Hugging Christmas #8

December 22, 2014

Hey mom (and those who read this letter) I am going to go through a quick week for what we did, Monday we helped a lady for a few hours setting up her Christmas decorations and she gave us a Christmas tree! (Its the one in the photo I am hugging)- its an awesome tree and the only decoration we have on it is a cheap plastic foam airplane.  After that was all done we went finding for a few hours and met this Afghani father named Aqa with his wife and 3 kids, he got a visa for him and his family to come to the us from a raffle and there were a bunch of neighbors that gave him free stuff and we offered him a TV that one of the members was getting rid of because they got a new one during black Friday.  We then went to the Hartons for dinner and we had some really good food .... I don't even remember what it was, but it was good.

After that we went “finding” some more. Tuesday we had interviews with our mission president President Wilson, he is a super nice and funny and sweet guy, we talked about the progress that we were having in the area and in individual interviews we talked about how I was developing, interesting conversations because I don't even know what has changed yet I know everything has. I feel like people don't know they have truly changed for themselves until they look back at a time that they weren't like that.

It seems that it is the case even with temptations we have that we are tempted to do bad things, its by small and simple things in which great things are brought to pass, the little things in life, like maybe raking someone’s yard or saying hello for being good, or in the instance of bad, lying about a little thing or maybe going a way that you shouldn't have or something like that sort. All that I know is that good things are always better, stronger, and outlast any bad thing that will happen. It reminds me of the quote by a dude named Iroh, "if you look for the light, you shall always be able to find it, but if you look for darkness that is all you will ever see".

view from the car in Virginia 

I’m constantly praying for so many people that they can be looking for and going to the goodness that life has to offer in no matter what situation one may be in We ran into a lady who had that where she was trapped in a very bad place for a long time, stuck in a rut. then she looked for positive things little by little and over a process of a year or two was able to be completely out of the dark places she had been in before, kind of like the growth thing mentioned earlier, you never know how much you have grown (or even progressed) in life until you look back at where you were, and when you take a look back and see the challenges that you have faced and the trials you have accomplished (whether they range from something big, to something very small) you can even look to the future with hope in all that you can accomplish and face in life. The dude we took a pic with is Mr. Christmas.  (oops did not get this photo!) 

Hope all is doing well and sorry I didn't get to talk much about my week but I can feel the thoughts and prayers for while I am out here and my thoughts and prayers go to you all as well.

Jeremy with Elder Hudson, Bryce Forbes cousin! 

Let everyone know I am doing well and feasting upon the words of The Bible, The Book of Mormon, those that I meet and also feasting upon Chinese takeout food and packets of chicken flavored ramen (plus a box of mac and cheese a day because I got 45 packs of them from my mom (really my uncle) which all expire in March, so we had a gathering of Missionaries to help finish off one box of 15 in 2 meals, all 6 of us)

Missionary Christmas #7

December 29, 2014

Hey dad and mom!

So this week I won't really send a photo ‘cuz I left my camera at home but I will say this, we had a lots of fun this week. We had a huge Christmas Eve dinner and stuff so we got to see like half the ward in 2 houses and I ate so much food again, I was gunna explode! We also played some foosball with the youth and I beat one kid but everyone else whooped my butt in it, like 10-4 usually. That was Christmas Eve, for Christmas we opened our gifts and thank you so much for the gratitude journal and the ties/utility knife and the socks, we always love getting socks. We went over to the zone leaders place and played “rock ‘em sock ‘em robots” with remote control moving robots and that was hardcore, then we went to see some less active and other ward members, skyped, got some freaking glorious southern cooking meal from an investigator and then went to go see another member and talk with her about her job and how she loves the scriptures and the stories we shared.

When we were tracting we knocked into a family and they asked about the way we can find truth and I don't even remember what happened but I talked about (from what my comp said) the role of the scriptures and the holy ghost and its role, the next day we got a text that said she wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon so we are going over today to get the mom one. I’m so excited! We are seeing Leon, an investigator we have who is really good at the piano and we are giving him a hymnbook and writing our testimonies in it. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and wants to come to church but wasn't in town this past Sunday but he said "as a man of my word I will come" so we are praying for him to be able to come and always checking up with him.

We went to Shoney's all you can eat buffet with a member and I kind of ate way too much cheap seafood ‘cuz it was seafood night but we managed to pull through the night and get back with no bad stuff happening. We also have another investigator who is a Sunday school teacher in another church and every time we teach him I feel like the questions he asks always help me learn more and more about the bible and its history and stuff. Its really crazy how the Lord helps us with our weaknesses just by putting people in our path.

Today is zone p-day (preparation day) where from 1:30-5pm we are playing Oompa in the stake center gym (its ultimate Frisbee in a gym with a football and to score a point the football's got to go in the basketball hoop.) so I’m kind of nervous about how long I can go and play but it'll be good and fun cuz I’ll take breaks and stuff.

I realized something in church yesterday with Christmas and New Years being so close together and thought how that might not be a coincidence because Christmas is a holiday of remembering something new (the birth of a child) and the beginning of a long foreseen event that will bring new hope to the world with the beginning of the ministry and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ so that we may all start anew, as well as new years, something that we can see months in advance and for many the symbol of a new chance or new age where we can have that opportunity to work on fixing the past or setting goals to help us change and be better people, just with the atonement and repentance process.

Everything seems to happen for a reason, and new opportunities are always possible and change for whatever goals we want to achieve (whether they be setting a goal of losing a few pounds [or in my case gaining] or just being better people in our society in little ways here and there). Just a bit of thoughts that went on in my head. Thank you for the photos! And here is one for the holidays of a picture of me, my trainer (we call our first companion and trainer father) and his trainer (so this would be my grandpa for the mission)

Love

 Elder Day

Photos from the mission 6

One of the mission photos "I arrived"

The group of Elders and Sisters arriving December 1st with the mission president. 

Waffles for my birthday #5

December 15 2014

Hey Mom! It’s your son here, guess what! I  had a crazy experience happen.

Every day we go tracting (but we call it finding) and my mission companion said a prayer "that we might find someone according to our faith" right before our 4 hour tracting adventure on Thursday and it got me thinking about the faith that people have in different things. 

I thought about the faith Daniel had from the Old Testament in God and his power of being guided by him when he interpreted king Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the stone rolling and the statue man made of different metals and its meaning.  (Daniel 2) https://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/dan/2?lang=eng 

Also I felt kind of like the man in the New Testament whose son was with an infirmary and he asks Jesus to heal his son according to his faith and when he tells that he has the faith but he wants his faith helped to be strengthened and then Jesus works the miracle,  (John 4:47) https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/john/4.47?lang=eng#46

 I kind of had that running in my head right before we got out to find, saying that “I had the faith, but help my faith be strengthened.”  Mighty miracles happened right after that because the... I think like 12th or 13th door we knocked on there was a family looking for a faith and they let us in and we talked with them about their belief in Christ and the influence of the Holy Ghost and its guidance in each of all of our lives. We then talked about the prophets of the Bible and God's word from the 10 commandments and the things that Jesus taught in the New Testament.  We are going back on Thursday to talk with them more and it is really fun and exciting when people open the door and want to talk with us.

There was another instance where we were knocking on doors (finding) in another area and a lady let us in when we asked if we could share the short 2minute video "He is the Gift" about Jesus Christ's birth, if ya haven't seen it yet it is a wonderful video to get in the meaning of Christmas with the holiday remembering the Birth of the Savior coming up soon.  Here is the link to that short clip  http://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HPFR112814529

 We talked with the lady and her fiancé about their beliefs in Christ and they want us to come back again!! When we left she gave us a pumpkin! A straight up pumpkin just ‘cuz we stopped by! That was awesome. She said we could keep it so I think we will either make something with it or do some other adventurous stuff like carve it or something.

Yesterday was Sunday and we went “finding” for a bit then went to the Bishop's home for dinner and had a potato mix thing with corn and some other foods that... Ham! that was it, it was all super good stuff (I never knew on the mission I would try and eat so much of different kinds of foodstuffs) We then talked with the bishop of our ideas for the area on having the members pray over an area to go find people then we report on where we tracted and what happened in that area.

I'm sending a photo of where we went for breakfast today (Waffle House) and I had 3 bacon pieces, a huge waffle that was a bit smaller then a dinner plate, eggs, hash browns, toast and some water to help wash it all down (it was 7 bucks each so a bit expensive but not that bad.) we are going to go to a museum today most likely and then go to an appointment around 5pm with a member.  (Its Jeremy's birthday today.) 

All the clothing and the letters are always a great blessing so thank you so much. Of the things  I may request (a gps would be extremely helpful) and to give you a heads up I found the flashdrive and the sd card thingy that plugs into the computer so I didn't have to buy one (which is a relief because it is expensive!!).

Food is cheap because all we buy is bread, pasta, instant ramen, cup of noodles, and canned tunafish, along with pb&j and milk. So thats about 30 bucks a week. I  am not sure yet on the time for skype because we are meeting with the Mission President Wednesday, I'll ask him then.

Guess what,  went to the hospital the Tuesday I got into the field (hahaha i didn't tell you cuz you might a’ freaked out) but it was because  had a fever and they just gave me some stuff for it and we took the rest of  the day a bit slower then planned. We have a car so that always helps but we gotta keep it within the miles limit (30 a day, which may seem like a lot but when the entire area you are in is 10 minutes from one end to the other it tallies up fast).

The members are amazing here and we have about 2 nights a week where we do splits. Being a missionary is rough and exhausting but it is definitely worth it, I have grown so much in the past month.  I have been out here on the mission with scriptural knowledge as well as talking with others (which yes, I still always can improve on).

 Cleaning the rain gutters of one of our investigator's house they live in. it was fun! (and there are a ton of leaves in those things... like 3 pounds...)

My prayers at night and in the morning are on average 20 minutes each ‘cuz I am praying for a lot for people back home that they are all doing well and having success in each of their situations. I don't even notice the time go by ‘cuz there are so many people that I am always thinking about and doing well like our family, our extended family, our neighbors and friends and those in our ward as well as the people I have met throughout my travels and the other people on missions that I know (and even those that I don't) that with the careers or work or school or even the events that go on in our lives that we may all feel a peace and love from God as well as those we come in contact with and to know that we all have someone to help us no matter what situation we are in. I hope the family and all the people we know have that feeling of love for one another, not just because of this holiday season, but because it is true all year round. I am sending a letter to the house and it has a letter for each family member, hope you enjoy them!)

Love you so much! and talk to ya next week!’ (on Christmas Day)