August 12, 2013 Jacob

Family, this week has been one of great learning and great thought. If you remember in my last letter, I was talking about how the spirit comes to us but sometimes we dont recognize it or dont know how to liste. Well I received a great blessing this week. President Millar called me after my exchange on thursdasy about my letter that I sent him. I sent him kind of the same thing I sent you, and asked him that next time we meet if he could give me some pointers on how to recognize the spirit. Well we had a great conversation and he pointed me in the direction of D&C sections 9. The section where God tells Oliver Cowdrey why he couldnt translate the book of mormon. When he told me to read that, It felt like I got hit. I realized that, Just like Oliver, I was just expecting to get an answer. That I thought, that just because I was a missionary, that I would receive amazing revelation with out doing anything. But I was sooooo wrong. In D&C 9 the lord gives a lot of council to Oliver Cowdrey(and to me) and I was able to make a list or a flow chart on how to get receive personal revelation.

 

1. Study the question, problem, or destination in your mind. Try with all your might to think of a proper solution to this problem.

2. Pray and ask heavinly father if the course of action that you have chosen is the right choice.

   2a. If it Is the RIGHT choice, then you will feel a burning in your heart. A positive feeling of comfort about the choice.

   2b. If is is the WRONG choice, then you will probably not feel anything, or a feeling of dicsomfort. You may even have a stupor of thought, making that decition confusing. If you get this answer, then go back to step 1. Try again and try to think of what Jesus would do.

3. Follow the commandments. The spirit of God cannot dwell in any unclean thing. Do everything possible to make yourself super sensitive to the spirit. Read, pray, fast, church, obedience. All of these things only put you in a state of mind where you can perceve what God wants you to do.

4. ACT!!!!! If you receive an answer ACT upon it. Do not let the lord think that he is just wasting his time giving you this revelation. Once you get it act. And do not doubt. One of my favorite lines from a talk is "On the journey that is life, let questions arise, but never doubt."

 

Family I had the most amazing experience of getting to put this into action on Saturday. We are really trying to get up our investigator pool, but this poor area has been knocked to death. We are still doing it, but there is a better way. Member missionary work. We fasted on friday for which families or people in our ward, have people in their lives that are ready to receive the gospel. On saturday morning, we got out the ward list and selected around 10 names as individuals that we thought would have people. We then cross checked our list and wrote down the names that we both had in common. We then had a list of about 6 to 7. We then split up and  picked 2 names individually and then prayed about it. I had to put different names together before I felt like I had the right people. When I went back out to my companion, we had one name in common, but the second name was not. So we went back and did it again. But with the same results. One name, being different. So we sat down this time, and talked it out. We were able to slowly eliminate certain names. The whole time I felt as if the spirit was guiding us. Finally we had 2 names we agreed on. When we prayed to know if it was true. WOW!!!!! Family, I felt like I got kicked in the chest by a horse. Talk about a buring in your bosom!!!

 

That was the best miricle this week. Pray that we will be able to find more people to teach. We are loosing investigators one by one and we need to get more we can teach. Pray that we will be able to find those prepared to hear this amazing message.

 

This past week had been fun! I was able to go on an exchange to eden bridge, and there I did more knocking for a single amount of time then I ever have before. And I realized something. I am afraid of hard work. Still afraid. Stupid!! So Im going to be trying to work on that more this week. I want to be able to love this so much, that no amount of hard work will scare me away from doing what needs to be done to bring people closer to christ.

 

I love you family so much. I dont really know what else to write. I guess I'm bad at that. But wait.. I just thought of something. On our wall in the flat, every missionary that has ever come to haywards heath has written down a DOCTRINE. A saying of there that gave them incouragement. I just decided mine.

 

CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE! (JOSHUA 24:15)

AND THEN SERVE HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART, MIND, MIGHT, AND STRENGTH! (D&C 4:2)

AS FOR ME AND MY COMPANION WE WILL SERVE THE LORD! (JOSHUA 24:15 altered)

 

Love you family. I'll write you guys more next week. Its been really cool to be able to hear about all the meterior showers.

 

Til Next Week - Elder Hale

August 19, 2013 Jacob

Family I only have about 13 min. So if I dont finish this letter then Ill just send what I can and write you guys some more on Wednesday. Transfers make everything crazy.

This week has been an amazing one and I have two amazing stories I want to share with you guys. The first one happened around Wednesday... I think. We had a lot planned for that day but nothing was comming through. People werent home, appointments fell through. We were kind of upset for a while since now we had a good 2 to 3 hours to fill. So what did we do? We knocked. FUN! Haha, it really was a great experience though. This last week we had a Zone Conference where an area 70 came and just spoke to us abouth everything. One of things brought up, was to always carry a picture of Jesus with you. Well, when we were knocking I took this council and applied it. On the front of a restoration pamphlet is one of my Favorite pictures of Jesus Christ, holding a lamb. After every single door. I would look at this picture. And the disapoitment from having someone yell at me, or slam the door in my face, or just laugh, would all just disinegrate. And I would all the sudden look at the next door with great anticipation. Wondering if this one, was the door where a child of god would receive all the blessings of eternity. But, we didnt get much success. We were able to teach a little and say a prayer with 2 people, but they werent really interested. But something happened as I walked away. I realized that I felt really, really happy. Before knocking I felt a little depressed, but after knocking.... AFTER KNOCKING. I felt better. Thats when it hit me. I was enjoying this work. I had gained a love for missionary work. It made me so happy and I realized that this could be what the rest of my mission could be like. Later that day. After two apointments that went well, and a few others that fell through. Me and my companion were walking home and just said. I feel happy. We both did. Now, Im not saying that every day is like heaven. Its still hard and sometimes I still get down. But, I felt the seed grow. I felt it. Alma 32 guys. It was amazing. I felt that it was good, and it just made my resolve to be out here and become a better missionary that much better.

The second story I may not get through. I only have 4 min left. But on Saturday, we were going to visit a investigating couple who we havent seen in a while. On the way there, I felt something in my heart. Almost like a DONT GO THERE, but not quite. I just knew something was going to happen. We got there and we were let in... and they dropped us. They had a talk about how basically they knew what they were supposed to be doing, but they werent doing it. They werent reading, or praying, or coming to church. And they needed to step back and see if they really wanted this. Well my companion was shocked. Sorry, guys I dont have enough time. Ill finish it on wednesday. Just reading all the letters takes up so much time. Haha!

I love you guys so much. Im going to be staying in haywards heath.

August 5th, 2013 Stephanie

                                                          August 5^th, 2013

Family,

  WOW this week was so packed with meetings, interchanges and uplifting experiences. So to start off, Tuesday we had interchanges with Apopa.  It’s an area in the country and man I was in heaven. It was so pretty there. We crossed bridges and a train track bridge that I was scared was going to fall apart the moment I stepped on it. Ha. It was so high up too over a super dirty river but hey, I loved every minute up there. Any way the point is that it’s a gorgeous place, cows, horses and corn fields on every side. I was with Hermana Caal my old companion and one of her companions. She is in a trio too and is training. We have so many sisters right now there are some sisters that are training 2 sisters at one time. So that means when we go and do divisions we are trying to help 2 people at one time.

Man family, I will just say right now I am learning so much. It’s hard to go somewhere else and have to help inspire and help others to be better and do things differently when they are just happy to keep doing what they have always done. I am defiantly learning some tact on the mission or at least I hope I have. I fear that sometimes what I say may come across as a machete, which I do not want. I hope you will all pray for Hermana Caal. She is living through some hard problems. It’s hard for me to see her like this. 

     Oh, but cool story right. We are trying to put in practice a new way for teaching. Well, these sisters where teaching like we always have done.  I was not feeling the spirit at all and we were losing the attention of the family. Oh, but quick background so we went to this house to find a girl the sisters have been teaching. When we got there she and her family were outside. We asked if we could share with the whole family (this is probably the poorest house that I have been in in El Salvador). The little girl couldn’t read and I don’t think her mom could either. We began to teach her and she was losing focus and her family was too. I started to just ask question after question and to my surprise, the girl’s father started to answer.  After a while the whole lesson changed. I felt like Alma in Alma 32 when he was teaching and then the humble part of the people came to him and asked Dear Father what do we do?  When he heard this he turned to them and started to teach them. We did that in this lesson. We turned our focus completely on this man and by the end, he accepted to get baptized if he got an answer!!! The spirit was so strong and I was so amazed at the new way we are teaching!!! I love it because it makes us less of the teacher and it helps them learn for themselves and gives the spirit much more opportunity to witness to what we are sharing. 

     On Friday we had a meeting with all the leaders of the mission with the President. I sent a picture. Man I learned so much family. It was one of the best meetings I have been in. We talked about something you have always taught us dad. That we only get the shots we take. We are trying to help the missionaries to invite people to get baptized (some missionaries have a little fear of doing so). But if we never invite, they will never get baptized...no matter how much faith we have. We talked about how we were going to help every area baptize every month. I loved what the assistant talked about. Missionary work has changed. Our leaders have asked us to change the way we do a lot of things and literally we are the pioneers of this new way. We have got to do something completely different if we want different results.  The new way of teaching and the new way of finding investigators through members is having us stretch more than we have in the past. We were taught to do work in one way (knocking doors at the first of my mission). Now we are need to change everything and then help others make that change too. It’s exciting to see that the Lord is hastening his work and that we get to be a part of it.  Family, I know this gospel is true and that this is the work of the Lord. With all these changes, it is super hard not to see the Lord’s hand in every change. Christ’s atonement is real and I am so grateful for it. I mess up so many times and I need his grace and mercy to make my efforts more than they are. I love the scriptures. Love them. There are so many answers to prayers and comfort that we find in them. I hope you know how much I love you and pray for you all, for your spiritual and physical well being. 

   Mom take care of yourself. Be careful. Wow, you guys are going back to school!!! In two weeks it was like yesterday that you guys were getting out!!! Wow, time is so fast. Well I have to go. Time is up but I love you all. Mom and Dad I hope we can go together to see this new movie in the temple when I get back. It sounds amazing.

Hermana Hale