Give It All Up

Hey Everyone! 

This letter will be brief since I just emailed like 4 days ago!

Anyway not much has happened except the baptism of Mary Mooney!

Mary is amazing.  The way we met her was no coincidence. We were at a Wal-Mart checkout line and my bug mouth just started talking to her!  Turns out she didn't live in OHIO.  She was visiting some family.  So I got her number just in case she ever came back.  Well she did like 3 months later, and she already had friends in the church!  So we began teaching her and though a long and emotional process she was baptized this past weekend!! I love Mary. She is so fun and sassy and so we get along great! She is so cooooooooool!!!

Well also this week I have been doing A LOT of self reflecting.  And after reading this talk about being a missionary I found that I have to "Give It All Up".  Which means, I have to not only forget about my past but also give up the future.  I have to be in the "now" .  That is more difficult than it sounds!  Not thinking about what will happen or my dreams or aspirations post mission is hard!  But, the value of it is great!  When we forget ALL of ourselves we become true disciples of Christ. In Matthew 4:19 IT READS,"Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.…"  I think that is so profound.  Its a invitation to be follower of Christ.  Although he didn't directly ask me to follow him, the invitation is for all men everywhere.

The thing about invitations is it's a two part deal.  Someones extends the invite and the other party accepts it. So are we accepting the invitation?  It's so very humbling to figuratively drop everything and follow something we cant tangibly see or touch. Its kind of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  We don't know what will happen, but we take these small steps of faith until we are that much closer to the LIGHT.  And I equate LIGHT to Christ, because that is one of His divine names.  The LIGHT of the World.  So my invitation to all of you is to, first see the Light, and then to take steps towards it.  I KNOW the blessings of doing just that faaarr outweighs the any sacrifice.

I love all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh I am still in Marion, OH

My address is:

1385 Southland PKWY

Marion, OH 43302 

stay classy.

Elder Patch

Pics.

Mary and clan

and our investigator named Justin. 

School Is In Session

HOLA!!  

First I just want to say thank you to everyone that sent me something last week!!! I havent written back anyone cause I am waiting RIGHT NOW to see where or if I will be transferred! Kinda a lot freaking out!!! I CANT LEAVE MARION!

This week has been really great!  It has been once again awesome to meet all new people and families and start teaching them!  I Always think that we will never meet anymore cool people... then I am TOTALLY proven wrong!  We have met the most amazing people these last couple weeks! 

I say, "School is in Session" because I literally feel like im in school.  THE LORDS SCHOOL!  Everyday I learn something new or my perception of something is enhanced!  I love it!  But it is also intimidating to think that I really do not have that I have so much to learn!  My world is flipped everyday!  I am so thankful for new days!  I love being able to "start over" everyday.  To improve just a little everyday!  I can't wait to get back and use all this new knowledge!!!

This week we had exchanges with our zone Leaders!  So fun!  We got a ton done too!  Its always great to learn from others to add to you knowledge!  So we had a sweet miracle this week!  We went shopping in this vintage store and as we were leaving a woman pulled up next to us and invited us to follow her to this other store!  Elder Afalava and I looked at each other and were like, oh we are totally supposed to talk to her about the gospel!  She pretty much just asked us to!!  So we followed her.  When we got to this store she began to show us around, and tell us stories about all these old vintage pieces!  Well I started talking to her about the gospel!  ... not interested.  WHAT THE HECK?!!

 So i was really confused!  But then we soon figured out why we were supposed to be there.  When we went to the check-out we started talking to the owners.  This couple from LA who just moved to Marion (no idea why) and they were so cool!!!! Their names are Jay and Cari! We hit it off with them instantly!  Turns out the husband(Jay) has a mom who was Mormon!  So he knew a lot!! So we asked if we could get together!  Then somehow we planned a dinner out of it!  AND they are Vegan!!  So last night we had the most amazing VEGAN dinner ever.  Fresh tortillas veggie fajitas! So good.  I made a fruit salad. ... It was lame, but at least I tried.  It felt so clean not to eat any meat or dairy product! We have become way close with them, and its just been awesome.

Well that's about it!  I love all you guys!  Thanks for all your prayers!  Its weird when you're on a mission you can actually feel when someone is praying for you. ;) 

Love ya,

Stay classy

Elder Spatch

Pics-

 Elder Afalava and I. (Amish hat)

Us in Lavalava's (aka skirts) -Come at me

Jay and Cari- Owners of Tags thrift shop

Oh And I also got corn rows.

LETS GO

Through They Eyes of the Children

Bonjor! Hola! Hello!

I hope everyone had a great week this past week!  

Not a whole lot happened this week, just lots of teaching and meeting wonderful people!

We have met some of the most genuine families these past few weeks.  I feel so fortunate to be a part of their lives.

This Friday all the people that have been baptized in my area are going to the temple with us for their first time!  I am so excited!  Two of the boys that I baptized now have the Priesthood and will be coming as well!  This is so cool for me to see.  Also we have been bringing many members to lessons with us this week.  Elder Afalava and I decided we wanted to bring mostly new converts to our lessons!  Best thing we could ever do!  Their testimonies of the true church and the gospel of Jesus Christ are amazing.  I would love to watch the look on some of these peoples faces when they found out that these people were baptized like a week or two ago!  It was so cool!  

At church yesterday we had the Coleman family there.  They are the African Family we are teaching!  I can't explain it, but it felt so right having them there.  Everyone just smothered them!  They fit in so perfectly, and their kids just had an amazing time being there and meeting EVERYONE!  So much growth is happening here in Marion, and it's so obvious Heavenly Father is behind the work and the effort.

Towards the end of this week I got in a little bit of a funk.  This is bound to happen while on a mission!  It wasn't till we went over to a members home and Jerica Land a three yr old girl talked to me.  She is so sweet and so fun!  She always puts a smile on everyone's face!  She came up to me and said out of the blue,"You're supposed to smile." and I was caught of guard.  How did she know I was unhappy!?  So I did just what she told me ( which I have learned you always do what she says) I smiled!  It almost instantly made everything better again!  So when ever you are down or upset just remember what Jerica said... SMILE!  

I love you all!! Thanks for the support!! 

Love

Elder Spatch

Pics

-Elder Afalava and myself

-Kohlier Land and myself in their field 

-Jerica. The cutest 3 yr old you'll ever meet.

Things Are Too Good

Well Things here really are too good!  Everything just seems to be happening right!  This past week we have found a lot of success! It really proves to me that hard work and optimism go a long way!  

This week the McMahan Family was baptized.  This was a bitter sweet moment for me.  They are my first whole family baptized.  The way we found them is just a miracle itself.  Just by walking up to a family and giving their kids 2 Wendy's Frostys started it all.  I have been able to teach this family from start to finish, but it really isn't the finish; its only the beginning. Watching them grow as a family in the gospel has been so amazing to me.  I really love and care about this family a ton.  Andrew, the oldest of the two boys, is getting the Priesthood this Sunday, and is has told almost everyone now that he is serving a mission.  And Randi, the mom,  Is doing so amazing.  She has worked really hard to be able to be baptized, and cut so much bad out of her life. At their baptism I had the hardest time.  I just looked at them and thought about how this all began and I just got hit with all of the emotion behind it.  I sat there after the closing prayer just really sobbing until someone came and just wrapped their arm around me.  Then Andrew came up to me and said," Elder Patch... are you ALWAYS crying??"  I just laughed.  I do feel like i cry a ton out here and I never really cried before my mission!  WHAT IS HAPPENING!! SHEESH. I am just so happy and feel humbled by this whole experience.  

We also this week got to go down to OSU and do some training for the new missionaries!  We got to go on campus!  It was awesome cause I got to see the OSU Volleyball team!  I got to see and hug some friends on the team.  And I got to see one of the coaches there who was one of my coaches this past Summer in Turkey.  It was so cool to see kids I know.  MAN I MISS VOLLEYBALLLLLLLL...... BUT ITS WORTH IT.

The last thing I want to talk about is defining your own reality.  Many times in life we are subject to circumstances that we would conform to others ideas and perceptions.  BUT, I know that we can decide for ourselves what outcome or experience we want to have.  We can choose to be happy or we can not.  We can choose to be GREAT, or we can choose to be just good.  I have really learned that I can make my mission what I want it to be.  It all starts with me defining my own reality.

I love you guys.  Thanks for all the emails, letters, packages, and LOVE!! I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!

Elder Patch

pics 

-McMahan Family

-THE BOYZZZZ

-Some Missionaries