July 31, 2017

From Dad:

Hi Josh,

It's been a great week here in Smithville. 

Biggest of all for me was finishing the roof off! It was a big project and full of new experiences and challenges. I've really enjoyed working with Ben especially as he's been the one available. Something about working together that brings you closer.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the purpose of life.  I've been using the "5 Why's" method which essentially teaches that when you want to understand a problem or a concept at a root cause level, you continually ask successive "Why" questions until you get to the most root cause level of understanding. So for example:

Q: What is my purpose on earth? Why am I here?

A: To learn and grow

Q: Why do I want or need to learn and grow?

A: So I can progress and become more like my Heavenly Father

Q: Why is it important to progress and become like my Heavenly Father?

A: So I can live with him again and have what he has?

Q: What is the purpose of living with him again and being like him?

A: To be fulfilled and happy - Men are that they might have joy!

Etc.

Then having dug down into a problem/idea/concept, you can identify meaningful actions to address the root cause of something vs. just the outer leaves or symptoms of a problem. We can do the same thing with all aspects of our testimony! Why do I believe Joseph was a prophet? Why is the atonement important? Why do I need to get married? etc. etc.

We had a good YM discussion on this on Sunday as I taught all 3 quorums. It was kind of fun as one of the YM (Sam Bates) went on Mormon.org and started chatting with a representative and asked her what the Purpose of Life is. 

We had the missionaries over the other day for dinner and they shared with us some training on doing missionary work with Facebook! That was a novel concept! Have they talked about doing anything like that in your mission? Edmonton seems to be a progressive mission as they have iPads and are talking about having smart phones as well and using social media in their finding and in training members.

While they were here, we prayed, looked through their facebook friends list and right then and there encouraged us to send someone a message related to the gospel and start a conversation with a Facebook friend. So I did! I texted a friend/old co-worker who was an intern with us. He just got a job at NVDIA in California so I told him to keep an eye out for you :)

Steph flew in yesterday after being delayed overnight in Vancouver. She's cut her hair for the canoe trip and she actually looks alot like you boys with your haircuts! Really enjoyed catching up with her again.

Last night Mom went down to Waterton with Carly Bateman to go on her annual hike with her tribe (Sioban Westeropp, Jamelyn Stephan etc). It's a good therapy session to get together and sweat with good friends!

We are heading out to Ontario on Wednesday. Should be a good time and looking forward to doing a canoe trip with your Mom. 

Have a great week. "Sprint with the Spirit" to the end! 

Love Dad.

From Josh:

This week has flown by with so many things happening, yesterday we were able to have three of our investigators come to church, and in the third hour we have joint meeting and discussed why we all came to church, it is always a little nerve racking because a lot of the comments made by people were very candid, like, "Honestly its a struggle to come to church" or "I don't often stay for the three hours", but luckily everyone talked about  how much of a blessing it was. 

Last week I don't know if I added this but we boldly invited Brad Giles, (one of the less actives we were working with) to come to church, and after struggling he said he would come and he came, he hasn't been to church in 12 years and when he came he was super nervous, and it was a real struggle even when he sat down we was really struggling to feel good, but then the first hymn came on and he settled right in.

Yesterday he came for the second time and he has really been welcomed back into the ward with open arms and loves everything about it, he couldn't stop thanking us for inviting him, it really put in my mind the importance of not being afraid and not hesitating in following the spirit because we didn't do anything of ourselves, it was all the Lord, I read something the other day about submitting our will to God, and I have been really wondering how I can do that, to truly become instruments in the hands of God, it is so difficult I struggle pushing my thoughts and feelings to the side and letting the spirit lead, there are times when I catch brief glimpses of what it is like to let the spirit guide completely, I am way more confident when I am letting myself be led, I know what to say all the time and nothing seems daunting, I can talk to anyone, angry or nice and always say something that they need to hear, and at the end of the day I am overwhelmed by how much that I can't do, without the spirit I would be lost and nothing would get done, I get discouraged easily and overwhelmed, I struggle to speak to everybody and often let people pass me by. I am nothing without the Lord. 

I love being a missionary so much, I have been having so many great experiences and love the people here, the good and the mean. I love being around so many great missionaries and members and my time here is going way too fast, I almost never want it to end. I have thought about extending my mission but would also really love coming home before Christmas, It has been a subject of prayer and honest seeking, what would you think about me extending my mission? 

I love you all so much and I know that this all is true. Put your trust in the Lord and focus on your efforts to strengthen your testimony.

Love

Josh. 

 -exchange pick with Elder Aguilar in my district

 -Coupons! missionary money.

 -Evil spider trying to stop us from visiting people

 -weekly planning. 

July 24, 2017 - Working for Charity

From Joshua:

What a week it has been, some of the most memorable days was on Tuesday, we felt pretty good about the day and went out super excited to get to work, we had finished weekly planning and the first house we stopped by we noticed a man taking in his trash, we went up and greeted him and started a pleasant conversation which descended slowly until he was basically telling us we were dead wrong and us telling him that he was as well. So basically a bash, he told us that he had prayed about it and he knew that we were dead wrong. Which worried me a little until I asked if he had read anything in the Book of Mormon he told us he hadn't because he knew it was wrong. After going back and forth about the importance of reading he told us that it was only on faith that we were saved and that the Book of Mormon did not have any evidences to support it, his basic concept is that faith is only faith if there is known evidence to back it up, so unless you have a knowledge of physical things then its not faith... I got pretty fired up about it I have to admit, and straight up told him that he believed then that it is only by evidence that we were saved then (according to his view) it was all just going in circles with me getting more and more angry, until I just told him to read and we left with him laughing at us as we left. That put me in a bad mood, for most of the time till we started knocking on doors, after having little success we finally struck up a conversation about chickens with this lady, because she had a little coop in her front yard, and Elder Bergeron had a good knowledge about chickens. We eventually got to relate it to the gospel and it turns out that her daughter had died a year ago and her she had just barely left her super abusive husband and was wondering about why we faced all the challenges of life and where we went after we died, we were able to share a little bit of the plan of salvation and left her will a pamphlet because she didn't feel up to listening at that moment, we continued on and met a less active member who was super nice and gave us water and told us he thought we were awesome, which was great, the day was looking up and we had regained some of the enthusiasm that we had earlier in the day. We went and knocked on the less active members neighbor and he opened up and he seemed pretty nice, asked a lot of questions, and it ended up once again turning into a bash, he was trying to twist our words and catch us in a trap with all his question and eventually Elder Bergeron laughed a little in frustration and he took offense and promptly said goodbye and slammed the door, once again we were struggling to maintain a happy attitude, it was interesting to note that I remembered that guy from a year before when we accidentally knocked into Seco Canyon from Saugus and he hadn't changed at all, but I was a completely different person from before, because I had gotten out of my comfort zone and struggled a lot, but he was afraid to try something new, he had made the decision that the bible was enough and we would never need to stretch or grow, he was comfortable and wasn't about to let anyone change him. anyway we went away super frustrated and went to Shannon's house, we knocked and she came out, and we were able to share the first part of the plan of salvation when she prayed she said a super simple prayer, all she said was "Heavenly Father, I am trying..." and that really struck me as so relevant to us all, we are all trying. When she said those words the spirit came in and after when I asked what she felt she said the felt warm and comfortable.

We booked it from the appointment because we were late for our next appointment we were in such a hurry that we almost missed someone we had met earlier in the week walking on by, we had gotten her number down wrong and she really wanted to go to church, so we stopped and got the number down said hi to her little daughter and left for the next appointment, really stressing the importance of not rushing while there are those on the wayside perishing in unbelief. 

Sorry that was long an drawn out. 

It is interesting I have been here for nearly 3 months and we are still finding new things in the apartment, I found an April 2011 sunday afternoon session of general conference DVD in the book shelf and for fun watched it, each talk was super good and I would encourage all to go back and look at past conferences, one thing that stuck out to me the concept that was stated in the talk "what manner of men and woman aught ye to be" the speaker compared doing and being, and the concept of how everyone seems to have a 'to do' list but nobody seems to have a 'to be' list, why? To do's are events that take place, checklists that you can check off when done, but to be's are constant never ending, we can do good things but we should never stop being a good person. we can do fun things with each other, but we should never stop being loving parent's or siblings. An invitation to myself when I heard that talk was to make a to be list, of the man I wanted to become and to live up to my true potential. What is on your to be list? 

I love you all so much, I have a good supply of hand me down socks from my previous companion that are still in excellent shape, the freezer is packed with hot pockets and quick make meals, my companion only gets on my nerves some of the time, mostly because he is strong willed and can often push me out of decision making, so I am learning to respond appropriately, the ward members are all super nice, the people here only bash half the time... the closer we get to the grace baptist church the more it seems to happen. We have only run into Jehovah's Witness missionaries (aka Pioneers, their missionary work is called pioneering, so next time you see them be polite and ask them how their pioneering is going) just once or twice. I have only lost my temper twice... both were described previously. We have a few solid investigators who have their struggles but we are moving past them. I am struggling to keep my desk clean so I have to step up my game on that. I found a missionary advice book that has some really cool suggestions which i have been taking in. I have only gotten lost twice as the driver and I have only gotten one aggressive driving on the tiwi machine in the car... and that is because I was distracted and nearly ran a red light... I will be more attentive in the future. I have nearly broke my phone. almost fainted through lack of water and too much heat yesterday. 

I never want to stop being a missionary. I grow more and more in denial the closer I get to coming home, I am sure I will finally accept it when I am on the plane. 

Stay safe, and keep pressing forward, Its all true, the gospel is the way of happiness, and it is so important to maintain an eternal perspective, we met someone who had lost his faith in God because his sister died, he used to be a member but got disenchanted because of those bad things that happened. He didn't have an eternal perspective and he has lost it all, he is in open rebellion against God, he loves us but will not discuss religion at all. He doesn't believe in God and is not interested in learning if he is there. Maintain an eternal perspective, this life is only a blip in the eternities, remember that no matter how hard it gets that it won't last. 

Love

Josh

From Dad:

Hi Josh,

It's been a good week here on the acreage. We had lots of company and help this week. Grandma and Grandpa Smith came up Friday night and Auntie Wendy's son Greg came up with his friend Eric.

Ben and I were just finishing sheeting the garage roof on Friday when G&G pulled up and helped finish it. Saturday was beautiful and Grandpa and I worked on the roof all day with help from Auntie Wendy and her son Greg and his friend Eric later in the day to finish one side of the garage roof. It is a huge relief to get the roof done. 

Sam and Ben left early for Red deer to run in a Spartan race. Sam originally signed up with promises from friends to do it with him, but everyone cancelled. So Ben volunteered to do it with him. It was a bonding day for them doing something hard and fun. They even helped on the garage after though Sam was almost falling off the ladder with exhaustion. 

Ben and I have been doing P90x and it's amazing how having someone work together with you on a goal is so much more motivating. I've been pleasantly surprised at how much more energy I have when I exercise. 

Today we went and got a kitten. We are becoming a true acreage family. I'm trying to be very stern about it being an outside cat. We shall see. 

Mom and I are so pleased with each of our precious children. I think you all came to us with amazing potential and talents from the pre-existence. 

Have a great week. I'm afraid I may be too late!

Dad.

July 17, 2017 - OYM

From Grandpa:

Elder Joshua - we just heard that some dear friends have been called to the San Fernando mission - Elder Parley and Sister Bonnie Smith - he was the Stake Clerk when I had the blessing of serving - hopefully you will get to meet them - if you do please express our joy in their call to serve. 

From Dad:

Hi Josh,

It's been a good week for me this week. Mostly I'm pleased with the progress we've been able to make on the garage. Sam ended up getting his wisdom teeth out this last week and hasn’t been feeling well besides (Good news is that Sam is now submitting his papers!). So without Sam to help me, I’ve had to call on Ben to step up and do some construction with me. I’ve been very pleased with him and he has stepped up and worked hard and well. Some of my greatest joy comes from seeing my family progress.

Since I last wrote, we went on YM camp. Ben went to the Millwoods Stake camp with the teachers, and the priests held a camp at the Day’s and did horseback riding, Archery, Canoeing/Kayaking and tubing on the river, along with a BBQ in Drayton valley with the Laurel. Overall a successful camp week. Ben really enjoyed his camp too, especially the testimony meeting. We had a long talk about testimonies when we got home.Looking back over the years, I think I have been to YM camp almost every year for the last 20 years, with only a couple of breaks in between. I’m excited for Mom to start getting youth callings with the YW!

I've been listening to an interesting audio book lately that Tyler recommended to me called "The 4 hour work week". It has caused me to think outside the box a little with regards to how I spend my time. One of the things he talks about that is also something Ben recently learned about in "Principle Centered Leadership" by Stephen Covey. It states that there is a difference between "Effectiveness" and "Efficiency". One can be very efficient  but not very effective. E.g. I can be a very efficient email manager by always keeping up to my email and organizing it into folders etc., but I may not be very effective because I spend all my time doing that instead of more important things. I might be more effective by batching up email management to once a day and doing other more important things when I would normally be constantly checking emails. It's caused me to consider how I can be more effective in my professional as well as personal life. I think that is what is talked about in the missionary guides when it talks about ways of finding and teaching. You might be a very efficient at tracting, but it is not necessarily the most effective way to find or teach people the gospel. Are there ways you can think out side the box in missionary work? Can you batch up your efforts by doing presentations to community groups or bigger groups of people? Can you visit less actives and ask for referrels? There are lots of ways to be creative in whatever we do I think.

AJ Ripley gave an interesting talk on Sunday reminding us of the circumstances surrounding the revelation on the Word of Wisdom. Much of his source came from this article on lds.org(https://history.lds.org/article/doctrine-and-covenants-word-of-wisdom?lang=eng&_r=1) It caused me to think about the importance of our environment and our ability to receive revelation. Mom and I were talking about this. Mom made an interesting statement about how she feels very fulfilled in her role as mother and with our family, but individually, especially thinking about her Patriarchal blessing, she feels quite unfulfilled. Always be grateful for the sacrifice your Mom made so she could be home with you. You have a faithful mother who listens to a prophet's voice. She also indicated that moving to the acreage has made a big difference in helping her start on a path of individual fulfillment primarily due to loving the environment and the opportunities it provides. Look for ways to create an environment of the spirit for your companionship and for your investigators.

Keep strong and steady and sprint to the end! Best months of  your mission are in front of you!

Let us know of your investigators we can pray for.

Dad

.

From Josh:

OYM means Open Your Mouth, it is key to finding people who are prepared to learn the Gospel and it is something I have struggled with my whole mission until now. 

I set a goal to boldly walk up to people to shake their hand, and to share the gospel and I set another goal to not hesitate, and I have been really pushing myself because the last thing I feel is to walk up to a stranger especially when they don't look interested or if they notice me 50 feet away and the most awkward thing to do is greet them from that far away and then to walk up to them and shake their hand, at least I felt it was awkward before, the more I have been doing it the less I feel like its weird and the more it feels normal, I will often catch myself though making excuses for why I shouldn't talk to a person, but as part of my goal to not hesitate is to just jump right in so when those excuses come to my mind I know that that is the sign that I need to do it right now.

We had a cool miracle on Saturday, we had just started knocking doors and we knocked into this one lady who just waved us off and so we took that as a "go away" kind of signal so we left and went to knock the next door but then the lady came around the bushes and we went to talk to her, she simply said "are you christian?" and we responded that we were, "come with me" was her only reply so we followed, we could tell this woman was hispanic and so we didn't know what to expect, she went inside and told us to wait for a few moments and after a couple minutes a younger lady came out and said that her mom said we were there to see her. we started asking about her religious beliefs and she told us she was agnostic, that she believed more in the science aspect of things, I pulled a quote out from one of Bruce R McConkies talks (the 7 deadly heresies) "True science and true religion agree with each other" and she accepted it and we continued to teach her the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we kept it simple and tried to answer the many questions she asked, and she accepted it all, she prayed right after for the first time in her entire life, and she said when was finished that she felt weird, and after further inquiry she said it was a good feeling kind of like she was light headed and peaceful, we read the fruits of the spirit from the pamphlet and we told her that what she felt was the spirit, we finished and invited her to church, and she came! after she told us that she thought it was pretty interesting, and that she had started reading the Book of Mormon to her mother and translated it into Spanish, but then looked up online the Book of mormon in that language so that she could read it properly. Her name is Shannon. we have been finding so many people who are so prepared for the Gospel.

This week there was a really cool video that President Henrie shared with us about a Book of Mormon social experiment, they took every page from The Book of Mormon and gave one page out to random people and told them to highlight everywhere that it referenced God and Jesus Christ and people from all walks of life tried it and each gained a testimony about that specific page, you should all try it! its a cool experiment, then share it with your friends. 

In Elders Quorum on sunday the teacher talked about time, and budgeting our time, he drew an equation on the chalk board. 

24x7=168 

what does that represent, he said that that is how much time we have in the week. And I thought that was cool and it has really helped me to prioritize a little bit better, figuring out how much time I spend on everything, and i found out that with the missionary schedule, we have only about 51 hours a week that isn't planned for. That is nearly a third of the time that is originally set. And each one of those 51 hours is spent finding and teaching people. Its a good life. 

I know that this church is true, I love it because it helps us to live up to our divine potential, I can tell how much my testimony has grown because I am facing a lot of the same bashing techniques I have faced in the beginning of my mission and it doesn't faze me anymore, because I am built upon the rock of my redeemer... and not trying to bash on any other religion but each and every one I have seen or at least the people I talk to are limited, there is a stop, a "Comfort" where they all feel comfortable where they are at and reject the thought of further growth. they leave the greater light and knowledge that God would have them know and go back to that place that supplies them with the most comfort. We have been teaching the plan of salvation a ton this week and what gets me every time is that the Celestial Kingdom is the only one that offers further advancement. It is the place where we get to continue forging out of our comfort zones and learning more and more, in each one of the other kingdoms its a stop, where every one can be comfortable where they are at, and don't have to learn more. They will be stuck for eternity and they will be happy with that. 

That is not for us, we are part of a church that believes in ALL truth no matter if it comes from an atheist or a baptist, if it is true, then it is something we can accept. We are all to continually grow and progress no matter what, if we are not striving for a celestial life now then we will not be comfortable in a celestial glory. If you look at the quorum of the 12 and the prophet and his counselors nearly each one of them has a masters degree if not a doctorate in something or another. So continue to embrace the awkward, stride out of your comfort zone and it will grow to encompass you, then you need to continue to stride out of it until your are comfortable with everything, at least with continued learning. God wants us to grow. 

I love this church, I know the Book of Mormon is true, we have a prophet on the earth today and God is working among His children actively to bring them to His presence, and we are his instruments as members of this Church.

Love

Josh. 

P.S. We have family in this ward, Brother John Fairbanks is my second cousin twice removed and has a book in his home with this page in it.

it is pretty cool to see Dad and grandma and grandpa's names in a book so far away from home.  

July 10, 2017 - Uncertaintly

From Mom:

Dear Son,

We heard back from the Leduc Arts Foundation that Ben received a $1000 scholarship to help pay for music lessons next year. I sat in the van marvelling at the tender mercies of the Lord. Ben certainly earned it but what a relief on our budget! Also, Dad's office is undergoing some big changes and many people were laid off. Luckily, Dad was NOT one of them and he also got a promotion, which includes a raise of a few more hundred dollars a month.

We were so worried that when we moved to the acreage, we would not be able to handle the added expenses, but we moved forward anyway and we have been truly blessed. My humility is increasing every day.

Think about this quote from Teryl Givens:

 "When dissonance and distress set in, we should trust in the Spirit to find the hidden God of scripture, the One who knows us by name, who weeps with us in our pain, and who has graven us in the palms of his hands."

So, I'm learning that when I worry, I just need to act in faith and it somehow triggers miracles to happen. We believe in a God who loves us and works silently for our benefit but the important thing for us is to move our feet. Example, we do not have any extra money for anything concerning the acreage. The garage is partially built but we have to finance the rest of it ourselves as the money the bank loaned us is completely used up. Well, we really could use a ride on lawn mower but I didn't know how to make it happen. I remembered that Steve said he inherited an old one but he didn't need it. I called him and he sold it to us for $250 (compared to $5000 for a new one). So, one step at a time, we are slowly getting to a place of comfortable country living.

Life is pretty awesome in that way and I know you are probably learning these lessons as well on your mission. We love hearing about your tender mercies and miracles that you see every now and then.

Is there anyone you would like for us to include in our prayers?
How is your garment and clothing situation? Do you need any more socks?
Did you receive your license yet?

We had a good week enjoying the summer.

Classic Fort Edmonton Park

The River

Garage Building

Life is keeping us busy. Dad and the boys returned from Scout Camp with sunburned faces and a few stories to tell, but happy. Abby is leaving today for her first Young Women Camp. I'm not sure what Mia is going to do without her! But we plan on meeting Steve and Taylie and their kids at the Calgary Zoo so hopefully that will give her something to think about. Sam gets his wisdom teeth out on Thursday. Wish him luck! Then his papers can go in.

And everything is humming along here. Life is really good.

Love you forever,
Mom 😊













From Josh: It is DEFINITELY summer

I barely survived this week of 115 degrees about 48 degrees in Canada, we knocked through it all and everyone we talked to would open the door and stare at us for 5 seconds before declaring that we were completely nuts. we would agree and get a good laugh out of them then explain the reason why we are out is such brutal heat, most of the time they would politely decline learning more but offer water, we must have gotten fifty waters yesterday and the few days before, but me and my new companion Elder Bergeron (who is from northern Vermont thirty minutes away from the Canadian border) were dying most of the day the heat just drains every ounce of energy you may have during the day. The importance of eating a big breakfast. 

To let worries rest, I have received my license and I am the designated driver at the moment, Tiwi support is a device that checks your driving, you can't drive too much over the speed limit, start or stop too fast, or anything so I am definitely revising my driving so that I am "Driving like a grandma" just like mom would tell me all the time ;) 

I have been having a heck of a time with Elder Bergeron, he is basically everything I am not, meaning we are almost complete opposites, he doesn't like to think about things but go and do to get it done, he loves physical exertion, his favorite pass time is working out, and every snack he likes is basically part of a diet, he makes maple syrup and is pretty confident. I love him a lot it is just taking a little to get used to his attitude and feelings towards things. 

Thanks for the pictures it helps me feel connected to all of you, I am super excited for everything going on in your lives and it feels weird that I will be part of it all in less then six months. Time goes way to fast, don't let a minute pass you by, learn when you aren't doing, and do when you have something to accomplish, set goals, make plans, steadily work so that you are improving take every positive experience and every chance to experience more. Make friends with everyone you can. My mission president gave me this counsel, "Embrace the awkward" and I have set a goal to walk up to everyone who we see on the street, even when it is hard, some people see us coming and get this annoyed look on their faces that I don't like, but either way we need to give every chance to everyone around us. It takes 11 touches of the Gospel in peoples lives to accept it, think of who you can touch this week to be one of those touches.

Something cool that happened this week is when we were knocking this lady opened up and looked dumbfounded at how we could be knocking in such heat, but we talked with her for a bit and started trying to teach, it was really awkward until her little daughter walked out. She is 6 and we started teaching the message of the restoration at her level, and it was cool because she was super engaged and so was her mother, we used terms that would keep a 6 year old fascinated, the cool thing about it was that it was that the mother needed too but you can't just teach someone older then you like they have a 6 year old understanding, it makes them feel stupid, but when we did it with her daughter they both felt the spirit and loved the message, after Brittany the six year old turned to her mother and asked when we would be coming back, and it was cool to see her willingness to learn and love the gospel. It really added to my understanding of how we need to become like a little child just like Jesus Christ counciled us to be. 

I love you all and all this work, stay faithful and loving, it is said that out of 60.000 missionaries, 20.000 of them will go less active. Don't let that happen to you, build your testimonies, grow in the gospel, love it enough to stay with it no matter what happens. 

Love 

Josh

115 weather

fun license plate

found a mini fridge

me and Elder Bergeron

updating plans.

July 3, 2017 - Canada Day

From Dad:

Hi Josh. 

Happy Canada 🇨🇦 Day!!

We enjoyed Mark and Shannon and they're crazy fun family for the weekend. Their kids have enough energy to run our house for the week end if we could harness it. 

A fun part of the week-end was running a 5k foam fest race. Basically a short tough mudder.  Mom, I, sam and Ben went with uncle Mark. It was actually a lot of fun aside from realizing how out of shape I am. 

We also had a fun trip to Sparwood to spend a day with uncle Dave and some of his kids way back in the mountains. Beautiful and fun time hiking, shooting guns, and sleeping in a communal lean to. 

Sam, Ben and I stayed in Cardston after we had a good visit with great Grandpa Smith and my parents. We went to a play/musical called "Sherlock" written by Denny Burton. The boys were in heaven watching it. We drove most of the night to get home in time for Canada day. 

I had a really good experience reading the 2009 talk by Elder Christoferson about covenants. 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/the-power-of-covenants?lang=eng

A couple of parts that really struck me was this

"What is the source of such moral and spiritual power, and how do we obtain it? The source is God. Our access to that power is through our covenants with Him"

"In all the ordinances, especially those of the temple, we are endowed with power from on high. This “power of godliness” comes in the person and by the influence of the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost is part of the new and everlasting covenant. It is an essential part of our baptism, the baptism of the Spirit. It is the messenger of grace by which the blood of Christ is applied to take away our sins and sanctify us (see 2 Nephi 31:17). It is the gift by which Adam was “quickened in the inner man” (Moses 6:65). It was by the Holy Ghost that the ancient Apostles endured all that they endured and by their priesthood keys carried the gospel to the known world of their day."

Hope you can have that powerful spirit with you as you are fulfilling your covenants on your mission. 

Dad. 

From Josh: Coming up on a new transfer

So I have the news, I am staying in Seco Canyon for another transfer, I have a new companion... luckily it is someone I know, I am super excited for this next transfer and the things that will be able to see done here by the power of God. 

This week was pretty great, so many miracles that I get to be a part of, I went on exchanges with a spanish elder so I didn't expect to be of much use, but while we were walking by these people we decided to just talk to them, as it turns out they spoke pretty good english and we ended up teaching them about the restoration, there were kids there so we taught it super simply and ended up getting a return appointment, the spirit was super strong to the point where we were almost to tears. 

I left the exchange and got a text back from the other Elders, and they said they went back and found that there were twenty people in the home and they are planning to teach them all. 

We were able to go to the temple the other day, I love the temple it is such a beautiful place to be

the spirit is unrestrained, the message simple and pure, it is truly the Lords House, and this is truly the Lords Church. 

I have been considering a few words that Moroni shared he, talked about the liberty that binds us, it binds us to the responsibility to our families and to our country and our religion, being free has a price, and we must all work for it.

Tips for a mission.

Remember to be bold, the problem with too many missionaries is that they are afraid of ruffling peoples feathers, but we need to remember how important this message it and that we have the fullness of the Gospel and every one needs to know it! 

Pictures next week... I don't have a comparable computer with my SD card. 

but I love you all. 

Josh

p.s sorry that its short this week, we have a very limited time to write the monday before transfers.