Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Hey!

FAMILIA!!!!


Sorry it has been so long since I have written!! Things have just been crazy busy! A ton has happened so I don't really know where to begin!

Well First off THINGS ARE AWESOME!!!! I have already decided that I am moving back to this town after my mission!! It really is so great!  I love the people and the food!!! mmmmmmmmmmm

Angela Got baptized!  What an experience that was!  I don't think I have ever had to work THAT hard to get one person ready for baptism.  It was amazing how everything wrong went wrong.  She lives in a very rough neighborhood and has so much negativity around her, so it was eally hard to keep her focused and positive!  But with a TON of prayer and help from the members she was BAPTIZED!!!! It was an amazing baptism too.  I asked her to share her testimony after it was over ans she did.  Her testimony of the Atonement and of faith was amazing. I am so envious of converts.  Although on some level we become more converted ourselves to the gospel being born into it; converts just have a totally original perspective! Their testimonies just amaze me.  Angela has been amazing ever since she got baptized.  She has told ALL her homies about it ,and wants all her friends to talk to us!  THAT IS WHAT IS IS ALL ABOUT!  IT IS SO GOOOOOD THAT YOU HAVE TO SHARE IT!  She is an awesome missionary now.  This whole experience taught me how important members really are.  So I challenge you guys to go out of your way to help someone come to the church!  I know it will change your life as well as theirs.

We had another amazing miracle these past 3 weeks!  So we were walking down a street that was totally not interested, and we were so confused as to why we felt like we needed to be there?  Well as we were walking back to our car to leave we saw I saw this women mowing her lawn, and I kid you not she had like a pillar of light around her.  It was unreal.  So we went up to her and I was like, "HEY!!!! Can I mow your lawn for you?!!" She said no, but then all of the sudden she said, "I think I am going to start coming to your church." WHATTTTTT.  We had not even started talking about church yet or anything for that matter!  She explained that she had been praying for a way to get closer to God and a place where her family can go.  We didn't even know what to say!  We obviously asked if we could come back and she said pretty much for lack of a better word "DUH". ha.  So for the next two weeks we tried to see her, and could never get to her!  She would be sick or not feeling well or not home!  We were so depressed!  Then, last Thursday we went over with a member that we felt like needed to come and tried to see her.  SHE WAS HOME AND HEALTHY!  We had the most unreal lesson ever!!!! We started talking about the Book of Mormon and the First Vision and she just started crying!!! Shoot,I WAS CRYING!  She just said," From the moment I met you guys I KNEW that this was or me."  She told us she already knew this was true!  I wish I could describe the feeling that was there on her patio.  It was beautiful!  We extended baptism to her, and she was like, "I have already been baptized, but I don't even care I'll do it again!" HAHA it was so awesome.  Her name is Rita and she has two amazing and bright young girls.  

I am so grateful for the hand that God plays in our missionary work, well actually His missionary work.  I really know that with Faith anything, and I mean ANYTHING is possible.  I am thankful for the trials we go through, cause I know it is a way for me to get closer to God and always remember Him.  I am thankful for all of you that support and pray for me!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

With a TON of love,

Elder Patch

Pics-

Got to throw on a wheel again! Felt so good!
We have a famous artist in our ward (Janice Wunderlich)

she lets me throw all the time. she's rad.










Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Why Is it Not Easy?

So this week has been pretty great!  A lot of miracles!

So In a picture I sent you will see a pic of a black guy. His name is Derante!  He is a miracle! So we were talking to Angela, the woman getting baptized this week, and she was like I feel like you should talk to that guy over there(Derante).  We were like okay??? So we went up him and started explaining who we are.  He was so excited!  He was saying how he just was thinking about coming closer to God and making a better life for himself! So We invited him to church. In this area it is notorious for false promises. So we weren't expecting him to really come.  Well at 8:30 am we knocked on his door and he was all ready to go last week! He had an awesome time!  

We barely got to see him at all last week so we were a little nervous that he wouldn't come.  We we showed up at 8:30 yesterday and he came to the door then shut it in our face.  We didn't really know what to do.  I am super sad about it.  Well were talking to another person across from him and we were about to leave at like 8:50 and then we hear,"Are you guys ready to go?" It was Derante!  He was changing for church!  What a miracle of a kid. He is 24 and is just so committed to what we teach him.  We had the most amazing lesson with him last night.  He talked about how all of his family was putting him down and telling him to stay away from the Mormons! HA! I asked how he felt when he was inside the church. He replied ,"Every time I want through those doors I forget all my problems and I can't seem to remember what things are wrong with my life." I asked why that was?  He said," I have no idea why, but that's why I am here to find out."  My heart was on fire I was so excited.  Then Later that night we talked about "Standing Alone".  Having the courage to stand up for what you believe.  He then said he wants to go on a mission?! I am not even kidding.  We have known this kid for like a little over a week and now he wants to be a missionary?  He is on fire! Man I am so pumped for people that want to be better! 

I have been thinking a lot about why this missionary work isn't easy.  And I why I feel like I am constantly being pushed,stretched, and pressured.  A talk by President Holland has come up more than once this week for me.  The line I want to focus on is this,"I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are the Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?" I have decided that I do not care anymore if someone slams the door in my face or tells me to get lost or any hurtful thing, BECAUSE I KNOW THIS IS TRUE! SO I WILL FIND SOMEONE THAT WANTS TO HEAR THE TRUTH!  I too am convinced that this work is not going to be easy, in fact it is going to be really really really REALLY HARD.  BUT, I know that I do not have to experience anything close to what the Savior did in terms of hard things.  This life will never be easy, but it wasn't designed to be.  So when you think your life is hard, and you're tired, and angry, remember that there was someone that had it much much worse than you or I.  

I love you guys!  Congrats to Loyola for the National Championship! Shout out to my boy Thomas Jaeschke for winning! Also James Shaw for killin it the whole season! Love you guys.

Have a Great week!!!


Elder Patch