptize, we have been teaching you for months, i have been personally teaching you for seven months, and missionaries have been teaching you for over twenty years, are you ready to be baptized?" and he said..........he said... ......he said...."yes its time." I about...cried..you know what i think i did. I could not believe it! It truly testified of the truthfulness of the scripture "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that afaith is things which are bhoped for and cnot seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no dwitness until after the etrial of your faith" We did not get this baptism until after the trial of our faith. It really took so many tears, and sweat (biking there), and days upon days going hungry pleading with the Lord for this miracle to happen and I'm happy to say he will be baptized on December 31st 2011! I still cant believe it! It is so nuts! AH!!! I love this guy, and I'm so proud of the journey he has been on and where he is now. He will not regret this decision. AH! So yeah! we had lots of blessings this week! I cant believe it. But everyone pray hard for my investigator so he can make this date. Please.
But it has been a really good week. My leg is basically almost better. I love this work. I love the Lord.
Elder Simons!
So first i will start off with the training we had down in Citrus Heights. Wow! That's about all i can say. I learned so much about the Atonement, and how we MUST use it in our finding, teaching, and every aspect of missionary life. It the central theme in our church. They really helped us all understand our purpose better. I love what they said about waking up in the morning: "at 6:30 you wake up and show the law of obedience and at 6:31 we show the law of sacrifice and get going to exercise" That is always how it is. Sometimes it makes no sense at all why i have to exercise. I bike a thousand miles a day usually! But i still exercise because Heavenly Father put that in my path to see how much i want it. It takes sacrifice but the blessings from it are far greater than the worth of getting myself out of bed and exercising. I love the sacrifices i get to make on my mission. They ALL result in an abundance of blessings. They also said at the meeting if we truly understand our purpose we will double the amount of people we have in the pool for baptismal dates. So we had zero. But double of zero is one right? :) I was a little down. But i figured if (and these guys are from SLC, that were teaching us) they promised it, we could do it. So the next day we had our "do or die" lesson with the deaf investigator, and we watched the Resoration DVD and let me just tell you the spirit was there. Everyone could feel it. No one, absolutely no one could deny that this Church is the Church that Jesus Christ set up personally and under His direction. And i said "our purpose is to teach and baptize, we have been teaching you for months, i have been personally teaching you for seven months, and missionaries have been teaching you for over twenty years, are you ready to be baptized?" and he said..........he said... ......he said...."yes its time." I about...cried..you know what i think i did. I could not believe it! It truly testified of the truthfulness of the scripture "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that afaith is things which are bhoped for and cnot seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no dwitness until after the etrial of your faith" We did not get this baptism until after the trial of our faith. It really took so many tears, and sweat (biking there), and days upon days going hungry pleading with the Lord for this miracle to happen and I'm happy to say he will be baptized on December 31st 2011! I still cant believe it! It is so nuts! AH!!! I love this guy, and I'm so proud of the journey he has been on and where he is now. He will not regret this decision. AH! So yeah! we had lots of blessings this week! I cant believe it. But everyone pray hard for my investigator so he can make this date. Please.
But it has been a really good week. My leg is basically almost better. I love this work. I love the Lord.
Elder Simons!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
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
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
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