X E N I A

" those who move 

move forward

with a

happy spirit

will find that

things work out."

                        

                            -Gordon b. Hinkley 

Hello Family!! I sadly got transferred... BUT I love where I am. It is weird being back in a country setting.  It reminds me of Marion- where I started my mission.  Heavenly Father has blessed me SOMEHOW with a really positive attitude about being here.  I just feel like I am moving right along in this whole journey... so thats good! 

I am still a zone leader.  I like being one but It is always hard to come into a new area and try to get the trust of all new people!  We are out in the most western part of our mission!  It is so weird to be so far away from things!  But kinda nice too!

Shoutout to my Navajo Family!! THE BENALLYS!! I made a family Indian Fry Bread!  It was soo good! Nothing to excited has happened this week, but we have been able to teach the most amazing people.  I love the people here in o h i o  so much.  I am so thankful to just meet people and talk to them!  We have a couple families we are teaching and we are so excited to see where they will go!  I am learning so much from what can come from happiness.  It is totally a CHOICE!.

I never want to stop showing people how much they mean to me.  I want to keep going cause I love them.  I love not thinking about myself! I know... SHOCKER.  But It is fulfilling to just focus on what you can do for others. True happiness comes from serving others. It is so weird to think I only have 8 months left... It is scary weird.  I want to serve with as much love as I possibly can.

Thank you for each letter, card, note , package!!  They mean so much to me!! I love all of you so much!  Thank you for all you do, especially sharing the Gospel with those around you.  

GOD LOVES YOU!

Elder Patch

New Address:

1715 Deer Creek Dr. Ste 5

Xenia, OH 45385

 

JOY

"t h e r e   i s  JOY  g u a r a n t e e d   t o  t h e

f a i t h f u l ."

                                -Henry b. Eyring

Well the weekend finally came. KAI was Baptized!!!

It was such an amazing weekend!! I haven't felt the spirit that strong in a while! I am so thankful for that experience.

While going into the font I started to flashback to all the experiences I had with Kai. First meeting him then playing volleyball with him, and just having great talks with him.  I immediately lost it. ha.  It was so bright in that font and I felt so good to stand there in the water with him.  I am so excited to see what continues to happen to him on the journey with Christ.  Haha honestly I was ready to end my mission right then and there.  I was like I can not get happier than this!!!

Kai said something really profound at his baptism.  Ill do my best to quote it. "I feel as though I am driving in a car.  And along our journey we can take detours or just pull to the side of the road when our window is foggy. What the gospel has done for me has whipped away that fog on the window of the car I am driving. and now I am back on the road."  I loved that.  The gospel is the wipers on a car that keeps the window clear.

I could not agree more.  the gospel not only clears but opens the windows from heaven so that we can see our eternal destiny.  The windows of Heaven are not closed, but it is our sin, and fear and doubt that keep that window continually foggy.  As we use the Atonement that very window will become crystal clear.  We can again return to the road.  Is it bad to pull over? no!  I think in those moment of taking ourselves aside we can decide who we want to become!  Look at KAI!  He pulled aside and waited until further light came.  Which it certainly did.  Now he is a member of Christs church.  What a joyous miracle!!

I want you all to know that God is NOT hastening HIS work.  IT IS HASTENED!  IT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW! ARE WE KEEPING UP?

Think about all the good you can do with the knowledge that you have!  Have courage to share it! The JOY you will experience from seeing someone you love come to the same knowledge you have trumps any shopping trip you can have!  Yes.. it even trumps shopping ;)

I love you guys!!!!

Elder Patch

oh transfers are this thursday. so hold off sending anything till next monday. or just send it to my mission office address!

 

GLORIOUS

"There are times when you might feel aimless

You can't see the places where you belong

But you will find that there is a purpose

It's been there within you all along and when you're near it

You can almost hear it.

It's like a symphony just keep listening

And pretty soon you'll start to figure out yo part

Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies

In each one of us, oh, it's glorious." -Stephanie Mabey

This has been the happiest I have ever been on my mission.  I feel like I am working more proficiently than ever before.  I am being Exactly obedient which is having huge effect on my understanding of the truths I am teaching.  I am amazed and dumbfounded at the tangibility of God's Hand in this work.  I owe none of the things I have done to myself - all to Him.

The Craig family dropped us.... JUST KIDDING! They are amazing!  Like God really wants these people to join the church or somethin cause Miracle after MIRACLE keeps happening!  I feel like I am just a spectator as

progress through this amazing gospel!  They are just doing amazing!  Jimmy said He has never felt anything push him this hard to keep learning and find out more.  We were able to give both him and his wife Libbi blessings.  Let me tell you.. giving blessings to one of God's children is like taking a peep into God's eternal plan and love for the very individual.  I cannot ever deny that the Power and Authority of God's very Priesthood has been restored. 

I started my email with this quote from the song'Glorious' featured in Meet The Mormons.  I identify with this so much.  I feel as though I have finally found my part, and subsequently joined God's symphony.  It truly is music to watch others learn of their Saviors Gift and Heavenly father's Sacrifice.  

I know many of you have struggles, doubts, and real fears - so do I.  There are many time sin my life where fear has conquered my faith.  In situations where is would be easier to give up, choose the harder path. I promise each of you that in the defining moments of your life God will be there, and most likely the path He leads you to is not easy, but very worth it.

In the words of Jeffery R. Holland - 'Hope on. Journey on". 

Love you all!

Go see Meet the Mormons!!!!!

Elder Patch

pics!

1. We had a Jewish Seder 

2. Our beautiful Zone

3. Jimmy and libbi Craig with a member family

Family... Isn't it About Time?

OH HOW THIS WEEK HAS BEEN GREAT!!!!

So I pretty much am going to talk about the Craig family!!!!!!! THEY ARE AMAZING! Pray for them like crazy!!!!!Okay so they are pretty much the most perfect, fun family you'll ever meet!  So many miracles have happened with them!  We found them just a month ago and they are loving the gospel! We are teaching the most amazing GOLDEN family! [It amazes me how true the promise is from the savior saying," I will go before you."] The Craig family is a miracle! We have taught them these past 3 weeks and have had such amazing lesson with their whole family! A family of six! you will fall in love their girls. A miracle took place with them this weekend! So we taught them as a family more in depth about the Restoration and read with them the Book of Mormon. The most perfect fellow shipper was there! He testified of the blessings of the gospel in his young family, and the brought the most amazing spirit as he thanked God for eternal marriage. The lesson could not have gone more perfect. BUT it didn't end there! 

Following the lesson with said they need to come to church to gain a testimony! They were a bit hesitant I think because they said they would try but weren't sure! Then a miracle happened. I get a call from Brother Craig (Jimmy our investigator) and I say hello and the person that replies was not jimmy but Bro. Stamas (the first counselor in the stake presidency)!!!! He was at the high school football game and Jimmy and his family just happened to sit next to him! So Jimmy told me on the phone at the game that "Mr. Stamas here roped us in to coming to church." What a miracle! God does live. No coincidence. What I love the most about the story is that the Craig family knew That it was God's doing! The are recognizing the hand of God more and more!

Well their whole family ended up coming to church!  It was such a perfect meeting for them to be in!  The spirit was amazing! I got up to bare my testimony on ETERNAL Families!  I brought up with a little 4x6 picture of my family and held it up crying cause I really can't wait to be with my family forever!  I looked at the Craig family and just knew that they would go to the temple one day and be sealed for all time and eternity!!!!! There are pictures of the Craigs below and their daughters!!!!  We are so excited for them!!!

 President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a talk called Living the Gospel Joyfully. I feel as though I have gained a better understanding of what this means!  I want to share my thoughts- He gave a metaphor to the commandments that Heavenly Father gives us.. Lampposts along a road. Rather than the analogy that is commonly given and the verse that says we have to choose the 'strait and narrow path,' I think this illustration reveals more to my understanding. 

God gives us a choice. We can decide to take the journey during the day, where we can see everything around us, and we feel we have control over our direction. We can see more than 500 feet in front of us, and probably on all sides. We know what we are approaching, and what we leave behind, and we feel as if we have the power ourselves to decide which direction and how far we will go. 

 I would challenge you to see the other option. taking the journey at night, on one of those nights where the moon is hidden behind the clouds. And there are only a few lights outside. I would argue that in those times, when you can't see what's in front of you, what's behind you, what you may be approaching, or how far you have to go to get to your destination, that you grow the most aware of your reliance on the light. We may only be able to see a few steps in front of us, and we don't even know exactly what direction we are going. But that is what makes it so beautiful, and that is what truly defines faith.

My faith has grown the most when I use the whatever light or [faith] I have to move. Being joyful while following the will of God is FUN!  It is SO FUN TO BE HAPPY!  I realize that with this incredible gift I never have the time to be sad.. With the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life I simply do not have to wait for happiness!  What a bea-u-tiful gift!

I love each of you!  A lot of you have emailed me asking if I really am this happy?  The answer is :

yes.

Pics!

1. the Craigs!

2. The Craig girls!

3. My companion! 

4. Ward service project... I chopped wood ha

We love it. We share it.

"Absolute truth exists in a world that despises absolutes." -David A. Bednar

Wasn't conference gooooooood!!!!! I would love to hear everyone's favorite talks, quotes, thoughts etc!

What an amazing week this past week! Seriously God is so real!  How could he not be?  I am amazed how He is in EVERY detail of our lives!! Sometimes I don't like to think about it cause it can be really intimidating! But Nevertheless I know He is in this work, and that He actually cares what I do every moment of my life.  That is ABSOLUTE TRUTH!  Subsequently I also know He cares what others do every moment of their life!  That is why he needs us to help those 1. Know there is a God and 2. Tell them He cares and loves them so much! WE Know it, we love it, we NEED to share it!

I can't even tell you what it is like to teach someone that there is a GOD!  It feels so... for lack of a better word UNREAL!  I will sit in a lesson and just feel a RUSH a emotion that makes me just want to yell at the person we are teaching and say GOD LOVES YOU RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I hold it in and say it softly hahah but on the inside... oh baby trust me I am exploding ha! We are teaching the SWEETEST girl from China. Jessie.  I love her! She is a senior in High school and is here for a school year as an exchange student!  She is Living with an LDS family!  She has been to the states before last year and went to a Christian Church with her host family.  She told us that that was her first time feeling something she couldn't describe. As we have got to know her more and found a interesting way to communicate; since she is learning English; she has began to pray and reads the scriptures daily!  The first time she prayed by herself she had such a cool response to it!  She said it felt like "magic!"  Gosh so cool!!! Well in her culture most people are atheist and so that norm had a large impact on her beliefs.  But last week she told us she now knows that there is a God!  It was so amazing to hear her say that!  Seeing her face just light up and she smiles so big whenever we say "God Loves YOU"  just makes my whole day!  She just sparkles!  Well yesterday we brought a member friend with us that is a Recent convert from China and she just bore out her whole soul to this girl and they were crying.   It was so cool to hear her bare her testimony in Chinese! Then Jessie said she wanted to be baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was dying!  It was so awesome!!!!!! I love Jessie so much! I just want to hug her!!! 

We are teaching this Part Member family that is amazing!  The Husband is a member and he has been inactive for like 20 years!  His fiance is amazing!  She is from the Philippines!  she is so sweet!  She lost her son last year in a car accident and has had such a hard time letting it go.  it has been such a blessing for me to see her find relief in Gods' plan of Salvation.  I know families are Forever.  Well the miracle has happened just in the past few days!  Her husband texted us and was like "Guys I need you to help get my life straight so I can marry Marilyn and she can get baptized!"  Then we were like ... We are 100% behind that!  HA then he was like "Great then GET TO WORK!"  I about died!  so awesome!!!  His fiance Marilyn accepted baptism and so we are teaching her!  She cool!  Such a sweet mom.  

Anyway I love this ABSOLUTE TRUTH so much!!! Honestly I can't wait to get home cause i am going to go ham on everyone!  I can't wait to share it with all my friends!  Seriously this is to good to be true!  I am so eternally grateful for Jesus Christ!  At any moment of His Earthly Ministry He could have been like, okay I am done all you people are dumb.  But He didn't!  He went through with the plan!  He didn't give up.  He loved it, He shared it. I love it, I am going to forever share it.

Love you guys to the moon and back!

Elder Spatch

Pics!

1.conference!

2. That is ROOT BEER

3. Jessie!!! So sweet

4. The Gang

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