March 20, 2016

March 20, 2016

Hey Everyone, 

Things are going well. We had a good week. We traveled a lot this week. We were gone from Monday to Friday. We went around to a few different meetings. We trained the missionaries on "A Successful Missionary", from Chapter 1 in Preach My Gospel. It seemed to be a pretty good training. 

On Monday we went Golfing with President Jensen. It was a lot of fun. He is a great golfer. The weather was about 70 degrees. It was great to get out in the sun! 

Then on Friday night and Saturday we returned home to work in our area. We got to teach a couple people. Our most progressing investigator right now is Hala. Hala is a 16 year old. She is from Sudan, Africa. She is a very smart girl. We taught her on Saturday in our Ward Mission Leaders home. We also had a few of the young woman there so she would have some friends. Then she came to church today with her sister, Owowdiah.

Things are going well. I love the changes that I get to see people make in there lives. The teachings of Christ will bless our lives significantly if we allow the atonement of Christ to mold and shape us. Have a good week! Love you all! 

-Elder Lords

A short Letter!

March 13, 2016


Hey! I don't have much time or much to tell you from last week. We had a busy week picking up the new missionaries and dropping off the departing missionaries. Transfers went well. All the missionaries arrived to there new areas safely. We fixed a flat tire for a member just off the I-80. We taught a few new people this week so that was good. All is well! 

Here is one of my favorite quotes from last General Conference. I can't wait until General Conference in April. "I pray that we will focus on “the simplicity that is in Christ” and allow His grace to lift and carry us." I hope that you all have a great week! Below is the link to the talk that the quote above is from. Love you!
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/it-works-wonderfully?lang=eng

-Elder Lords

March 6, 2016

March 6, 2016

Hey Everyone! 

Well this week has been good. It has been a busy, but good week. We went to the temple Tuesday with all the departing missionaries. That was great! Then on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we transfer planned. We are preparing for transfer week now. Wednesday we will pick up the new missionaries around 1 p.m. It is a lot of fun to welcome the new missionaries off the plan. This week we taught a few people, but we didn't get a ton of time in our area. Only a few hours each night. Then Friday Elder Banta got really bad food poisoning. So we spent the evening in the apartment. He slept and ran to the bathroom, and I cleaned. I felt bad for Elder Banta. He is doing good now. 

This week we talked with a really cool girl named Holla. Holla is a 16 year old girl from Sudan. She came to church this Sunday and loved it. Her mom, and sister were planning, but didn't make it and she came on her own. She is super smart. We taught her shortly after church with our Ward Mission Leader. It was awesome! She has such a good desire. She will be a great member of the church! We had a great Testimony meeting today. A bunch of the converts bore there testimonies. The spirit was very strong. I am so gratful for the joy that comes from living the gospel. Nothing can replace it. I am so grateful for the opportunity that we all have to change, and become clean through the atonement of Christ. The atonement covers all. It is infinite. It covers all. We can be made clean, so that we can return to live with God.  3 Nephi 27:19-20

19 And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.

 20 Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.

Have a good week! Love you all! 

That is the picture of our new truck. Probably my first and last time driving a brand new truck for awhile haha! 

Dakota was Baptized!

February 28, 2016
Hey Everyone!

Well, it has been another great week! Dakota was baptized yesterday, and confirmed today! So that was great! She is awesome! It was a great baptismal service. She is a really cool girl! We had a good week. We had a few exchanges. We had the Zone Leaders from Ankeny, IA come to our area Thursday, and the Zone Leaders from Iowa City in our area on Tuesday. It was great to have a few exchanges. We also had the new trainers/Trainees meeting on Thursday. That was held in Iowa City (2 hour drive). We do a short training from Chapter 8 in Preach My Gospel. We talk about using the planner, area book, and weekly planning. All principles from Preach My Gospel. It was a good meeting. It was just for the new missionaries, who have been out 5 weeks, and their trainers. 

This Tuesday we will be at the temple with all the departing missionaries. We get to drive down 4 Elders. Then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday transfer planning. Transfer planning is when we match missionaries with there new companion. It takes a lot of thought, and prayer. We help our mission President do this. It will be good to have a new transfer. A transfer usually helps the missionaries to work a little harder. They get a new companion and a fresh area sometimes. It is good for the mission. We have a lot of baptisms in the mission next week. We will have about 25 people on date for March 5th. That will be great. The mission baptized 32 people in January so 25 the first week of March would be great!! We have a lady, Gaye (Patience is what she goes by), that will be getting baptized March 12th. The work is going well. 

I can't believe how fast time is passing me by. I love being a missionary. It will be sad to go home. I just want to work as hard as I can for my last few months. I am grateful for the Gospel. It makes such a difference in the lives of the people we teach. I hope all is well. Love you all! 

-Elder Lords

Chelsie was Baptized!

February 21, 2016
Hey Everyone, 

Things are going well. It has been a great week. On Saturday I got to travel to Burlington for Chelsie's baptism. It was great. She has made so much progress. She is a really great person. I really enjoyed teaching her. I am super grateful for the gospel, and the difference it makes in peoples lives. 

This week we had a busy week. We taught a lot of lessons. We went on two different exchanges. We went to Fairfield, Iowa. It is a smaller town. We went out with the Zone Leaders there. In this town there is a big group of Mediators, not 50 or 60, but thousands of people who do this mediation thing. They even have a college there named after the guy who started this mediation movement. His name is Maharishi. I met some really nice/interesting people. It was a good exchange. Then Thursday the Zone Leaders from Quincy drove to our Area in Des Mouines. We had a great exchange. I got to see one of my good friends Elder Burtenshaw (he is from Mud Lake). We are working really hard in our own area. We are seeing a lot of great miracles. We started to teach 2 families this week. A Micronesian family, and a family from Liberia. Teaching families in our mission is very rare. So it was a great blessing. 

This week is the last full week we will have in our area this transfer. After this week, next week we will be transfer planning Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Tuesday we will be at the Nauvoo temple with the departing missionaries. So this week we are going to go out and work super hard because next week we will only have a few hours in our area each day. I am super grateful for the peace and knowledge that comes from living the Gospel. I hope you all have a great week! Love you all! 

-Elder Lords

Happy Valentines Day!

February 14, 2016
Hey Everyone, 

Life is good! I love being a missionary. We had a great week. We drove a lot. We drove 700 miles this week. We drove all over the mission going to Zone Training Meetings. It was good. Elder Banta and myself feel we addressed some issues that have been slowing the work down in the Iowa Des Moines Mission. During are travels we also stopped at the worlds largest truck stop on I-80. (I will attach pictures.) We also stopped at the field where they filmed the field of dreams. (pictures for that as well.) It was night and the set was closed since it is winter. It was cool though. 

Dakota is going to be baptized on Feb 27th so that is great. We are teaching a bunch of Liberians. I LOVE the African people. They are so humble and Christ like. We were telling a Liberian lady that we are teaching, Tonia, that we had never met a mean Liberian. She said that there are some mean Liberians then later in the week we met a Liberian that kinda ignored us, but I still haven't met a Liberian who is actually mean. It is really cool. White people are mean to us daily haha! 

We got 3 or 4 inches of snow this week. We had Sacrament Meeting and only 40 people were there to start the meeting. By the end of Sacrament we had about 60 people so they cancelled the rest of the meetings. Three inches wouldn't slow us Idahoans down. Haha! I was asked to speak this Sunday. I spoke on "Keeping an Eternal Perspective". I think it went pretty well. I will share a quote that I shared from President Uchtdorf "If you trust the Lord and obey Him, He will help you achieve the great potential He sees in you." Love you all! Have a good week!

February 7, 2016

February 7, 2016
Hey Everyone! Things are going well. First, I want to say congratulations to my sister Rachael who had a baby this week! I am an uncle now! It has been a good week! We stayed busy this week, and we saw some cool miracles as well. I am loving being back in Des Moines. Today has been a good day. We had a few investigators at Church. Dakota (she is the friend of a member), Tonya(Liberian), Rose(Liberian), and Carli( Part-member family). The work is going great! We taught Tonya on Saturday, and had a great lesson with her. She understood the Restoration, and felt the spirit. 

We went to Iowa City on Thursday we had MLC then we drove a trailer load of furniture to Cedar Rapids to some sister missionaries who are moving into a new apartment. It was fun to be in Cedar Rapids for a little. That was one of my old areas. This week we will be traveling the mission going to Zone Training Meetings. We will leave Tuesday, and we will be at different Zone Training Meetings Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We will travel to Davenport, Clinton, and Cedar Falls. It should be a lot of fun! 

This week President Jensen trained on the Christ-like attribute of patience. It was a great thing for me to hear. He talked about being patient with our companions, and the people we teach. It was a great reminder to me of how important patience is. He talked about Job, and all the hardships that he went through. He never questioned or got upset with Heavenly Father. Then in the end he was rewarded with everything that he had being doubled. I hope that I can be like Job, and overcome my trails, and hardships with strong faith. The topic of patience in our trails reminded me of the talk by President Eyring called "Mountains to Climb." I love that talk I will share a quote from it. "If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing. In all conditions, we can choose the right with the guidance of the Spirit. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ to shape and guide our lives if we choose it. And with prophets revealing to us our place in the plan of salvation, we can live with perfect hope and a feeling of peace. We never need to feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service because we never are. We can feel the love of God. The Savior has promised angels on our left and our right to bear us up. And He always keeps His word." I know that this is true. I love the strength that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. The strength we recieve comes from the Atonement of Christ. I love you all! Have a great week! 

-Elder Lords