The Truth

"There is joy guaranteed for the faithful, and obedient." - Pres. Eyring

Family I am so HAPPY!!! I cannot remember a time on a mission that I have been this happy!!!!!!!!!!! I found more joy in forgetting myself and only caring for others than any other thing!! I love being a missionary. Totally worth it!  This week is my official Year marker!  I can't really believe it... But it is true!  I am so thankful that I get to start my last year hear with such optimism and FAITH!

I wish i could properly address all the miracle that are taking place here. 9 brothers and sisters we are teaching came to church yesterday!!  I know God blesses His children as they are obedient to His commandments.  Also His Prophets.  I cannot wait for General conference this weekend! I Love being just saturated with the spirit! What a true blessing it is to have Authority and the Prophetic Priesthood power back on the Earth. #soblessed

We were able to teach THE most powerful lessons this week. I have found so much power in teaching simple truths.  It is so very VERY easy for me ha to get defensive and logical with learned people!  But the simple truth of the Restoration of Jesus Christ's Gospel confounds the wise. As we teach and talk about the Restoration of Authority I find a consistent witness confirming the truth of the Gospel.  Modern day social norms find solace in self examination and promotion.  Authority is not a flattering word these days.  But who cares. Authority from God is real.  And we need it to not be in total and complete chaos!  

Cam is our little 14 yr old boy who watched his mother die a few years ago.  It kills me sometimes to see him hurt so bad. He reacts so sharply is something he doesn't like is said to him.  He is so sensitive! I can't imagine that pain he is feeling inside.  He is such a good kid and just wants to be loved.  He is missing a huge aspect of love in his home and I am so happy and feel privileged to bring him the hope of Gods love.  He left church yesterday smiling and glowing.  I love this gospel.  What it can do is limitless.  It is infinite.  Cam wants to be baptized, and I know he will be.  

We are teaching so many young people!  I feel like God is building His army younger and younger.  Talk about the stripling warriors. It is amazing to see how God is working in their lives and they acknowledge and recognize it when it happens!  I can honestly see that as the recognize it more and more God gives them more.  Acknowledging His hand I believe that qualifies us for more Divine assistance. 

I hope each of you know that God loves you, and has something for YOU to do.  We are Children on this earth and He needs our help.  He depends on our willing hearts to serve Him faithfully.  If you don't know your purpose or need to find one ask specifically, and honestly!  What matters is not that you ask rather HOW YOU ASK! Don't say "God please lead me.".. say "GOD DO I GO THIS WAY OR THAT WAY!" Be SPECIFIC! :)

Thank you for all each of you do everyday! BE GOOD, DO GOOD!

Love 

Elder Patch

Pictures

1. My boys! (in our zone)

2. Cam! such a sweet kid.

3. Ellen!  

Lay Down Your Weapons

"Everyone wants to be the sun to lighten everyone's life, but why not be the moon, to brighten in the darkest hour."  -Unknown

Well family I love you!  I have had such an amazing week!  Not because of the work rather the changes that I have made in my life... I love being a missionary.  It's no longer; I hope they call me on a mission, now I say I am so glad they did.

I have been so blessed to meet so many people that I love.  I have to tell the story of one of my best friends. Kai.

So back when I was serving in Riverside I was really struggling missing home and athletics!  But I really felt like I was there for a reason!  I was so close to many friends at OSU and I wanted to reach out to them!  It was such a golden opportunity and could make up for all the times I hadn't prior to my mission. I was praying on how best to approach some guys I knew.  Well the answer literally spiked me in the face!  I don't know why but I can look at a person and know if they play volleyball or not!  It is weird!  But like in that week I was praying I would see dudes walking down the street so frequently and know that they played! I would stop them and give them my number so we could play sometime!  Well non of them really responded.  I think they were scared cause they knew I would probably ask them to stop drinking haha. 

  One day after praying super hard to find someone I was suppoesed to find it happened.  We were driving down the street by OSU campus and I saw this kid while stopped a stop sign walking and I looked at Elder Campbell and told him he plays volleyball!  I drove over SOOO fast to him and almost hit him HA and pretty much told him that he played volleyball!  He smiled and responded "yes" . I asked if I could play with him sometime!  He got my number and texted me that night! What is crazy and a total answer to prayer is that as we were driving away from meeting him I looked at Elder Campbell and I kid you not we both said,"he is going to be baptized". We played the next day and Kai was just glowing.  We just knew.  There was something different about him! I prayed so hard to find the courage to ask if he wanted to talk more about the church and stuff cause it is one thing to ask total strangers to learn but your friends that you love and trust is so different (but is it?), but Kai beat me to it.  He said he wanted to talk! We had this night where we just sat together and talked about life and the church.  Long story short I got transferred the very next week from meeting him and I was crushed cause I knew I was sent to OH-IO to meet him.  But he stayed strong, and talked more with the missionaries, and HE HAS DECIDED TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  But what I cry about every time is that he has asked me to baptize him.  I am so thankful for Kai.  He (and others) has made my mission and sacrifice so worth it.  I cannot wait till the day I get to walk into the baptismal font and baptize my best friend.  I know this is Christ's Church.  It has to be, because I have never felt so good!

I know miracles happen when we surrender our will or our WEAPONS to the Lord.  This last week I studied Alma 24 in the Book of Mormon.  I thought so much about what weapons I am using to fight off full consecration to the work.  I have started digging my hole and am putting my weapons in it.  I have less than a year left.  I want to give this thing all I can.  So my advice to you, and I really hope you take it, is to stop trying to fight God.  Put down your weapons and let him Lead you with love. I KNOW there is a God.  I know HE knows me by name, and you too.

I love you all! and pray for each of you by name! YES ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!

LOVE

XOXOXOXOXOOX

ELDER PATCH

Mothers... My Heroes

Well Howdy Everyone!

I just gotta say how much I LOVE you guys!!! Thank you for making my mission so fun and supporting me!  I KNOW I couldn't have done this without the love and support I have felt!  Especially the prayers.  As I go forward with my mission I am constantly reminded that this (Missionary work) is all about LOVE.  Love is the driving force for the universe.  Everything I say and do I want to convey a message of love.  Love is power.  And this power was used on me all the time in my home.  MOM thank you for all the love you have shown me.  YOU ARE MY HERO!

We have met another hero here in Gahanna.  SISTER MAMMA NADER.  She is a member in our ward and she is a hero.  She was diagnosed with the same Cancer Steve Jobs had about 8 years ago.  He doctor told her she was going to die in less than 4 years.  She is a single mom with an amazing son Nick.  She is my hero.  She has taken us into her home and her heart, and given everything to us.  Her capacity to love is amazing.  Throughout all of her trails of radiation therapy and medicine and financial troubles she has kept her faith.  Well not only that but she has challenged others to find theirs.  She has kept her son strong with the promises of an Eternal Family.  Everyday she gives her son a quote that inspires him to be better!  And she has added to my faith, that we really can endure anything if we choose to endure it well.  She is Argentinian so every time we go over she makes of MOUNDS OF FOOD!!! HA! Last week we ate with her and I had 3 servings of pasta and 2 huge pieces of brushetta!  And she was like speaking to me in Spanish and calling me skinny and said I couldn't leave the table until I felt sick! HA! I tried whimpering and even gave the BIG OL PUPPY DOG EYES! nothing worked... so I ate i swear like 20 pounds of food! Im fat!!! I love her!!!!!!!!!!! SEE you in 10 months BYU ahahha!

OH! So I am not getting transferred!  I am staying here in Gahanna! 6 more weeks!  Here we go!  We had a great week of teaching!  Last Sunday 10 brothers and sisters that we are teaching came to church!!! It was so awesome to have so many people we love and teach there with us!!!!! I loved it!  President Daines Came out teaching with us!  Well he more like surprised us and was in our area and told us he was going to come out teaching with us! sneaky sneaky.  I hope he reads this! We had an amazing lesson with him and Jordan!  He is so personable and relatable!  I really love that man!  He isn't afraid to be himself!  I really know how much he actually cares about me and the people I teach.  I am so thankful to have him as our Mission President.  he is just what I needed and was praying for.  What I also Love about him is how he treats his wife, Sister Danies.  You can just tell that she is precious to him.  I just love them!

I am very blessed as a missionary!  I am so thankful for this given opportunity to serve as a representative of Jesus Christ.  I love preaching LOVE!  So  I will end by saying I know that each of YOU has a Heavenly Father that knows you by name, and actually cares what you do!  I know prayer is real.  God is probably very busy, but never to busy to answer His child's prayer.

Love each of you!

Elder Patch

Address

374 Arbors Cir

Gahanna, OH 43230

Pics!

1.Mamma Nader!!!

2. President Danies

3. Homies

4. what I look like in the Morning

ALONG FOR THE RIDE

Hey Family and friends (family)!

We had a really cool week!  We had the opportunity to teach so many people about Christ!  Last week was so hard and I really questioned my faith.  I had to think a lot about what I truly believe.  So I went back to the basics... what is my Purpose?  My purpose is to bring people closer to Jesus Christ.  As His representative for 2 years I really want to do what He would do and say what He would say.  I am really so blessed and fortunate to be a believer in Christ.  I see so many young adults my age that have brilliant minds and great ambition but are lacking in a very critical area.  I envision my life without the truth I now know.  I would have no depth, just material successes and wishes.  I know my purpose really makes a difference.  It is not me doing the work, but rather through me He accomplish HIS work. I am humbled everyday by how miraculously He accomplishes His work.

We have taught so many lessons this week!  Jordan our 15 yr old star is getting ready for baptism in a few weeks!  She is saturating herself with the gospel.  She reads prays and invites other to join.  This last week we taught more in depth about prophets and specifically the Word of Wisdom (absence of drugs, alcohol, and coffee). She really grasped on to most of these but struggled with coffee.  Man she loves her a good Caramel Frappuccino .  Can't blame her.  But as we discussed and the spirit took aver she understood way more and faster.  I love the spirit in these kinds of things.  It makes our task so much easier!  So she committed to live it this last week!  And so did her parents and whole family!!

One of my best friends shared this analogy with me:

K so if you were a car (the engine, the wheel, the tires, the seat, the ignition, the whole shebang), Christ would be kind of like the driver. If we remain in idle, the car would run out of gas or battery and would have traveled no where. Whereas if we begin to move forward, start the ignition and start moving forward, we begin to progress in life. Christ this whole time is the driver within us who knows what would be best for us. He knows when to hit the accelerator, when to tap the brake, when to hit the cruise control, when to steer you back on course, and most importantly when you begin to break down or even have some trouble, he knows when to help you or even care for you. Being just a car we have our multiple functions, have our issues and even come in a wide variety of makes, models, and colors. We are all different but Christ is the driver that is there to help steer us on the right course in the journey of our life here. Another cool analogy is that we have rear view mirrors, that way although we can look back on life, but what we need to know is that it's in the past and all we need to know is to grow from that experience and just keep on that accelerator and keep moving forward. Keep moving forward with faith and courage, and Christ will be there to help guide you, put you on cruise control, or provide the assistance he knows you need. 

I love the word courage.  I know it takes SO MUCH COURAGE to choose to do things that you do not understand but you hope are right and will bring good things!  I know so many people I have taught had faith and hope but did not have the courage to act.  Yes it's hard to change, sometimes seems impossible, but if we let Christ take the Wheel then our course will be more direct and detour free. 

I love you guys. 

keep praying.

have courage.

stay classy.

Elder Patch

PERFORMANCE

Howdy!

Well sorry it has taken me so long to write!  This week has been crazy busy!  We had lots of meetings and training's!  It has been such an interesting week!  I don't know why but the people I attract to teach are the hardest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone we find is like super educated.  What has been hard is the amount of anti-mormon information I received this week!  People would spend literally hours researching ways to try to prove my faith wrong.  It was so hard.  We sat in a lesson yesterday and just got torn apart and were presented with so much negative information.  I felt like really sick throughout the whole thing.  My companion new something was wrong with me cause I wasn't saying anything in our lesson! Ha Usually he is trying to get my big mouth to shut up!:)  

I wanted to tell this story because to me on their part it took a lot of preparation.  I all the time about how God has prepared me for a mission, or subsequently the very people I have met.  20 years of trials and hardship and joys and success.  All that under my belt has given preparation for these two years.  But God is not the only one who prepared.  Satan is very VERY real.  He too has been preparing for this day and age.  Has planned and planned and now he is executing.  So I am going to relate this all back to of course volleyball.  I would practice 20+ hours a week and then play for 2 hours on a weekend.  20 hours just for a 2 hour performance.  Why all that preparation?  Well performance is measured on how well we prepared.  If you think about any war in history the victor would almost always be the side that better prepared.  What is also interesting about practice is that you practice harder than you play.  For anyone that has ever competed in anything knows that practice is so much harder than the actual game or performance!  Why is that?  It is because practice or preparation is where the growing pains take place.  

I truly have noticed a big difference in missionary work and just in myself when I take the time to better prepare for the day.  I may be able to preform GOOD without sufficient practice but I will NOT preform at my best... So prepare yourself now for what is to come.  There will be a time when you will be called on to perform and depending on how well you prepared will determine you success.  Pray TODAY for what you can do to prepare for the trial TOMORROW.  Because I promise the trial will come.  This life is short.  We have "20 hours" of practice and only "2 hours" to perform.  Don't waste a second.

I love you all.

Thank you for your prayers.  I feel them.

Elder Patch

I moved!!!!

New address 

374 Arbors Cir

Gahanna, OH 43230