"When the hardest part is over we'll be heroes"

The world,

"When the hardest part is over we'll be heroes"

"We are caught in the crossfire of heaven and hell"

"Tell the devil that he can go back to where he came" 

 

Hands down one of the best songs ever written, so true. I guess my entire life I have wanted to be someone’s hero. That really is my dream. I have been thinking about that a lot. And I feel like I am in one of the hardest parts of my life right now so far. So I am going to do all I can to be someone’s hero not just a superhero :)

So I cried this week. One of the members of our ward, the Davis family, took us out to Perinies the restaurant here that is world famous and it won the best burger in the United States a couple years back. It totally deserved to win, so they got me a filet steak and gave me part of their burger as well, but when it came to the table it looked so perfect. And so I cut a piece out of it and I put it in my mouth... a flood of emotion entered into my body and tears began to pour out of my eyes.... I wish I was kidding. I realized there are only three things that can make me cry: 1) when I talk about the gospel. 2) when I talk about my family and 3) Perinies steak haha.

Also this week we met with a family in our ward who has a son who has not been baptized yet so we are blessed to start teaching him this week. Prayers and hard work are paying off. Not really anyone was mean to us this week so I am so stoked! haha The life of Jesus Christ was real and it changed everything. The other night we went to give a blessing to one of our investigators who is struggling with an addiction and the thought came to my mind that when Jesus suffered for us he took on all of the urges, temptations, wants, cravings, and he beat it, he overcame it and he did that so he can know exactly what we are going through so he can help us through it. So if you are struggling with something turn to him he has already beaten it for you and just for you.

We are never alone.

I love you guys so much be safe. 

Love elder c

Saving the world one person or cow at a time...

Hey Hi Adios Goodbye,

SO this was an interesting week because nothing really too exciting really happened at all, but I am just so happy it is awesome! Actually something cool happened… a guy actually talked to us the other day when we were street contacting. It was the best day ever. Sure he was asking about a family history storage center in the mountain, but who cares it was so nice to actually talk to someone!!

Being here in Abilene has really made me appreciate life so much much more. And the love I have from those I know. I have also began to realize what humility truly is. I guess back home I always thought I was super humble, haha that is a red flag all in itself, but I believe that I was put in Abilene to truly help me understand what Humility means… I can do nothing by myself as for my strength I am weak. But that’s okay because I am made alive and strong as a representative of Christ. I seriously am more happy than I have ever been which shouldn’t be possible because everyone around me hates my guts. I know because of that simple fact that this work is true.

Also I have been thinking about possibly becoming a doctor someday. So one of our members this week who owns some cows asked us if we wanted to come help him with them so we said yes. It was way awesome, not the same as dead cow pulling, but we did get to give them their shots and castrate them. It was the best day ever haha and while we were doing that I really learned a lot about myself as I saw all of that blood and gave all of those shots. I learned that there are things in life that no one really wants to do. But there are so many things that we need to do. I have decided to be the person who not just does what he wants, I will do what I need to do to save the world.

And someday I will save the world one person or cow at a time :)

The boots Keeg bought for a souvenir. 

Mother's Day and the little things...

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Mother’s Day,

to all of the Ladies out there who have been a mom to me at some point in my life thank you so much and Yesterday was totally your day!

That being said I gave my talk in church and I have never seen more middle-aged women cry in my entire life haha…in a good way. It was really fun to speak on mothers on Mother’s Day and what they truly do and how important it truly is. And only few people came to the study class and the movie, but I know so much more are going to come next week! This is going to work. Never give up never surrender! 

This week I don't have much time so I have a quick story. As a missionary I see so so so many miracles all day that I feel like I have begun to start taking them for granted. And I really don't like that. So the other day we drove out to Buffalo Gap to do a service project with the youth in the ward and when we got there they were all walking away and we were late and didn't know where we were going, so we were trying to be super quick so pulled in super fast and tried to get out, but the keys wouldn't come out of the ignition. So we started freaking out and screaming… then I was like... “wait.....Lets pray” and it was kinda a joke, but serious because there is so many more things that are way more important than that that I could be praying about, but as I said it, the three other missionaries in the car bowed their heads and I prayed. Immediately when I said amen, I moved the shift just a little bit to the right and the keys came right out. And it is funny, so much of the time for me I think I need these huge things to happen to strengthen my faith in God and I have to see people rising from the dead or something. But that act of seeing the keys come out of the ignition strengthened my testimony more than anything else. It showed to me that God cares about the little things in our life and that He is always always there to listen to your prayer… even if you are in a car in the middle of a po-dunk town of 400 people on a ranch. He still cares. So look for God in the little things and I know you will feel Him a lot more. Small and simple truly is the way to go.

I love you guys and if you need any extra lovin send a letter my way and I promise I will send one back!

be safe 

love elder c

 More info from the Mother's Day phone/Skype call:

1) He said he spoke of Mother Mary (Christ's mother), Lucy Mack Smith (Joseph Smith's mother), his own mom's conversion story and Peggy (his surrogate mom or our neighbor when he was a little boy). 

2) He sang part of Amazing Grace to the tune of The Scientist for us and it was actually really good. He is creative.

3) He said they have been doing more hours of service (mission went from 3 hours to 10 hours a week) including trimming huge trees and a company that does it for a living stopped and told them each tree they trimmed was worth like $1200 to do professionally.

4) He has been getting up and working out at 5:45 every morning and he said that helps him have more energy during the day. 

5) Missionaries have been arrested there that have tried to proselyte after 7:00 PM.

                                                                          

Mormon movies, Amazing Grace and Mother's Day...

It has hit the fan my friends,

Haha so Abilene is exactly how I explained it last week and then some haha, but I have searched to the very depths of my soul to find the answers and this is what has come to me….Okay it’s not as dramatic as I just made it sound, but since we cannot go talk to people after 7 o clock I have made a few plans:

So I scheduled the building for a Book of Mormon study class that me and my companion are going to teach once a week at 7:00 then the next day on Friday we are going to have a weekly showing of a church film starting off with “Meet the Mormons” to try to get people to come into the building! So I need your prayers for that this week.

Also I got a call from my Mission President’s wife yesterday and she asked if I would come up with a number to sing for the missionaries in the south-eastern part of the mission for conference and I accepted. So I put the song “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “The Scientist” by Coldplay and I am doing it tomorrow.

Then next Sunday the bishop asked me to give a talk on Mother’s Day and man that is going to be an emotional roller-coaster haha, but it will be only the 2nd time I have talked in Sacrament on my mission so I am pretty stoked. I told all of you all of this so you would keep me in your prayers this week that my plans might go through and something might come of this.

This week was a toughie, we tried to find people to talk to or teach but no bites yet. We are doing our best to get out there and try teaching people or even helping people and still no luck. But even though it is hard to only get rejections I know that the Lord has a plan for this and for this area and I think he has a plan for me. I probably will just have to face a lot of rejection in my life coming up so I need to get used to it now or something. I learned this week that sharing your testimony on Fast Sunday can give you more blessing than a planned talk to give. I don’t know why but I feel like that is important… so no matter what you have a testimony of, this week I challenge you to go out and share it no matter what it is of.

I love you guys so much be safe out there and remember who you are and what you stand for. 

Love elder c