Flirt 2 Convert (It Works)

I'm ALIVE!!!!

     Holy cow what a week... AGAIN!  this week has been awesome.  I feel like i get redundant, because I say that so much. Oh well. I mean it.

Okay so we are in a new area MARION! And my companion and I opened it! So there was a little pressure but its all good.  We (I) decided we wanted to be the best. Big surprise right. We wanted to have the best numbers in our whole zone.  So we made it a matter of prayer and lots of fasting! Like i said last week we hit the ground running. We just went out and talked to everybody! It was awesome!!!! By the end of the week we had 12 new real progressing investigators, 9 of which committed to being baptized and 2 who are getting baptized in the next 3 weeks. It has been a huge blessing! Seriously! We put all our faith in the Lord and BELIEVED that every person we talked to will be converted!  It has been a blessing and strengthened my testimony! Our zone could not believe the success we are having! They asked my to speak to our zone at zone conference to talk about what we are doing and what changes we are making.

     One thing that i want to talk about is how we can make our experience personable.   I have come to understand that with our personalities and the spirit people can learn for themselves the truth of this gospel.  This simple true gospel.  I believe our personalities are a piece of Christs personalities. But he had them all mastered, which made him the ultimate teacher.  we must learn to be ourselves and work with the spirit to find and teach people.  People don't want to talk to a robot.  The want to talk to a REAL person. A person that has been where they are, a person that can relate.  But also a person that has overcome these struggles.  And through the gospel we all overcome obstacles.  People must feel the love we have for them.  I have truly grown to love everyone i come in contact with.  They become my friends, my family.

     I also want to talk about fear. Fear is something that can make or brake a missionary.This week one of my personal goals was to be fearless.  Thinking about where I come from and who I am held me back I think.  As an athlete we are taught to be warriors, gladiators, fearless men.  Then we go on a mission and feel the total opposite.  I felt insignificant, timid, vulnerable.  I then had a epiphany.  We are warriors, gladiator, champions of Jesus Christ.  We go to battle or have a match against Satan every day.  Each day a new game or championship to win.  This gave me a purpose.  I am driven.  I will be the best player, and win all games. Finding this out it has changed my outlook.  I have talked to everyone.  I have not let myself feel fear.  It is so important to try and talk to EVERY single person I see.  When we let ourselves go and fall into the gospel we become true disciples of Christ.  And with Christ i feel fearless.

     Okay on to our investigators!  We met the most amazing people! First is James and Harley! A couple living together and they have a little girl.  They live in the scariest part of town so every time we finish teaching them I run to the car and lock myself in! I know i am a giant black man but most of you know I am a little girl. ahahhahaha  I seriously feel like one day i am going to get shot!  But Harley and James read the WHOLE BOOK OF MORMON in a night!!! They said it felt so good and peaceful that they couldn't stop! They both committed to be baptized.

    Then there is blaiz.  I talked about him last week.  He told us about he wanted to kill himself multiple times and god wouldn't let him die.  He is only 19.  Every time i talk to him I cry.  He knows the church is true, and said he didn't even have to ask and pray to find out he just could feel it! But he did pray and ask and said he got a strong answer.  He had an addiction to chewing tobacco, but gave it up in a instant because he said he will do anything to be baptized.  Which again made me cry.  He gets big sores in his mouth and you can tell it hurts but he wont give up.  He asked for a blessing and asked me to give him it.  It was amazing.  It was a blessing of healing.  I could just feel how much love Heavenly Father had for him.  He is doing much better now!

It is amazing to me these people that have been put in my life.  I feel so honored to know them.  They all are so strong in their faith already and its amazing for me to watch their conversion.  They are all miracles.  I love this church!!! I know its true! I love you all!! Thank you for the letters and emails!!!!! PRAY!!!!!!!!

Elder Spatch

-Pics of fixing a roof... which i had no idea what i was doing. i just wanted to look cool with a tool belt ha.
- and one of my favorite places to get tobacco ha.  

-and the elder and sister Farr the most amazing senior couple

Hello Ohio

YO!

I dont even know where to begin because so much has happened in such a short amount of time.  I feel like ive been here for years but its been a good 3 weeks. whoops. ha Well i guess ill start from the beginning!

Okay so we got to OHIO!! It was a perfect bloody day... of course.  We meet our mission president. President Nielsen.  The most amazing, intimidating, scary, loving man i have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  We had our one on one interviews with him. OH did i mention he owns CAFE RIO!!!! That is the sickest hookup ever. I am so pumped about that. Anyway we had our meetings with him and mine went really good!  like 20 minutes later he called me in for a second interview.  I was freaking out cause im like great i did something wrong or i am getting a calling.  Well it wasnt either of those hahahah. I was sat down and watched a youtube video about the Amish.??? What? so confused.  There are Amish in our area. So i thought sweet i am getting called to the Amish land! No technology!!! hahah Well turns out i didnt get called there. soooo to this day i still have no idea why i watched that clip. Then we had dinner, kinda a Cafe Rio salad thing. so good.  then we split up to spend the night at members homes.  I went to the Sargents! They are awesome. and just happen to be HUGE BYU Volleyball fans.  So as you can imagine i was up for like 3 hours just being asked all sorts of question ahahah. Good times. The next day we went to this chapel to meet our new companions and get all our briefing on our area.

So we arrive at the chapel and get rushed into a room and have like a 2 hour seminar with loads of info!!! Then we when into the chapel and there was a bunch of elders and sisters lined up across the rows.  one of them was going to be my comp. i guessed it would be the shortest one since i feel like people would have a good laugh at that.  But i got elder Marler. The whitest Nerdiest kid from Hawaii. I laughed in my head as he rused to me for a embrace.  I love this kid.  He is so kind and so sweet.  He is genuine and thoughtful.  Although he is so shy so i do all the talking i still love him.  Its really been kinda nice having a companion that doesnt like to talk becasue then i get to say whatever i want hahahahah.  We got called to marion OH!!! It is so awesome!!! We at first we got there and we are like this is the GHETTO!!! Like ghetto country. and everyone is a current or recovering heroine addict.  So people are twitching all over the place! 

So we wanted to get started right away! so as soon as we got here we went to Wal-mart. haha but while we were there we met some awesome people and we just started talking to them about the church! Then eventually we asked if we could meet with them and talk to them some more! They all mostly said yes! Amazing! We have 5 potential investigators in like 3 hours.  So we were pumped.  Then the next few days were super hard cause we were opening up this new area and didnt know really where to begin. So we prayed and prayed and then decided to go visit a former investigator.  they didnt answer so we walked around the streets close by. these streets have tons of black people on them and its like scary some times.  Like they most likely are in some time of gang or drug dealers because its in this certain neighborhood.  We also heard gun shots ahhahahahahhahah. I heard that and boooked it so fast.  anyway right before that we were walking and i saw this big black guy walking and i thought or felt that i needed to go talk to him. i asked my companion if we should and he said no.  I simply ingnored that and walked toward him across the street. I said whats up man trying to sound a litle black and he smiled and i asked if he had ever seen missionaries before he said no.  So we got to talking and he later said after a while he felt that we talked to him for a reason and he wanted to see us again.  I was so pumped! Not only did i not get killed i met Mike who wanted to know more! He also wants us to teach his family! You know i think God has a sense of humor cause what big black guy with teardrops by his eye wants us to meet his family! Man so funny.

The next day we went to Kenton OH. A smaller town with a lot of quite people.  We walked about forever trying to meet people.  we were about to leave until i saw this house with the door open and i thought of how Christ is knocking at our door and we just have to open it.  Well this door was already open! So i said we have to go there.  We walked over and this 19yr old boy came out and we started talking and he then invited us in.  We taught him about the restoration and invited him to pray to find out if these things we said our true.  He started to cry because he said he didnt think god cared about him anymore.  But he said he wanted to be closer to god.  His name is Blaiz and i love him.  He is so cool and takes care of his little brothers and sisters.  Has the best heart.  

then! We left and walked back to our car and there was a women standing outside painting! We said hello! I saw her kids playing inside and so i just said hey one of the things we believe is in Eternal families.  And he looked at me then was quite and said. I was just thinking about last night that i wish i could be with my family forever.  Like WHAT!!!!! Miracles!!!! Her name is Betsy and she is 33 and has 3 kids. Her husband is Catholic but very open to hearing more.  We teach her tonight! So excited!!! 

Okay last story!! Pretty much this whole week i have worked on letting go of myself.  I have put all fear aside and just talked to everyone.  I think about when the savior comes again i want to be able to say to him that i tried as best as i could to help everyone know.  So this has really helped me just walk up to the most random people.  My companion just is dumbfounded because he is terrified of people. but he says he is learning a lot from me which means a lot because i feel like i am learning a lot from him.  Okay anyway we were at Wendys and i sat down with my food and i saw this family just sitting over in the corner and the heard in my head go talk to them. i ignored it cause for some reason i was scared.  I thought the dad looks mean and i dont want to be yelled at. I started to eat and felt sick.  I had to go over.  before i knew it my feet were on the move.  I made up something and said do you guys know where walmart is? they answered yes and then the dad started to draw it on a napkin while he was i started talking to the mom about missionaries which led to mormons. She told me what she knew and i told her well we believe in our church we have the opportunity to find out for ourselves if something is true.  So i asked. Would you like to know more so you can decide for yourself? She and her husband both said yes.  We met last night again at a loud laundry mat and taught them the restoration.  She wanted to pray and read for herself that night.  her boyfriend agreed to do the same.  I am so excited to here how it went.

This church is true. and i have already in one week of being here witnessed so many miracles.  My prayers have been answered everyday!! I love this gospel and i really love the people of Marion OH!!! They a small beaten down trodden under but still have faith.  They are miracles.  I love it here so much.  I have learned so much in a week. I hope you all the best!!! Please write me and tell me all the provo gossip. hahha cause i miss it! Love you guys and family!!!!

Elder Patch

Pics of OH. My companion and all the new elders coming to ohio

Week Two

HOLA!!!

Well this week has been amazing. Full of miracles and so many blessings.  Lots of which came from prayer and fasting!

So today is not my P day but we leave monday at 1 am! Pretty much tomorrow night!!! Kinda sucks... actually it sucks a lot!! But i am so excited and ready to get out of this place.  I love the MTC a ton but im ready to go to work. This experience has made me grow in many way.  In maturity, spirituality, and personality! I have had to really forget myself and go to work.  Sometimes i find myself forgetting that im on a mission.  Then it hits and i have to face reality and go to work. This has been super challenging, because a mission is still not real to me! Well...its about to get real in 24 hours!! Im so nervous and excited!! 

Okay so this week has been incredible.  A lot of that has to do with humility.  As i said in my last email my companion and I were struggling to find chemistry.  actually we pretty much hated each other.  In fact for like 2 days we didn't talk to each other at the beginning of the week. We then taught a investigator like this. WOW. it was so bad.  We were both fighting for talking time while teaching, and inserting our opinion every other word.  no chemistry. hardly any spirit. Which was sad because the only way people learn is through the spirit.  Something had to change.  I thought he was so stubborn and wasnt seeing it my way... which is me being stubborn.  But then i realized maybe he was supposed to learn something.  He was supposed to learn to trust me a little more to lead discussions.  Because I didnt feeling as strong in gospel doctrine as him i often let him lead and teach the lessons, and only offering my brief testimony of some principals occasionally. I prayed and prayed trying to find a way around this without facing him.  There was no other way! I sat down with him to talk about what we could do.  The spirit was as strong as it had been so i was craving it again.  This was my last resort.  We talked and talked and argued. I then felt so strongly i had to forgive him.  I had to let go of the hate and frustration and anger i had toward him.  This is the hardest thing i have had to do in a long time.  I had to change who i was.  I am stubborn and arrogant.  I had to be humble, and just let GO!  Sitting there i thought about this for like 4 minutes before i looked up and started crying, and said, "Elder Edlund I forgive you."  He started crying and apologized for always interrupting me when i talk and never letting me speak and sorry for not trusting me.  This was such a strengthening thing for me and him.  We although so very different became a powerhouse! We taught together! And with the spirit!.  

During this week we got both our investigators to commit to baptism and set a date for them! This was a miracle and a answer to prayer.  We pray god listens. I promise that.  I never thought i would be able to change.  But looking in the mirror I rarely recognize myself.  Its motivation for me to continue progressing and evolving into the person Heavenly Father wants me to become.  Humility is key.  When we say... Here i am Lord, I am your humble servant. Use me.  I really feel like i am becoming a tool in the hands of the Lord.  I feel very confident in his gospel.  I feel like i will be able to share his gospel so strongly.  I cant wait to get to Ohio.  The fact that I can help these people endure to the end and then some is amazing. I know my purpose.  We all have a similar purpose.  We have the opportunity to help bring the truth into others lives. Challenge yourself to find someone and bring them to the gospel.  Look for inactive people and think about what in our gospel will help them be closer to Heavenly Father.  Remind them to pray.  If someone has doubts tell them to ask.  God wont deny a sincere prayer. I promise he will answer.  And if you cant tell someone this because you haven't experienced it for yourself? then I challenge you to ask for yourself so you can testify to whoever that god hears , and more importantly loves us.  

here are some quotes i love.

"The gospel is the sole hope for the world" - M. Madsen

"The Atonement is not part of the gospel... It is the gospel!"-M. Madsen

"We can never stop being a child of God."-Q. Cook

"A true converted person calls upon the powers of the atonement,

are we converted ourselves?" - D. Oaks

"Success is not measured by how many times we succeed 

but by how many time we get up." - Pres. Uchtdorf 

Love you guys!

Learn to love the gospel! 

Elder Patch

The pics are of my district, and of one of my best friends from BYU freshman year.

Till We Meet Again

Elder Patch Leaves for the MTC today! He will be in the MTC for 2 weeks!  You can reach him at bpatch@myldsmail.net!  Please write him!  He would love to hear from you! 

                        "Sacrifice Brings Blessings!"