All Good In The Hood

Life is so good!

This week has been HARD!  So many challenges, but so much more opportunity for growth!  I have learned to love hard times!  Which I hope will last hahaha.  

This week Rubie got baptized in Marion, so I got to go back to Marion to baptize her! That was awesome! She is 14 and there is not a better time to be baptized I think when you are really starting to explore who you are!  I am really excited for her! I also got to see Rose and Phillip (who were baptized in January) which made my whole week. I really missed them.  

This weekend Angela is getting baptized!  I sent some pictures of her and my area cause I want all of you to see how awesome it is over here!  It is the most TRENDY spot on the planet!  I might possibly just move back here.  I came from Marion, which was a far from this as you can be to now being here in trendy heaven! Everyone dresses well! LIFE IS SOOOO GOOD. hahah

Anyway more important things... THERE IS A URBAN OUTFITTERS IN MY AREA!  haha Just kidding even more important things than that.  for the past two weeks here I have really been pushed!  The people here are super Liberal and are all about personal identity and self exploration, but more on a scientific aspect.  That has been a HUGE culture change.  People here want evidence!  Which I can totally relate to, but then where does faith fit in?  Well It actually makes everyone's starting point here the same!  We start by increasing everyone's faith in things they can't see, which are true!  Easier said than done, but it is possible.   I think in a world moving so far away from the idea of God it has become more of a absolute that i must work harder and faster to help others gain that personal intimate relationship with their creator.  I can't imagine a life not knowing I am a son of King?  My potential in endless?!  Who wouldn't want that knowledge?  Well everyone here wants it... they just don't know it yet! haha

I don't ever want to take my mission for granted.  I am so thankful for the really really hard lessons I learn.  I never could have imagined the amount of emotional, mental and spiritual uncertainty that one would go through!  But to come out on top and to look back at how much you have learned and grown is LIBERATING! Knowledge is freedom!  I love being here!  I love you all!!!!!!

Lets all strive to be better!

Love 

Elder Patch

Pics

Stress

Well I have to be super brief. sorry...

Pretty much being a Zone Leader is great!  But you are soooo busy!  

It is crazy all the things you have to do and constant phone calls you have

to make!  But I love it! It keeps me focused! 

This week will be my first full week in RIVERSIDE!  I seriously love this area!

It is so trendy and urban and awesome!  It reminds me so much of San Fransisco.  I am right by OSU campus and so we meet a ton of college kids, which is a huge dynamic change for me.  

I honestly think I will serve the rest of my mission here (or at least I will pray that I do). This zone That I got called to has been struggling for a long time. Well that is going to change!  I love change!  The equate change with growth!  I can't wait to help my zone grow!  We have a lot of plans and goals for this zone so we are super excited!  

Back in Marion two of the people I found and taught are getting baptized this weekend!  I am so excited for them two.  So many miracles are happening this week!  So here in riverside they have been teaching people that just were not going anywhere... Well they are now!  We got here and met these amazing woman that just wasn't sure this Church was for her. Angela is her name!! She is black.  I hope most of you are rolling your eyes after you read that. ahhah.  Well me and her just hit it off! and her whole family!  We were having so much fun talking about how nappy each others hair was and all sorts of good stuff.  Then we brought in the spirit.  We just testified that this is something she or no one can let go, because it is true!  We promised her so many blessing that are just around the corner!  She said, and I quote,"I believe you! I want this! Oh my gosh i am really going to do this!" 

 She is amazing and in just 3 days has made a FULL turn around.  Yesterday before Church( general Conference) she went around her neighborhood slamming on doors and waking up friends to come! She would yell, "GIRL! I know you are in there! Don't even play I will burn down yo house to get you out!" hahahah I love Angela so much. She is a killer missionary! I know I was called here for a reason! Its so obvious to me!  So excited for whats to come!

There was one quote i just wanted to touch on from General conference. President Hallstrom said,"Society suggests that our potential is limited, but God says YOUR POTENTIAL IS INFINITE."  How true that really is.  So I just invite all of us to remember this profound insight.  That we really are capable of anything.  We have a loving Heavenly Father, who like any parent would give and do anything for His children.  Know your potential, and know that you are a child of GOD! Hello! You can do anything! 

Love you Guys!

Elder Patch

my new address is

246 Clinton Heights Ave

Columbus, OH 43202

I Hate Goodbyes!

Well first off I am leaving Marion!

I can't really explain how I feel about it.  It's like I am leaving home again?

I have really grown to love everyone here and feel like i am a part of a family.It will be SUPER hard for me to go tomorrow, but I know I am needed

somewhere else. 

Second, I got called to be a Zone Leader! I am super excited, but also way nervous or maybe just anxious.I can't wait to see were I will be or who with!  I am so sad to be leaving my brown boy Elder Afalava. Love that kid.But new adventures are ahead! Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!

This week has just been amazing.  I will be brief (Cause I have to pack, and by pack I mean I have to find a way to stuff all my clothes into my suitcases) (somethings never change). This week I have once again learned a lot of service.  We wanted to show everyone that we have met that we love them.  So I made literally 80+ chocolate chip cookies for all these people.  It was so fun.  We made plates for all the people we are teaching, have taught, and other people we just love.  It was amazing to see peoples faces just light up and you could see that they really loved it.  It was so worth all the hand mixing.  Seriously i will never take a Kitchen-aid for granted again! Anyway something as simple as making cookies for someone really shows that you care.

In return I just felt really good the rest of the week.  I think we could all do a little better at doing something nice for others. Small acts of love. 

Anyway I love you guys!  I will send my new address next week!!! Thanks for all the emails and letters and just love! It means more than you know!  Also shout-out to The Sandman for being AVCA Player of the Week!  You're the man! 

Love you guys!

Elder Patch

Trail Of Your Faith

Isn't it weird that things in our life will be going SO good then all of the sudden things just seem to start going wrong?  Well I am right there with ya!  So this email is all about keepin the faith.

Well first I hope everyone had an awesome week!  Congrats to BYU for winning another game!  While they are getting better and stronger, I am getting fatter and... FATTER! WHOO!

Love it.  seriously I just want all of you to know that I am almost 220.  Now I know that that isn't a lot considering my height, but I feel pretty good about it. Since I came out at 200.  

So this week we have had a lot of good things happen!  We also have seen people give up the fight for good.  It might be the hardest thing for me to watch as someone lets go of all the progress they had made for a better life.  It actually makes my testimony grow stronger of this gospel,because it seems that there is so much negative force against it. So when thinking about faith I discovered that I needed to strengthen mine.  We cannot teach someone until we are converted ourselves.  So If I am going to ask the people I teach to have a little more faith, then I too must have more faith.  

I was thinking about why things will be good, then suddenly go wrong?  Well if you think about it, when are we learning and growing the most?  I believe it to be when things are difficult.  We learn so much more from the hard than the easy.  It is harder to have faith in something we can see.  So Satan puts in front of us things we can visually see and wants us to put our faith in that.  But its to easy. We as human beings naturally want instant gratification or results, but are we really satisfied with things don't last? I don't think so.  But are we willing to find the things that do and will last? Do these things require more faith?

For me personally here on a mission I have seen that Heavenly Father won't let things just smooth.  He has to let things come my way so that I can grow!  It honestly is an act of love if you think about it?  What parent wants their child to be dumb and not learn?  After all He is a parent! So for me I just let the good times go and look forward to the hard, cause I know I am about to learn something I need to learn! These hard, fiery trials are designed to make us stronger, but they also have the potential to diminish or even destroy our faith in God. If we hold on to the little faith we do have, that WILL get us further then letting go of all of our faith.

We had a miraculous experience this week, that goes along with this.  We were walking down a street about 2 weeks ago and knocked on a door.  A man named Ryan came out and he was really interested in what we had to say.  Before we left he said,"Hey i think my Aunt needs to hear this."  So about a week after that, we were walking down that same street not even thinking about stopping at that house and while we were walking his Aunt came out of the house right as we were walking by.  We instantly remembered what her nephew said.  So we stopped and came up to her and said hello.  She looked at us and started to cry.  She said hold on and walked back inside.  Elder Afalava looked at each other kinda puzzled.  

But she came back out and was holding a large piece of cardboard.  She looked at the other side that we could not see then turned it around to us.  On the other side was a picture of her and a young teenage girl who looked like she had just gone through Chemo.  Said said," This is my daughter, she died last year and I want to know why God took her from me."  I instantly felt this overpowering amount of love for her.  I didn't know what to say.  She looked broken.  So we just said that we cant tell you exactly why He took her home, but we can give you the happiness that you deserve.  We asked her if she wanted to be happy.  She replied,"I haven't felt happy in a really long time."  Although she lost some faith, I know that she kept a little in God.  I truly know that if we hold on to our faith and don't give up the fight, we will learn more than we can imagine. This woman could have given up, but she didn't.  I can't wait to see how the gospel will enrich and uplift her life.

Fan the flames of faith.

Love you guys!

Elder Patch

Men In Black

Happy St. Patrick's day!!

Another Week Gone BY! I Can't believe how fast a mission goes.I honestly feel like a just got here! This week was great!  We got to go to the temple, which was needed!  I love going to the temple cause you just get to forget all the stress of a mission!!! 

Also this week cause chuck was baptized!  We have been teaching 

Chuck for a little while!  His wife was baptized 2 weeks ago and so we started teaching him shortly after!  He is really amazing. He wrote a poem call, "The RESTORATION of my soul". which pretty much talks about his experience with us missionaries and learning about the restoration of Christ's Church!  He just brought me to tears hearing him read it to us!I could just feel so much love that he had for us as he read it!Being a missionary rocks!  But I hope no one thinks a mission is easy!Each week holds a new challenge for me! But I find that I overcome it by the end of the week!  Our mission President's wife said, "the hard times on your mission right now are wayyyyyyy more important than the good."  I thought about that a couple days.I could not agree more! I feel like I have learned more about myself when I overcome something hard, rather than something easy.I love our mission President's wife(Sister Nilsen)because she just tells you how it is!  She doesn't sugar coat!  I love that cause I feel like I am the same way!  Rather than just saying you'll do something...go and do it! 

Also this weeks we had a St. Patrick's day party! It was so fun!  But we had a little surprise for all in attendance!  So we were asked by some members to participate in some way of the talent show.  Well we all know how great my voice is...... NOT. So Elder Afalava and myself came up with an idea! heheheheheh. so while Sister Titensor was doing her HULA we would come out and pretend like we knew what we were doing and dance. It was HILARIOUS!! People were laughing so hard! This one woman was crying cause she couldn't stop laughing!It was so great! I love being a part of this Church, because everyone is real! Just a bunch of kooks having a fun time together! We had some non-members there who left saying they haven't had that good a time in a LONG time!They said there was a different spirit in the room.  The next day the showed up at church. MIRACLE.

Well this week was just a lot of fun!  I hope everyone had a awesome week!

Love

Elder Patch

pics

-Me and Cindy who was shot!

-Our get-up for the dance

-Chuck who was baptized!!!! WOOT!

Mirror-cles (Miracles)

Man, I have the best friends and family in the world!  Thank you everyone for all your love and support!  And the letters!  Just FYI i save every letter so I may hold some things against you in the future. just sayin.

So this week has been full of miracles!  After the shooting last week we have been super nervous what the outcome would be! Well it has been nothing but GOOD!  Which is truly a miracle!  I have been thinking a lot about miracles and why they happen.  I came to my conclusion that miracles happen upon acts of faith.  When we look at our self in the mirror what are we seeing?  Are we who we want to be?  Well if we aren't then we have the opportunity of using our faith and asking Heavenly Father for help to change!  The cycle is truly a miracle.  

I have been working on exact obedience!  Not that I struggle with it big time, but just the little things!  I wanted to give it a try and see the results of who I become and  subsequently what comes of the work.  Well these past two weeks have been just filled with miracles.  I feel like a better person, and we are seeing even more success! Miracle!  My faith in obedience  has grown so much!  I've noticed that God doesn't give a commandment without promising us something even better in return.  So every commandment isn't a "rule", it's a blessing!  All that we have to do is do what He asks then he gives us something bombin in return! HELLLLLOOOO! Why not do it?!

Our investigators are doing awesome!  We had dinner at Cari and Jay's house!  They are vegan and so we had obviously a vegan meal!  It was so good!  I might be a vegan later in life.  You just feel so good and clean when you aren't eating meat and dairy.  They are really cool and a ton of fun.  They own a thrift shop here that is really popular, so we feel really cool that we get to hang out with them.  They tell us they are famous so we should feel pretty good haha.  I love them.  Cindy (who was shot) is doing amazing.  She is SOOOO ready to be baptized!  She just has a few things she has to overcome! BUT she is so determined to do it!  I am so excited and happy for her!  I just noticed that being a missionary might be the coolest thing in the world!  We just get to meet people and help them make their life 100% better?  What?  It is the coolest thing I have ever done. Seeing other people just realize how awesome this REALLY is, is so amazing and rewarding.  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! 

Well I love all of you!!!!!! Seriously. Thank you for all the support and nice letters!  Means more than you all know!!! Work hard and try to be YOUR best! God loves ya! 

Have a blessed day! 

xoxo 

Spatch

pics

- ROSE MADE FRIED CHICKEN!!!! #IMBLACK

- We went on exchanges!

-Elder Afalava and I

-JAY AND CARI!! VEGANS!!!

Nice Shot!

WOW!  So where to even begin!! This week has been UNREAL!!!! 

I have the COOLEST story for all of you!

So we have this investigator named Cindy.  She is awesome!  She has been looking into the church for a while now!  She has never really committed herself until now!  So we set up an appointment with her this week and it ended up being last Friday.  She came over with our bishops wife to another members home for this lesson.  So we started this lesson talking about all the bad things that happen as a result for Satan's influence.  She told all this stuff that has been happening as of late.  She has been through A LOT prior to this lesson!  Well this gets better.  SO!  We are sitting in this lesson discussing how baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost WILL provide peace and comfort and direction through all of this bad!

As the lesson went on the spirit was SO strong.  We promised her that if she will commit herself to working towards her baptismal date she will have enough knowledge and belief so where she will know what she is doing is right!  So smiled and agreed!  She picked her baptismal date of March 22nd!!! It was so amazing! WELLLLLL!!!!! I KID YOU NOT!  2 SECONDS AFTER SHE SAID I AM GOING TO BE BAPTISM THIS HUGE EXPLOSION WENT OFF!  Smoke filled the room, and everyone was screaming!  I was looking around expecting the explosion to have come from the chandelier falling on the table in front of us!  Well the chandelier was still there!!!!!!!! Then all the sudden with everything happening so fast I hear, "Pat!(bishops wife) you've been shot!!!" As I turn and look in all the commotion I see bullet holes in her face!  The man upstairs had shot his shotgun through the ceiling! We are all running around in panic!!!! Smoke everywhere, and everyone is screaming!  Elder Afalava is grabbing the women and rushing them out of the room and finds a jacket and is holding her face so the bleeding will stop!  I am running around trying to get low and call the police!! Then I hear,"OH MY GOSH I'VE BEEN SHOT!"  Cindy, our investigator got shot!!! She is freaking out!!! She got shot in her leg!! During all this I finally get a hold of the police!  They finally show up! And the man that shot the gun was the members brother who lives upstairs!  He runs down in shock of what he did!  Apparently he was cleaning his gun and miss counted the bullets!  His finger slipped and it went off and went through the floor into the room we were in!  Well this was a Double Buck shotgun and so 5 pellets fired!  3 pellets went through Sister Wilkes, one in her face, arm, and leg!  And 1 went through Cindy's leg.

Well after all the crazyness is over we get to the hosptital.  And eventually we can go back and see the two women!  The first thing Cindy says to me is,"SATAN CANT STOP ME! I'M GETTING BAPTIZED!"  I started to cry cause I was so scared!  But her faith just amazed me!  We were just talking about how Satan will come after her and he really didn't waste and time!  And she still wants to be baptized!  It's a miracle!  Sister Wilkes was in pretty bad shape, but she too was in the best of spirits!  She was cracking jokes like.. Wow i always wanted to take shots! HAHA! I am so glad she can make lite of the fact that she was just shot three times!!! Geez!! Our Bishop, her husband, was there and gave her a blessing.  In his blessing he said,"Only good will come of this."  And let me tell you!  Only good has come from this! Cindy is so gun-ho about being baptized!  And now we are teaching her family!  They both are doing well and are lucky to be alive!  I wish I could tell you all of the miracles that happened that day.  

I have been thinking about the trials that we all encounter.  I was wondering why heavenly lets them happen? We often say, "Why me?" Well... Why not me!!  Start thinking about what Heavenly Father is trying to teach me from all of these happening! Stop focusing on the bad and see the good!  Take something from a trial for good! I want everyone to know that this Church IS TRUE.  This weekend has left me with no doubts.  I know that Satan is going to all sorts of EXTREMES to keep us from it, but he cannot and will not win.  

Hope all of you have a great week! Pray for Cindy and sister Wilkes!! LOVE YOU ALL!

Elder Spatch

pics

-Serenity and I painting her house.

-Me and Elder Afalava's favorite antique shop.