Saturday, January 31, 2015
January 31st, 2015 - Weekly Letter
Family,
Sounds like your past week was pretty chill!!
I just kinda love the weeks where not much happened. There should always
be a few weeks like that. And for you mom, I just feel like your life
doesn't ever slow down! But that is alright, because when Christ was here he
never ceased to work either! I'm also glad that everything is going good
over there! As long as everything is going good, I'm happy for you all!!
So yeah....my week was a pretty chill week too. Like
not too many Big things happened, but it wasn't a bad week either. I liked
it!
Saturday night our investigator family (the Family
Delgado) invited us to eat with them for dinner. It was really good as
well! Claudia (the mom) made like this chicken filled with bacon and
cheese.....SSSOOOOOO GOOOOOOD!!!! And then her little girl (Sarai) was
like the little waiter! haha, she had a little towel on her arm and was serving
us whatever we wanted (she's super funny because she's only 9 years old).
We then taught her about faith....and it was an amazing lesson!!!
Sunday was chill, and the family came to church!!!
YAY!!!! We had to push their baptismal date back to the 14th, Valentine’s Day.
They're not married by the law either so I think on the 14th we're going to
marry them too!! Just like Valentine's Day last year!!!!! They're going
to get married AND baptized the same day......that will be super cool! I'm
super excited!!!
On Monday was the zone leader leadership
meeting, so Elder Reynolds and I planned the food and everything like that, and
we ended up getting a really good banquet that came to the church. There
were like 4 or 5 different stages of food. In Mexico a lot of times food
comes in stages. Like first they give us soup, and then vegetables, and then
the main plate, and then the desert. It's not always like that, but a lot of
times they serve food like that. So the soup that we got was broccoli
soup served in a roll as the bowl. So like we could eat the 'bowl'
too! Broccoli soup....totally didn't like that before the mission, but I
love it now! (I know, this email I'm talking a lot about food....sorry).
Tuesday and Wednesday we're just normal days.
Not too many crazy things happened.
Thursday was a really good day! You're going
to think that maybe I'm a little weird, but I just loved it so much! So
Elder Reynolds and I went out to work early, so we just started contacting
people because we really didn't have anywhere else to go, and we got rejected
time after time after time. So then we decided to go with one of the
investigators of the sisters because they weren't going to have time to pass
by, so we went and there was a Jehovah´s Witness that was taking care of the
girl (investigator). So you know, we're all nice and say hi and
everything, and then she just starts to yell at us, just starts going into this
10-15 minute speech thing about how Jehovah is God and stuff like that (that is
the only subject that they ever talk about). And so then she just kept rambling
on, and I just got this smile on my face. I felt happy. Here I was
getting yelled at by a Jehovah's Witness, and I just smiled. Later when
we got away from her I just told Elder Reynolds that that lady made me happy,
and obviously he asked why, and I just said, it means I'm working again!
It was just a normal missionary experience, and I enjoyed it! It got me
excited to keep working, and later that night we contacted a bunch and we got a
lot of people that accepted us!
Yesterday was good too! Not much happened. It was
Elder Fangupo's birthday, so we went to this restaurant called Pampas do
sul. It's like Tucanos from Utah where they just keep giving you
different types of meat while you have the little turner thing on green!
It was really good!!! So yeah, it was a good birthday for Elder Fangupo!!!!
So lately I've been reading in probably the hardest
part to understand in the Book of Mormon......2nd Nephi. I like it, but
when it uses the references from Isaiah I just get all confused, and then in Spanish
more because if I don't understand the words in English, how am I going to
understand it in Spanish. But at the same time, Spanish has helped me
understand other parts that I couldn't understand in English! Cool!
Although I don't understand very well, I feel the spirit so strong. Like I
remember that there is a chapter where Isaiah sees God, and then a little angel
comes to him with a burning coal and puts it on Isaiah's tongue, and then his
sins are forgiven him. It makes me think that repenting ourselves of our
sins never is easy....at times it can hurt a lot, but it for sure will work,
because God wants to forgive us, and He has given us the way to receive His
forgiveness.....through His son Jesus Christ! Although the words of
Isaiah are so confusing, they all apply so amazingly to our lives! It
just takes a lot of praying and revelation to reveal the principles.
But yeah! Thanks so much for all you do for me!
Elder Barroteran is learning good! Everything is chill here in the
offices, and I'm still enjoying the little time I have to be one of Christ's
representatives! I love you all so much! Have a great week!!!! Work hard
and play hard!!!
Monday, January 26, 2015
January 24th, 2015 - Weekly Letter
Family,
That is so cool that Austin was able to return good and that he has returned changed. Tell him hi from me and tell him that I'm so proud of him! That is such a cool experience for you guys! I just can't believe that 2 years have already passed by since Austin left on his mission. Crazy stuff. But yeah. I was actually there when President called you guys! We were having a cool interview and then he just randomly called you. It was cool, and I got a little bit teary eyed. But yeah, I'm glad that you guys had a great week!!!! And tell Jon to enjoy Sweethearts (even though I don't know when it will be). It was a really cool week for me.
So this last Sunday we didn't have anyone that went to church. All of our investigators had things that happened, but it's all good because this week they're all going to go again. Then last Monday was cool because we got some more new missionaries. The generation is very cool, and I can see a lot of them being good leaders in the future. So we were with them for the day. Then on Tuesday were the transfers. Elder Ante came back to the offices and then my son in the offices.....Elder Barroteran. Elder Barroteran only has about 5 months in the mission, but with the little time that I've had to leave and work with him, he's super awesome and cool.
Sadly for like Wednesday and Thursday and part of Friday I couldn't leave the offices to work because I had some really important deadlines that I had to meet. So I was in the offices the whole day on Wednesday and Thursday finishing everything that I had to do, and then I finished everything Friday in the afternoon, so at about 6 yesterday I was able to leave with Elder Barroteran to work, and it was so cool. After so much time in the offices, every little minute that I can get to work out of the offices is precious, and I love it.
I also learned, or realized again, a cool principle that is taught in the Book of Mormon. In 2 Nephi 10:23 it says, "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life."
And so I realized after reading this verse that everything is our choice. If we want to have happiness in this life we choose it. If we want a crappy life we choose it. If we want success in this life, we choose it. Everything is our choice........so what will we choose then?
This really is reflected in missionaries that have success and missionaries that don't. If missionaries want it bad enough they'll get it, and if not......well then no. I'm not going to say that I'm perfect in that, because I'm not, but now that the time is a lot shorter, I feel like my desires are changing. Now I want more and more to help as much of God's children as I can.
I love this gospel, and I'm so so SO grateful for the Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm so excited for this week because I've put the goal to leave no later than 4 every day to work. There a tons of God's children just waiting for me......so it's time to find them.....and help them.
I hope you all have a great great week! I love you all so much! Take care and Always choose God's path. For His path is eternal life!!!
-Elder Loveless
Friday, January 23, 2015
Saturday, January 17, 2015
January 17th, 2015 - Weekly Letter
Family,
Well it sounds like you've all gotten in the game
rage lately! I remember times like that before the mission when all that I
wanted to do was play board games with the fam! That's super fun for you
all!! And I remember before the mission seeing that expansion. Alvin and
Dexter are like a dinosaur and an alien or something like that right?
Sounds fun! I'm also super excited for Jon and Emma! Over all of the
years as a youth, I never had the opportunity to go to trek. That'll be
so awesome! And thanks for informing me on the new dates for Burley. I
was honestly struggling in choosing a final date. I was between the 29th and
the 22nd, but I didn't want to choose the 29th because I was thinking that that
same day we were going to Burley, so I was going to come home the 22nd, but
then I felt it was too early, so this helps a lot. I'm almost 100% sure now
that my release date will be the 29th of July. I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT
AUSTIN is returning from his mission this week?!?! I remember him posting
on Facebook two years ago that he was so excited to serve.......but it doesn't
feel like 2 years. Scares me~~~~~~~~~~~
But yeah. This last
week was good! I didn't get as much time as I wanted to to work out of
the offices, but I'm almost done with all that I have to do. I have a few
deadlines for a few things this coming week, so to not procrastinate, I've been
working a lot on those things. But I'm really excited for this coming
week. The new elder is going to come in, and I'm going to start training
him. It was really cool because President told me to start to pray to
figure out who would be the next secretary, and I didn't get any real clear
answers. So while we were walking with some zone leaders last week they started
talking about an elder in their zone, and just a little story about him, and it
came to me very strongly that he would be the next financial secretary.
When I went to President I told him 3 other names that I had thought of, and
then last I told him that I felt strongest about this one elder, and then President
just sat there, and then he said.....that's the one. Me and President
both felt super comfortable with this elder. His name is Elder Barroteran, and
he's from Tijuana, but he knows really good English.
This last week I learned something really cool from
my patriarchal blessing. So just during the day this last week I had the
feeling to read my patriarchal blessing, and so since it was at the house, I
read it the next morning for my personal study, and I saw something really
cool. It said that Satan is very
powerful, and that he desires to destroy my testimony, and then it gives me a
list of things that I should do. And then after the list it says, and if you do
these things, Satan will have no power over you. I'm not saying I'm a huge
sinner, but when I read this I just said wow. It gives me the ingredients
in my patriarchal blessing of how I can make Satan powerless in my life.
And I realized that I hadn't been putting them all into practice to the
fullness. So that's my new goal for the next while.....to work on those parts.
That will be the best day....the day that Satan has absolutely no power
over me.
Also this last week we brought the rest of the
family to church. All 5 of them! It was so cute to see them all there and
enjoying church. Also we brought one of the couples to church, and they
were super excited too. 7 at church! It was pretty chill!! The
family has a baptismal date for the 7th of February, and the wife of the couple
has a baptismal date for the 14 of February (Valentine’s Day). The family is
named Family Delgado, and the wife of the couple is Denisa. We're super
excited to bring them to church tomorrow, and we hope to bring more to
church! Our goal is to baptize every week in February, because this year
in 2015, the area presidency predicts that most all of the companionships will
be baptizing every week, so we're going to start in February! My last
month in the offices! It will be fun!
Also this last week we saw Meet the Mormons!
President got a copy of it in Spanish, and so we all saw it!!!! I loved it. I
got kinda teary eyed in a few parts....especially with the mom and her
missionary, like when he's saying goodbye to his family and his little sister
just starts bawling.....reminds me of when Emma started crying. Good
thing I'm past that part.........that was hard.
But yeah! Thanks for the continued support! I love
you all so much! Have a super awesome week!!! Enjoy your day off of school on
Monday, and READ the Book of Mormon!!!
Love Elder Loveless
Saturday, January 10, 2015
January 10th, 2015 - Weekly Letter
Family,
So that was about the coolest things about my week. We brought a lady named Claudia to church and her daughter Jeromi to church last week. They liked it a lot and are going to come tomorrow with all of the family. We also are going to have 2 other young couples come to church. We're really excited for tomorrow. Actually like in 15 minutes we're going to go work some more to invite more to church.
This last week was a life-changing experience. I had a lot of cool experiences. Sounds like you guys had a sweet week too. I always wanted to play killer bunnies before the mission.....so we gotta play it after! I'm just remembering how cool games were...and are! I remember how I wanted to make games when I was older. Maybe I will.....but when I'm retired. But that's cool. I'm glad everyone still plays games. That's one tradition that is never going to leave the family. I'm just thinking it's so weird that Jon and Emma are already half-way through this school year. But I'm like freaked out, because I felt like last year it went by slower. And now Jon's like almost graduated. Weird.....But I'm so happy for you guys! Sounds like everything's going great!
This last week my testimony truly grew of the following quote from President Hinckley.
“The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.”
I'm not going to bash on or say anything bad about my past companions here in the offices, but they just never wanted to work because we always have work. Now that Elder Reynolds is here we have really focused on at least leaving every day to at the least contact someone in the street. With all of the stress in the offices it helps so much! It makes my worries go away. Because "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17). Work truly is the antidote for all of the bad feelings that we could have. God is love....and when we serve Him, He gives us part of that love.
The next big thing that I learned was through revelation that I received during my personal studies these last two days, and it is about the true meaning of Ether 12:27.
"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."
First we must go to Christ to find out what our weakness is. Next we have to humble ourselves before God and have faith, but not just have faith.....act on that faith. Then the grace of God will make it possible that our weakness becomes strong unto us. Imagine that......Maybe it's procrastination.....maybe it's an addiction....maybe it's worse....maybe not so bad. Whatever it may be, in this verse we learn how to make weak things become strong unto us. I'm not going to explain details, because if it interests you guys you can study it personally. But let's just say that it took an hour yesterday and an hour today to fully comprehend this verse. Let's just say that we have to be worthy of the grace of God....for it is what will bring us to Exaltation. And that's just a little part of the puzzle of Ether 12:27. It's an amazing verse and I recommend that you all study it. But not just read it, but that you take time and write notes, because it will change your life forever. It is currently changing mine, and I know that it is true and works.
So that was about the coolest things about my week. We brought a lady named Claudia to church and her daughter Jeromi to church last week. They liked it a lot and are going to come tomorrow with all of the family. We also are going to have 2 other young couples come to church. We're really excited for tomorrow. Actually like in 15 minutes we're going to go work some more to invite more to church.
It's been good. And during this time I feel the happiest that I've been the whole mission. It's super cool being in the offices and being able to work. Like it's what I would like to do after the mission as well. Continue blessing lives, but work and attend the family at the same time. The happiness that this gospel gives us is better than any other thing that exists, and I'm so happy to be a representative of Christ during this time.
I'm so happy for you guys and thanks for everything that you do. I hope you have a great week! Envelope yourselves with a good study of the scriptures and you'll see how your lives change! Keep enjoying life....and board games!!! Love you all!!!
-Elder Loveless
Monday, January 5, 2015
January 3rd, 2015 - Weekly Letter
Family,
Wow! Sounds like you all had a good/crazy
week. I think it's kind of funny that Emma got sick, well not funny, but I'm
always the one that gets sick during the holidays, so I guess Emma just had to
take my place! But it sounds like for the most part everyone enjoyed
their holidays! This whole time period is awesome. You just feel the
spirit of Christ so much more. I hope you all put good goals. My
goals this year are a little bit different than last year’s goals, but we'll
see how everything goes.
Even though it was a
new year this week, it was just a pretty chill week. Elder Ferrel
finished his mission and Elder Ante had transfers, and so now just Elder
Reynolds and I am here. But I'm actually really happy that I can be here
during the beginning of the year. What happened is that when I arrived I
was taught how to do everything, and I did it all exactly as I was
taught. But now after seeing how the money works for the second half of
2014, now I know what works better and what doesn't work so good, and so I can
change everything now that it's 2015. I'm doing a lot of things to make
it easier for the future financial secretaries, because this last month was
SUPER stressful because of everything that the secretaries has not ever done.
But yeah, I'm happy to start the year here.
Also today 12 missionaries went home.
It was weird, because I got to know just about every one of them, and they were
all really good missionaries. It's super weird to think that they all
left. But it was also funny because this lady saw my name (from my green
card) and then just started calling me Zachary and joking around and stuff like
that, and I was like....whoah lady. I just came to pay for extra baggage
fees. But it was super funny. Nobody has called me by my real name in a
long time.
So yeah, my New Year’s eve party really wasn't
a party. We didn't really do anything. Elder Reynolds received pudding packs so
we toasted with pudding. That was cool! Then we went to bed early. I know
it sounds kind of lame, but we can't stay up until midnight anyways, so going
to bed early felt really good. Especially in the offices. The more sleep we
get, the better things go....or at least that's how I feel.
Also, yesterday President redid the
presentation with our parent’s hands, but he showed the hands of the newer
missionaries. I remember more than a year ago when he did it and was just a
greenie and didn't know any Spanish, but I had to go up and talk about
mom. I don't know why, but they mission really makes a person love their
family more, and just have more love for everyone. Because now if they
were to ask me what my parent's hands have done for me, I think now my answer
would be different than a year ago. Those hands took me when I was just
born, and grew and shaped me until where I am now. Those hands worked until
they couldn't so that we always had food in the house, and a shelter where we
could stay. Those hands changed diapers, fed me, cleaned the house, and
made sure we were safe. Those hands held a Book of Mormon and guided people to
baptism. Those hands grasped me and held me safe. They hurt me at times
as well, but more than anything.....they put me on the path that leads to God.
Thanks for everything mom and
dad....for everything that you have done for me. I'm so grateful for you
guys because you've always been there for me. Even in the mission I've
been able to see how much you do for me, even if it’s just praying for me.
Thanks :)
But yeah....2014 was great! It was the only year in my WHOLE life
that I'll be 100% set apart as a missionary. No other year will be like
that.
Cheeeeeers to 2015!!!!!
I love you all!!! Have fun starting school again! Hope your
2014 was great as well!!!!
Enjoy life....and read the Book of Mormon!!!
-Elder Loveless
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