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.

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.