M E R R Y & B R I G H T

“Of one thing you can be certain: 

every person you see—no matter the race, 

religion, political beliefs, 

body type,

 or appearance—is family.” 

-Uchtdorf

Family!  Christmas was so awesome!  Thank you all for making it special for me-- with your card, letters and amazing gifts! I hope all of you know how much I love you! Spending Christmas on a mission is really a cool experience.  With the world taking such a secular approach to Christmas I tend to get caught up in all of that... but being on a mission focuses your vision on the true purpose: Christ.

I have felt so much love during this season, as I testify of the birth of the only begotten son.

I am so thankful for Him and his love.

This week has been full of so many miracles.  We met a woman that grew up a member of the church and fell away.  We knocked at her door and she let us in and we had no record of her membership in our ward here.  She told us that she has been praying for a way to turn around her life.  She has three amazing kids and two want to be baptized.  What a miracle it has been to watch as Heavenly Father opens her heart and corrects her path.  Her new born baby is being blessed next week in church.  

I like to think I am making a difference, but I am aware that it is Christ that makes all the difference.  Being a missionary has taught me so much about who I want to be.  I studied the life of Mary and Joseph and I bet they were so proud to be Christ's parents.  I can't wait to be a father!  I know that is forever away, but I want to help my child grow up to be someone who can affect the world in a positive way.  I am so thankful for my parents that raised me!  mom and dad ... you guys are pretty cool ... I guess :)

With a new year around the corner I hope that all of us will have integrity to who we REALLY are and stand for that.  Take some time to write down WHO you are (not what you are) and dedicate a year to being loyal to that.  "let your light so shine before men". All of you have light to share!

Love.

Elder Patch

 

 

F A I T H T A K E S T W O L E G S

"f e e d   y o u r   f a i t h

and

y o u r   d o u b t s  w i l l   s t a r v e

to 

  d e a t h."

                                       - unkown

Hey Familia!!! So Glad I could hear from so many of you this week! I love hearing about your lives and what things youre doing!  

This week has been so fantastic!  It amazes me how you can learn something new on a concept that you have previously explored!  I am learning new world about F A I T H!! 

This week we taught Tommy, who is an amazing brother we are teaching!  We have an All Black Campus in our area... which as you can imagine is Heaven on earth for ME! I love it, cause everyone is so SASSY and STYLISH all at the same time! Literally Heaven! ;) Well the very first day I went there I saw this guy all the way across the campus and he was dressed so well!  I wanted to talk to him and tell him how good his style was!  SO! I ran after him! HA I bet that looked really funny.  Anyway we talked and he said he was so amazed that someone would run after him just to talk to him... GUESS HE NEVER MET MISSIONARIES BEFORE!  

Anyway we asked him what he thought his purpose was?  He replied, "It's strange you ask, because I have been thinking lately that I don't have one."  Well.. we then replied... "would you like to know it?"  He said YES. 

So we set up a time for the following week to meet, and on this particular campus the people are really "flaky" and so weren't sure if he would keep his appointment.  Well we show up that next week and HE IS THERE! all ready to go!  We have the most amazing lesson with him and he said he feels like what we are sharing is right and he needs to follow it.

Well Just last week after committing him to read the Book of Mormon, he comes to us having read HALF OF IT!!! He pulls up Alma, and he tells us he has decided something.  So we go there with him, and he shows us chapter 32 and says "I know what I need to do..."  We ask him what that was, but he replied with a quote from Frederick Douglass, which says "“I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.” I loved that!  He decided it was time for him to act and do something.  Wee extended baptism and he sat there silent for a minute and then told us He wants to be baptized!!! So he is getting baptized Feb. 7th!!

We are so excited!!! He is amazing.  

We also have been able to teach some new amazing PREPARED people!  I am so thankful for this gospel in my life.  I wish so badly that the people I teach could see and feel what I have seen and felt.  I have heard from some of my friends and past missionaries that they have gone "inactive" in the church.  That absolutely freaked me out! HOW COULD YOU GO INACTIVE AFTER SERVING A MISSION?!! I thought there was NO WAY!  I have been pondering this a lot, and I realized that sadly after our mission we go back to real life and Satan in so much stronger there.  If we don't CONTINUALLY treasure up the doctrine of Christ we can fall away.  So If you are having trouble with keeping your faith then get off YOUR BUTT and GO STUDY AND PRAY AND GO TO CHURCH!  Sometimes you just have to recharge the batteries in the simplest of ways! 

I LOVE EACH OF YOU SO MUCH!!!! 

I pray for all my friends and family everyday. 

Thank you for the light that each of you has, and shares.

God our Heavenly Father loves YOU! 

Yes, YOU!

Love 

Elder Patch

 

c h r i s t i s : c h r i s t m a s

"the magic of christmas is 

not presents but in his 

presence."

 

christmas.mormon.org 

FELIZ NAVIDAD EVERYONE!

I hope each of you are having a great holiday season! Shout to BYU WOMENS VBALL FOR GOING TO THE SWEET SIXTEEN!!!!!! SO PUMPED FOR ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Okay well this week has been so great!  We are teaching such amazing families!  We are going to invite these people to be baptized this week! We are so EXCITED!!!! I'll the the best feeling in the world is seeing someone get baptized!! I can't wait.  

One lesson we had this week was amazing! We taught the Smith family about the Plan of Happiness!! OH WHAT A PERFECT TITLE FOR THIS PLAN!!! "HAPPINESS"!!!! They had so many questions about where we come from and how we were created!  I love the truth we have that we get to share about that!  We know the answers!  Not all, but a lot! They are intelligent and so they asked about how the stars and other various creations have similar genetic make-ups like ours!  We taught and testified about how things were created spiritually before they were created physically!  I was just so great!  Mr. Smith is just really loving this whole thing!  He is so tender and wants to be the spiritual leader in his home!  Gosh they are amazing!!!!!! They have a little girl has just become one of my little sisters and every time we come over she runs up to me and boasts that she has prayed every night by herself!  (side note- I cant wait to be a dad!!!).  Love them

So not to much is new.  I have been thinking a lot about faith.   I have come to an understanding that faith is to agree unconditionally - to the outcomes of any circumstance in the present, near future and even distant future.  I haven't mastered that of course but I am trying to be in an agreeance with God.  IT IS SO HARD!  Faith is so very powerful.. in fact it is power.  I am learning that when I have Faith in God's will and His son then Life just seems to work out!  Our mission president, President Danies said, "We should not only Believe in Christ, but we should also Believe Christ."  That really identified with me.  I have faith in His life, but do I have faith in ALL His words? even the most infinitesimal amount of faith can produce some good -- if it is in the right person.

Christ was a quintessential in having faith in His Father.  He believed all His Fathers words, thus making HIS choice to come to earth.  I am so eternally grateful that he used His free will to choose to come here.  I know that because of subsequent choice I too can come to earth and make my own choices.  And I choose Christ.

I hope during this Christmas Season we ALL can reach out in diverse ways to help our brothers and sisters out!  I know that with faith we can all go out with a zealous attitude and touch so many lives! 

Love 

Elder Patch

Recieve, Embrace, And Share the Gift.

" Discover, Embrace, And Share the Gift."

http://www.mormon.org/christmas

If you have not seen the 'He is the Gift' video go watch it right NOW!!! 

Everyone!  Then share it :) Link is above!

I really hope EVERYONE had an amazing Thanksgiving!  I Know I did!  I love Holidays on my mission, because everyone is so happy!!! We had such an amazing Thanksgiving!  So many things to be thankful for!  We got to spend Thanksgiving with two non member families, which was really great!  We showed them the video , which is linked above, which really set the mood for our whole feast!  It was awesome!  Christ really gave us the greatest gift. I love him :)

Well This week we finally found some amazing people to teach! Families!! We are teaching the Smith family, which I sent a picture of!  They are so amazing and the gospel came to them in a perfect time!  Well duh sense God timed it, right?! Well we had a beautiful lesson with them a few days ago.  We brought the most amazing member who is like an angel and she was perfect!  We started the lesson with a video about following God!  It was great.  Then we asked someone to say the prayer.  Well eyes immediately went away from mine haha so they wouldn't get called on!  Then the member we brought who was sitting next to one of the little girls asked her is she knew how to prayer.  The little Smith girl said no.  Well our member continued to teach this little 7 yr old how to say a prayer out loud.  I started crying as I listened to what she was saying.  She was talking to God like she had known him forever.  It was so cool.  once she learned how she wouldn't stop!!! hahah We sat their listening to her for like 5 minutes!!! It was so cute!  When she finished she said, "CAN I DO IT AGAIN?!!" We all laughed.  

Teaching this whole family has taught so much about how important it is to teach our children what is right, and give them growing experiences.  I loved watching the little Smith girl light up when she realized what she actually just did.  She talked to God. But what was cool was her mom.  He mom hasn't had a belief in God for a while and to see her cry as she watched her daughter pray made me cry!  MOM I LOVE YOU! I just love how much happiness little things we teach our children can bring!  Anyway the whole lesson was amazing!

I am thankful for all that each of you do!  I challenge each of you to Receive, Embrace, and Share the gift of Christ this Christmas season! Help others to feel good and loved!  Do it today!

I want to hear from all of you!  I hope everyone that gets this is happy and feels loved!  If not, email me and we will fix it!!!

Love you!!

Elder Patch

 

 

G e t T o T h e F r o n t

"Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side."

-Hymn

Well this week has been great!  Not super eventful but just good!  We have had some miracles in meeting totally prepared people!

We were knocking on these apartment doors in a really sketchy area.  We prayed and prayed about where to go.  This is what we felt.  So after getting doors shut in our face about 5 times we decided to leave.  As we were coming down the stairs we both said almost in unison "we forgot that door".  We knocked on every door except the one right in front of us.  We knocked and this 22 yrd old young mom answered.  She just smiled.  She said you guys are Jesus people huh? and we just laughed and Said "YOU KNOW IT!"  she laughed and asked if wanted to come in...

Well We sat down and had no idea what to say.  I just looked at her and wanted to cry, because for the first time in a long time I saw someone in white.  Later after the lesson my companion said he felt the same thing.  We started asking her about her faith.  She said she has always wanted to know if there was a God.  I felt so good telling her honestly that she has a Father in heaven who loves her so much. I wish I could have taken a picture of the smile on her face.  We just told her all that Heavenly Father wants for her and her son and Fiance.  It was amazing to hear her answers to our questions.  It seemed almost relieving for her to find reassurance in our words. I don't know if I have ever said this but... I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!  She prayed for the first time with us out loud.  Man I wanted to hug her so bad!!!!!! She is just a normal girl trying to find her purpose.  I can't wait to see who she becomes.

We had awesome church meetings this week!  Elder Seldon of the Seventy said, "The soldiers on the front lines always get the best equipment."  That really made me think! So my thought is that if we are Gods Soliders where are we in his ranks?  Are you in the front lines ready to fight?  Or are we somewhere in the middle, maybe a little hesitant?  Or are we in the back watching our Brothers and Sisters in front of us defending what we too believe is true.  I hope that we can all say we are on the front lines.  And if youre not.. thats okay too.  You can get there! 

We have nothing to be afraid of, THE LORD IS ON OUR SIDE! I can think of no one else that I would rather have leading me in battle than Jesus Christ.  So I invite all of you to get to the front of the Ranks and start fighting for what you believe.  Get involved in making this world a better place!  

I know God lives.  I know Jesus lives.  I know they love us.  I know they love you.  

Love

Elder Patch 

Make It Rain

" ' ' '   ' '"  

' "  '   '          ' '             "    '' '

''  ' 

"''       "'' ' ' ''      

"Heavenly Father is constantly "

'''raining blessings ' ' "

 '  '''upon us, but it is our fear, ' ' "        "

doubt, and sin that, like an

umbrella, block these blessings''

"  ''from reaching us. "

- president uchtdorf

" ' "' '

"               " '''"     

" ' 

'  

Please ignore my attempt to create rain on a computer, but I thought it was worth a try!  Well family I love you! I love you much!!!

So this week has been really HARD!  I was waiting for a hard week!Ha I swear my mission has just been really easy and fun!  I was due for a little struggle!:)  So almost all of our investigators here are not progressing!  It was sooo frsutrating for me, cause I just got here and I left an area that was doing so well.  I got impatient really fast.  So I decided to do what I know best... Pray.

I spent this whole week praying for specific people and an increased amount of spiritual guidance!! Guess what!!!?!  Nothing Happened.  But Finally I got some spiritual promptings.  A thought came to me that said,"curiosity never promotes change, but true desire will.'

That came to me at such a perfect time.  I have realized that most of the people we were teaching were just curious, but were not sincere in their desire to come closer to Christ.  I know that God Loves all of his children , but I have so much respect for him.  He won't force us, his children to choose him.  What an amazing Father!  I love it! I love him.  So as we continue on I am going to ask people if they have an honest desire to draw nearer to God or just curious.

 

I invite all of us to think about that!  Are we just curious about living the gospel fully?  I know I have been guilty of that!  Do we want to just believe but not act?  How can Heavenly Father give the full amount of the promised blessing if we only give half our heart?  It just won't happen.  I know I have many changes to make!

It looks like the movie FROZEN over here!! I don't know what happened.  There was no snow and then BOOM Winter wonderland!  Good-bye fall!! hopefully everyone enjoyed the short time period of warmth!!  

Thank you all for everything!Especially Thank you for sharing the gospel with those around you.  The gospel is so real! I look around and see so many people that just live.  I wonder what they think their purpose is?  Do they know why they are here?  If we were just sent here to live; to leave Gods presence and then to experience separation from Him just to return... WHAT WOULD BE THE POINT?  There is no point to that!  WE ARE HERE TO DO SOMETHING!  If you don't know what that is I suggest you ask HIM!

Love Elder Patch

Enjoy the Picture... ;)

My address:  1715 Deer Creek Dr. Ste 5

         Xenia, Ohio 45385

 

HOW DO YOU FACE?

"pure christ-like love

flowing from righteousness 
can change the world."

-Jeffery R. Holland

In a recent talk in General Conference Elder Robbins asked this rhetorical question "Which way do you face?" This talk really was enlightening and humbling for me.  I suggest you read it.  There are some key points I want to take from it before I share my thoughts about another perspective. . I quote, "We seek respectful coexistence with those who point fingers, but when this fear of men tempts us to condone sin, it becomes a “snare” according to the book of Proverbs (see Proverbs 29:25  ). The snare may be cleverly baited to appeal to our compassionate side to tolerate or even approve of something that has been condemned by God."  How true this is, especially in our society today!  Society would have our sympathy go beyond the very divine of God.  Indeed Satan does have power- the power to bruise our morals and blind our divine heavenly vision, but we also have the power to crush Satan's head.

He continues , "When people try to save face with men, they can unwittingly lose face with God. Thinking one can please God and at the same time condone the disobedience of men isn’t neutrality but duplicity." This brings me to my topic.  Although we have the direction we face, I ask, where are our feet?  Are they square to that same direction?  Or are we  merely turning our heads toward God but leaving our feet planted in comfortable soil called neutrality.

I invite you to ask yourself where you stand and if you are looking in that same direction. And once you figure out if your body and head are facing toward God THEN MOVE! Pick up your roots and move to higher fertile ground filled with nutrients deriving from heavenly streams and glorified light. IT IS TIME TO MOVE.  Christ Often said "To know me, is to know my Father."  I hope it can be said of us that to know us, is to know the Savior.  Lets lift each other to get there.

This past week has been so sweet.  I am loving this country town of Xenia!  The people here are so nice and open!  We are teaching a guy named Luke (I sent a picture) and he is a alumni football player from Purdue!  He is so awesome! He and I have developed a brotherly bond.  I talk to him about how I am doing and he mentors me.  He loves Christ.  Although he struggles with some of our doctrine he continues to pray to find answers.  Luke also has taken upon himself now to be my personal trainer! hahah He said he wants to get me back into shape! Sooooo... let me tell you how this looks!  I wake up at 6 every morning and then he PRETTY MUCH KILLS ME FOR AN HOUR!!!! I DO NOT MISS WORKING OUT!!!! But I feel a ton better!  I love Luke!  Such a solid guy!

So many miracles this week with people we meet!  God is mindful of his Children.  Don't ever think he doesn't care about what you are doing, thinking, or feeling.  HE does.

I love all of you!!! Thank you for the letters!!!!!!!

xoxoxo

 Elder Patch