Put your shoulder to the wheel

Aug 24, 2015

Hey, 

Things are going pretty well! We had a good week with a few meetings and a lot of finding. College started today so everyone was moving in last week, so we did a lot of finding looking for new people to teach. We were blessed to find a few sweet people! I am really excited for a man named Victor. He is from Florida and we met him on Wednesday night. He was so grateful to talk with us and just kept thanking us. Victor has a strong desire to be baptized. We just need to help him overcome some of his vices. 

We had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) on Tuesday and interviews on Wednesday. Our first full day of proselyting in our area was on Wednesday, but we worked hard to try and make up for all the time out of our area. After interviews, President and Sister Jensen took my companion and myself out to dinner. It was a cool experience to be able to just sit and talk to President Jensen. They are great people! Keep Jamal in your prayers. He is having trouble deciding if he should be baptized. We are just trying to help him in any way we can. This week we have Zone Training Meeting on Wednesday. Lots of meetings as a missionary! Haha! Three hours of church when I'm home will feel like nothing! I hope all is well! Love you! 

-Elder Lords

New Companion

Aug 17, 2015

Hello Everyone, this week has been a pretty good week. My new companion is Elder Bowden. He is a cool guy! We have been getting along well so far. Its been a lot of fun! He is from Oregon a small town called Banks. It is pretty close to Portland. I have really enjoyed serving with him so far. Jamal is supposed to get baptized this weekend, but he has been backing out a little today. We aren't sure what is going on for him right now. He is 14, and just maybe a little nervous. The week was pretty good. We had a few meetings, taught a few people, and planned for the new transfer on Friday. We had to plan exchanges and type up information for MLC on Tuesday. 

This week we have MLC on Tuesday from 9 to 5. Then we have interviews with President Jensen on Wednesday. I love interviews we just get to sit and talk with President Jensen its great. 

This week we have a few good lessons planned out. We will be teaching Michael he is a sweet guy. His wife is a little apprehensive, but she is willing to be baptized if she knows that the Church is true. This week has been a little stressful we are trying to help motivate then zone. We aren't living up to our potential here in Iowa City. Hopefully we can help the zone get motivated to work harder so the Lord can bless us. People just want to sit around and not exercise their faith and hope that they will just have blessings fall out of the sky. That can happen, but generally speaking we have to exercise our faith and work hard. A line from a song has been flowing through my head lately "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven" from Praise to the Man. That line rings very true to me. Nothing easy is worth it. Salvation isnt cheap or easy. Christ suffering for us wasn't easy, it was cheap, but it was worth it to Heavenly Father. We are all worth it to our Heavenly Father.  

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! 

Doctrine and Covenants 18:15

I know that this is Christ Church and I love telling it to the people in Iowa. I hope your all doing well. Have a good week be safe! 

-Elder Lords

Tranfser Week

Aug. 10 2015

Hey Everyone, This week has been a great week. We have been blessed to teach a lot more people lately. I love it. We keep finding kids under 18 that want to learn. Jamal who is supposed to get baptized this Saturday is 14. He has been taught everything. He comes to church all alone. Which shows a lot for a 14 year old. When i was 14 i wouldn't have wanted to go to church alone. It speaks volumes for his commitment. He just says he doesn't quite feel ready. Hopefully he will get baptized soon though. 

My companion will be getting transfered on Thursday. Its sad to see him go, but change is always good. I like change, in some aspects of life at least haha! The work has really picked up here in our area. It has been a huge miracle. I know it is becuase of the fasting and praying we have done. Im trying hard to work hard, be obedient, and trust God. If we don't work hard Heavenly Father won't just give us people to teach we have to be humble and seek them out. I had a great birthday. I cant believe that I am 20! Im so old haha! I love you all! Have a great week! Sorry my time is short! Have a great week. Love you all! 

-Elder Lords 

(Pictures are of the Zone at the last district meetings.) 

Kelly was baptized

Aug. 3 2015

Hey Everyone, I hope that everything is going well. Kelly was baptized this week which was great! She is a super great lady. She was super prepared to meet us. We met her 5 weeks ago last Sunday. She was super Prepared to get baptized! We also got to go down to the British Pageant this week with a part member family it was great. I love going to Nauvoo! I hope that my next area will be somewhere close to Nauvoo or in Illinois. 

Next week is transfers I cant believe how fast time is passing by. Next Thursday i will have been here in Iowa City for 3 months. My companion has been here for 4 and 1/2 months so he will probably get transferred.

We are also working with a sweet kid named Jamal Johnson. He is a 14 year old. He just moved here from Illinois he is the only one in his family meeting with us and he comes to church alone. It is pretty cool to see his desire. He is on date to be baptized on August 15th. We are excited for that. Keep him in your prayers if you could.  

I am so grateful to be a member of Christ's true church. I love that we have Prophets and Apostles guiding us. Its so hard for me when people think we worship the Prophet or that we don't need Prophets. The Prophets just help us focus on what is important in life and help us know what God wants for us. I love listening to conference talks. I will share a quote from a modern and also a Book of Mormon Prophet: 

"The essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ entails a fundamental and permanent change in our very nature made possible through the Savior’s Atonement. Trueconversion brings a change in one’s beliefs, heart, and life to accept and conform to the will of God (see Acts3:19; 3 Nephi 9:20) and includes a conscious commitment to become a disciple of Christ." 

Converted unto the Lord
By Elder David A. Bednar

October 2012 

I also love what Nephi says in 2nd Nephi 29. That chapter he talks about people who reject the Book of Mormon. I love that chapter its a short, but strong chapter. Read it. Love you all! Have a great week! 

-Elder Lords

Nauvoo Pageant

July 27, 2015

Hey Everyone, 

This week was a great week. We went to the temple and the Pageant on Saturday. It was awesome. It was so nice to be in the temple. I have not been to the temple in almost a year so it was so great to go! I love the temple. It is such a great way to serve. We then got to see some sights at Nauvoo. We went to the Browning Gun makers home, Jonathan Browning. It was very cool and while I was there I saw Derick and Debbie and there family. It was crazy. Then we were just given gift after gift. Members would see us around Nauvoo and want to buy us fudge or other souvenirs. People are super nice to the missionaries. You almost feel like a celebrity its crazy haha! The Pageant was sweet. If you havent seen it, you need too! Im going to drag my family out here next summer or as soon as I can. It is a sweet experience, it is a very good show. 

Kelly is on schedule to be baptized this week which is exciting. She passed her interview and is all ready to go. We just have to help her overcome the temptations that Satan will send her way. She is an awesome lady. We also are teaching a cool 14 year old named Jamal. He is on date to get baptized August 15th. We are excited for that! Good day for him to get baptized! ;) 

The pageant like I said was awesome. My favorite line was "You can rest in the Kingdom of God." Some contexct to that line it was said by one of the 12 Apostles in Nauvoo while he was sick from cholera. He was healed by Joesph Smith and Parley P. Pratt. His wife tells him to rest and he responds he has a work to do and says. "You can rest in the kingdom of God." I think that comment is so true. It motivated me to dig deeper and work harder. I can rest when i'm home or when i'm in the Kingdom of God. Here is a great quote from conference if I forget this when im home, someone please remind me. 

"I remind you returned missionaries that your preparation for life and for a family should be continuous. “RM” doesn’t mean “retired Mormon”! As a returned missionary, you “should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of [your] own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness."
The Greatest Generation of Young Adults
By Elder M. Russell Ballard

I love you all! 

-Elder Lords

Pictures are by the Mississippi and a memorial for all the Saints who died crossing the plains. 

Going to the Nauvoo pageant!

July 20, 2015
Hey Everyone, This week was pretty good. On Friday we drove to Nauvoo for Zone Conference. It was a super good meeting. At Zone Conference the Stakes always feed the missionaries and the Nauvoo Stake knows how to feed the missionaries. They made super good food for 80 missionaries. President Jensen had some of the Cast from the Pageant come and do one of the songs for the Pageant it was sweet. We are going to the Pageant this Saturday with a member of the ward. I am way excited to see the Nauvoo Pageant. The spirit at Nauvoo is unreal. 

This week we had some awesome lessons with Kelly. She is going to get baptized on August 1st. She is super ready. She will have her baptismal interview this Friday. It was so fun to teach her because she was already living all the commandments. She was prepared to meet us. She is keeping all her commitments she reads everyday and prays. She meets with us 3 times a week which most investigators would never do. We are really excited for her baptism! I hope your all doing well. Stay on the straight and Narrow path. It really will help us be happy. Love you! 

-Elder Lords 

Hot and Humid!

Hello Everyone, Well I want to start out and apologize for all my grammatical errors in my previous emails. I don't take much time to proof read them. If there are a lot of errors today its REALLY humid today and my fingers just about slid of the keyboard haha. This week has been good. We had MLC on Tuesday. It was a pretty good meeting. Its long like I have mentioned before. We just talk about the mission and how we can improve. This week we taught Kelly several times. It was great. She is progressing towards baptism so well. I am so excited for her to be baptized and the blessings that came with baptism.

This week on Friday we will be going to Nauvoo for Zone Conference. It is about a 2 hour drive. We will have a van full of missionaries. It will be good. We almost got permission to go to the temple and stay for the pageant that night, but President Jensen did not want us driving home at from 11 p.m to 1 a.m. Hopefully we will be able to find a member to take us to the Nauvoo Pageant. This last week we also had the opportunity to watch President Packers funeral. That was a neat experience. I am so anxious to see who will be called as apostles and if they will wait until conference to do it. The church is true. I love the scriptures. Currently I am studying the Doctrine and Covenants and I am using an institute manual and it is great. So many gospel truths are held in the Doctrine and Covenants. I just finished Section 77 this morning. 

Alma 48:15-17. I am not perfect in anyway. I learn of more weaknesses every day and sometimes people remind me of my weaknesses, but I know that through the atonement I can and am made clean of my sins. I continue to mess up and make mistakes but as I turn to our Father in Heaven in prayer I know I can be forgiven and try harder to improve. Love you all! 

The gospel is supposed to change us its not about where we have been but where we are willing to let the Savior take us. One of my favorite quotes from conference “’Twas I; but ’tis not". 

-Elder Lords

Happy 4th!

Hello Everyone, I am proud to be an american. We were able to celebrate Independence Day with our Bishop. He is a great man and by far my favorite Bishop thus far on my mission. I probably shouldn't pick favorites, but he is a top notch man! He is a Business Professor and we watched the fireworks off the balcony of the University of Iowa Business department it was sweet. We weren't aloud to be out of our apartment after 6 unless we were with members.

This week has been great as far as the work goes. We are still trying to find people to teach, but we had an investigator at church. Kelly was at church and is on date to be Baptized August 1st. We are really excited for her. We are also teaching a sweet young couple named Michael and Michelle. Michael works at the Marriott as an engineer and so he sees President Jensen every time President comes to town. This week we will have MLC which means ill sit in a meeting from 9 to 5. Its great to be there, but it gets long. Luckily, I get to listen to President Jensen in MLC he tends to say it like it is. It is really funny. He is such a loving man. 

I hope all is well. I am so grateful for the atonement of Christ. I am so grateful that we can repent and that we can take the sacrament each week. I love the Book of Mormon. I know its the word of God. My favorite scripture on the Atonement is Alma 7:11-13. Have a great week. I Love you! 

-Elder Lords

Traveled back to Des Moines

 June 29, 2015

Hey Everyone,

I want to change things up and start my email off with my favorite George W. Bush quote: "Foul me once shame on you, foul me twice.... well you ain't gonna foul me twice." Haha! Just so everyone know that I haven't lost the humor in me! Well this week was pretty good! I got to Drive to Des Moines to see Eunice get baptized. They children weren't baptized because the Father who is living in Liberia still wouldn't allow them to get baptized. I was sad, but super happy Eunice was baptized and I was able to attend. We are 2 hours from Des Moines and in order to go a member had to drive us. Brother Melessa drove us. He is a great man. He works at the University in the Accounting Department. 

This week is also transfer week. We got the call this morning that Elder Whiting and myself will be staying together in Iowa City. I have been here 6 weeks(1 Transfer) which is crazy. The time flew by! We were able to teach a few new people this week. We taught Michael who is a really cool young guy. Michael recently was married, 3 weeks ago, he works at the Marriott as an Engineer. We are teaching him and his wife tonight. Due to transfer meeting being on thursdays the week of transfers we do not have P-Day on Monday. So this week we have P-Day on Wednesday. The work is going well. We watched Ephraim's Rescue this week with an investigator named Mark. Ive seen that movie twice now on my mission and it is the greatest! I love it. The pioneers and the early saints sacrificed so much for the church. I feel to have it so easy. We are really focusing as a mission on teaching with the Book of Mormon. I love the power that comes from that back. I know its true. Love you all! Have a great week! 

-Elder Lords

(Pictures from Eunice's Baptism and from the huge mosquito bite I got!) 

Teaching with President Jensen

June 22, 2015

     Hello Everyone, This week was a great week. We saw a lot of success in our area. We had MLC on Tuesday. MLC is Missionary Leader Council we just talk about the mission and any changes or problems. It is a cool meeting because you see everything across the mission, but it is super long! I used to think 3 hours of church was long but that is nothing. We sit in MLC from 9 to 5 haha! It is CRAZY! while at MLC President Jensen come up and said "I will be in Iowa City for a few days. I would like to go out teaching with you on Wednesday or Thursday." So on Thursday we meet President Jensen at 6 p.m. I was super stressed that the appointments we had would fall throw. They didn't thankfully. We had a member meal with a young couple named the Allens. Then we had a lesson with a man named Rick. When we got to Ricks house he said "ive invited my son, wife, and neighbor to listen to you. Come around back we will sit around the fire" It was a great lesson Rick(the grandpa), Ryan(Ricks son who has a family), and Ethan (the neighbor) all excepted the invitation to be baptized it was a great lesson. President Jensen just switched off teaching with us he is a great teacher. He was a Professor before he retired but the spirit is just so strong with him. We ended up getting out of the lesson at 9:25 p.m we are supposed to be home at 9:30 and we still had to take President Jensen to the Marriott in Coralville. As I was driving him, in our minivan haha, i got a little anxious and started to speed. I was going 32 in a 25 when our Car Tiwi told me to "check my speed". I was pretty embarrassed at first but President said he wanted to here what one sounded like haha! He wasn't too upset he just told me to slow down. It was a great evening! Hope all is well for everyone! Love you all!

-Elder Lords

Rain!

June 15, 2015

     Hey Everyone, This week was pretty good. It rained a lot. On Thursday we were getting almost 3 inches of rain every half hour for 2 or 3 hours. That's what I was told anyway. It was raining hard! We had Zone Conference this week. Elder Whiting and myself were asked to train on Opening our Mouths. What that means is we trained on talking with everyone and inviting everyone to learn more. It went pretty well.

This week we also had Tiwi's(black boxes) installed in our cars. Oh and we drive a mini van.... Haha we have to carry supplies or missionaries sometimes so they gave us a mini van haha! The Brethren are putting them in all the church owned cars to keep us safe. We have a card we tough to the box and it signs us in. It tracks all of our driving habits. If we speed, don't wear seat belts, or drive aggressively. Then we are rated each transfer. Pretty interesting stuff. I was excited to hear that Kade got his call. Liberians are the COOLEST most humble and excepting people. I will be going back to Des Moines June 27th to see and possibly Baptize Eunice and her 4 daughters who are Liberian. I am so excited. I love Africans!  Hope all is well! Love you all! This week we have a long meeting on Tuesday and Thursday but the other days we are hitting the ground running! I know the church is true. If your struggling with your testimony, read the Book of Mormon and pray! You will know it is true through the power of the holy Ghost. Love you!

-Elder Lords

Stake Conference

June 8, 2015

     Hey Everyone, This week was Stake Conference. Elder Christensen of the 70 was here and Elder Stacey of the 70. It was a great meeting. They talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy and missionary work. It was a great conference. President and Sister Jensen also spoke. They are my favorite people to listen too. They always have great insights and they love the missionaries so much! We also were able to spend some one on one time with President Jensen. President needed to get from his Hotel to the stake center for Priesthood Leadership meeting and he called and asked us to give him a ride. It was great. He is such a funny loving caring man. You would never guess from his pictures either.

We also were able to teach a few people. Uday is one of our investigators who is progressing the most. He is a cool guy from India. He has a thick accent but its sweet! He is a fun guy to teach! I just want to bear my testimony on Prayer and Faith. I have learned to truly put my trust in my Father in heaven and turn to him for help in prayer. I know that he listens and answers our prayers. Through the atonement Christ can take any burden we have from us. I love you all! 

2 Nephi 32:8-9

Living the Life!

June 1, 2015

    Hey Everyone, Things are going pretty well here in Iowa City. The work is starting to pick up a little in our area. This week we were blessed to find 6 new investigators. One of the new investigators that we taught is named Ben. He was a refferal from a guy in our ward named Ranon. Ranon leaves on his mission in 1 week and so his friend wanted to learn more about why Ranon was leaving on a mission. It was sweet! We were also able to know a lot of Doors and meet some cool indian People Krishna and Vicas. 

Being a missionary is so hard and so challenging sometimes, but it is so rewarding. I often think of the quote nothing easy is worth it. It is so true things that are worth it in life are meant to be hard. We talk to so many interesting people as missionaries it is a great experience. We talk to all kinds of people it is awesome. It can also be very funny. Sister Jensen (our mission Presidents wife) had something super funny said to her this week. The person said "If your just going to baptize me when im dead, why should i get baptized now?" People say the most interesting things. You could never prepare for all the situations you are put into as a missionary. Have a great week! I love you all! 

-Elder Lords

What a week!

 May 27, 2015

 

     Hello Everyone, First off that I could not email until today. Monday was Memorial Day so the library was closed. Tuesday we had a MLC (Mission Leadership Training). It was from 9 to 5. CRAZY long but great meeting. I love President and Sister Jensen.

I am now in Iowa City. My companion is Elder Whitning. He is from Eager, AZ. We have a sweet apartment. We live in North Liberty, IA it is just North of Iowa city. I am only about 15 or so miles from Cedar Rapids. The members are great in the ward. It is more like a ward from Idaho or Utah. Most of the people are from Utah haha. The ward has a ton of young families that are attending medical school or doing there residency at the university hospital. The missionary work is not as fast paced as i would like it to be. We live in a pretty wealthy area. That is okay though. We are going to work hard and im sure the lord will bless us with miracles. He has blessed me with miracles my hole mission.

I hope that all is well for everyone. We have been putting a focus on the Book of Mormon in our mission. While contacting people I often ask "Can I share a scripture with you?" People usually always say yes. I like to share Moroni 10:32
 32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

It is a new thing we are trying as a mission and its going to be great. Everyone we have done it with usually wants to know more. I hope all is well! Have a great week! Love you all!

-Elder Lords

P.S The pictures are with the McPhersons and Kory and Kayla. The McPhersons are the coolest Jamaican convert family ever. They have the sweetest testimonies. Kory and Kayla are some of the coolest people Ive been able to teach!

Im leaving Des Moines!

 May 18, 2015

 

   Well we got the call this morning that I am getting transferred. Who knows where I will be headed. I have tried guessing a little but who knows. President Jensen called and told me I would be getting transferred. He also asked if I would take on a new assignment as a Zone Leader. I am nervous for that.... Pray for me in this new calling.

What a great week! We had some great people at church and we were able to teach a lot of lessons so that has been great! I am really enjoying teaching all these people from Liberia. I am so sad to leave Euince, tuice, Shalleen, Daywulu,Nancy, Able, and Amira. They are the family from Liberia. I hope to be able to come back for there baptism on June 27th! I am also very sad to leave Kory and Kayla. I have really enjoyed my time here in Des Moines! We saw a lot of miracles this week and it rained pretty good the last few days!

P.S the pictures are of a super long lawn we mowed and of our district!

Love you all!

-Elder Lords

 

 

 

 

Happy Late Mothers Day!

May 11, 2015

 

Hey Everyone,

This week was pretty good! We were able to meet with Eunice and her 6 children. Eunice is from Liberia in Africa. I LOVE Liberians. They are the nicest people. Eunice brought her children to church last Sunday and then we taught them all Monday night. They are preparing for baptism on June 27th! The people getting baptized will be Eunice(the mom), Tuice(16), Shanell(13), Daywulu(10ish haah) and Nancy who will turn 8 this month! Then they have a 2 year old son Able and new born as of Last Tuesday named Amira. They are an awesome family! We are hopefully seeing them tonight. I pray that if I get transferred that I will be able to come back for there baptism.

This week there has been a lot of rain. Last night it rained hard for a few minutes. The streets looked like rivers. I hope everyone is doing well. Its almost summer I cant believe that. I am grateful for the chance I get to serve as a missionary. I hope all is well! Have a great week! I love you!

-Elder Lords

What a week!

Hello Everyone,

This week was awesome! The weather has been wonderful. It has been in the 70's and 80's. It is starting to get humid which is a real drag. That is okay though because we have been blessed with a car. This week was awesome. We had 2 families at church. Mable and Marshawl who are from Liberia. Mable is a member from when she moved to America in 2008. She joined the church in Salt Lake and then moved to Des Moines to meet her husband who just got here 8 months ago they have 2 children. Unis and her 5 children were also at church on sunday and Kory and Kayla. We filled up 2 rows of investigators it was awesome. It helped the ward see that we aren't just hanging around the apartment. We had so many people introduce themselves to our investigators it was great!

We also were blessed to get severial new investiagtors. Unis and her family we met on Friday and they came to church Sunday. They are also from Liberia. Unis doesn't have a husband and she has 5 children plus she is pregnant and due May 10th and she still came to church! It was sweet!

 The Lord is really blessing us in this area and im going to be sad to leave. Transfers are coming up on May 21st so we will see how that goes. If I leave Des Moines it will be bitter sweet. I have loved the 5 almost 6 months that ive been here!! I know the church is Christ Church again established on the earth. Have a great week everyone! I love you! Be Safe!

-Elder Lords

Rain and Sun!

Hey Everyone! Things are going very well. This week was a fun week. We met and Taught a ton of people from Liberia. They are pretty hard to understand but we are praying for the gift of tongues. They are awesome and humble people. We met a lady named Mable who has been in the US 5 years now and she first moved to Salt Lake where she joined the church. Her and 2 of her daughters joined the church im Salt Lake. Her husband marshal just made it to the US in December. We knocked into Mables friends and Mable came in part way through are first Lesson with Augustine and Patience (also from Liberia) and started saying "Its all  true! What they are saying is true!" It was awesome! So now we are teaching her Husband and her friends that she knew from when she lived in Liberia. Our Father in Heaven is guiding this work. It is great to see. I just finished a book called Power of Everday Missionaries by Clayton M Christensen. Its a great book its only about 160 pages long.

The weather is Sunny and nice today. Last week was pretty rainy. It rains a lot here. A lot more than im used too! We are meeting our investigator Kory at a baseball field by his house and playing catch and having a home run derby on one of the little league fields. I am pretty excited for that. Hope all is well! Love you all!

-Elder Lords

A Rainy Week!

Hello everyone! This week things went pretty well. We didn't have a lot of appointments scheduled so we did a lot of finding. I think I knocked a million doors. Not really. We knocked a lot but it was pretty fun! We met an older couple (in there late 80's) Tom and Erma. We knocked on there door and this little old lady comes to the door and yells to someone "its the Mormons". In my head I was thinking oh no here it comes she is not going to be happy to see us. She swung the door open and smiled and said "Come in" before we could get a word out! We taught them the restoration and invited them to be baptized. The declined which happens a lot. Then we tried to address there concerns and asked them to pray about baptism. They wouldn't even commit to praying about baptism. It was sad. Tom and Erma are the first people I have taught that wouldn't even commit to praying about baptism or to know if the church is true and has been restored to the earth. It was very sad to see. We continued to talk with them. We asked if there was anything we could do for them and they asked us to help them fix there hand rail. We quickly undid some bolts and showed them that they need to buy some parts. Then as we were saying good bye I noticed a small hand gun by Tom. I said that is a cool .22. He said thank you. I thought for a half second I was going to have to shoot whoever was at my door but then we saw it was the Mormons. Then we all started laughing because he obviously was joking.

The last experience I want to share happened yesterday. We again found ourselves knocking doors. We had been knocking for about an hour without anyone letting us in. Then we knocked into a family from Liberia. THey were a really nice family and REALLY hard to understand! We taught them the Restoration right as we started talking about the Book of Mormon there was a knock at the door. Two other ladies from Liberia walked in that knew the wife, Patience, when the lady that walked in Mable saw us she said Ive been looking for the church! She had been baptized while she lived in Salt lake City. She instantly started testifying to the family who was struggling understanding prophets and the Priesthood authority. All of there concerns were resolved. It was an awesome miracle! I love seeing and recognizing the miracles we see EVERY Day! It is awesome to be a missionary of Jesus Christs restored church! Have a great week!

I hope you can all understand my email. Sometimes they don't make sense to others like they do to me so sorry! haha Also I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Burtenshaw. He is from Mud Lake, Idaho and I knew him a little before the mission. He is a great missionary. We were in the MTC together! Attached is a picture of Elder Burtenshaw and myself! Sorry for the long email!

-Elder Lords

Coreana was confirmed!

Hey!

Well this week went pretty well. Coreana who was baptized several weeks ago finally got back from Texas and got all settled in. She was confirmed by Elder Cox sunday at church! It was awesome that she was finally confirmed! She is doing well. Her daughter loves church and so that helps motivate her to come!

We also had the opportunity to watch "Meet The Mormons" with 2 of our investigators. They both really enjoyed the movie. I love meet the Mormons it is a great film. I also had a pretty cool opportunity yesterday. I interviewed Dwayne for baptism and it was my first interview. I was pretty nervous because I kept thinkin what if he isn't ready and I have to tell him he needs a little more time. Well I sat down and got to know him. He likes to watch baseball and football so we talked about that and his family. Then we started the interview and he knew his stuff. He has such a strong desire to get baptized and I knew without a doubt by the power of the holy ghost that he was ready for baptism. It was awesome! The weather has been great this week! It rained like crazy on Thursday but other than that it has been good! I love the warm weather! But it makes me want to go camping haha! No camping for me for a while. I wanted to volunteer to go with the scouts but we aren't allowed to go camping. Our job is missionary work haha! Have a great week! Love you all!

-Elder Lords

Conference Week!

Hey Everyone,

Things are going good from over here in Iowa. Today we received our transfer calls. I knew that I would be staying in Easter Lake(South Des Moines) with Elder Cox because we have 6 more weeks left of training then I will probably be transferred. By then I will have been here 6 months!That is crazy! I feel like I just got here yesterday! . President Jensen also called me to be the District Leader here in Easter Lake. Im a little nervous for that but it will help me grow as a missionary im sure.  

We had a pretty good week. Things were slower than usual but we were able to teach Kayla who is Korys wife. Kayla and Kory are a sweet young couple. They both just graduated college and Kayla is an auditor and Kory is a computer programmer so they are both really smart. It has been fun to teach them and on Wednesday we will be watching Meet the Mormons with them I am really excited!

This week we are hoping to find a few more people to teach. I loved what I learned from conference. Im so grateful to have a Prophet and apostles leading and guiding our church with Christ as the head. The apostasy was so real. I would encourage everyone to study the apostasy. It will build your testimony of the Restoration and that we have the Priesthood authority restored to the earth! I hope you all have a great week! Love you!

-Elder Lords 

P.S that is our new mission car haha! I wish! That is Elder Roberts our ties had matching patterns on Easter and so we took a picture. That is supposed to be my Easter looking tie!   

 

 

What a Life!

Hey Everyone,

Well this week was pretty good. Life as a missionary can be so strange. We were blessed to find a couple of new people to teach again this week. We met an awesome family named Ryan and Chastity. They are an African-American family from Illinois. They are really cool! I am super excited to continue to teach them. We also met a pretty cool guy named Blake. we taught him and he had a lot of questions. He asked about Gays and the church. It was one of the more awkward lessons on my mission but it was great!

We also had exchanges with the Zone leaders this week. I went with Elder Roberts he is from New Port Beach, California. We had a nice time on exchanges.

This week on Tuesday we had Zone conference. Zone Conference involves a little over 1/3 of the mission. It was fun to see a lot of the missionaries that I know. I have made a lot of great friends out here. Zone Conference was such a spirit filled meeting. It was also a little long. It was from 9 to 430. It is divided into a morning and afternoon session with lunch in between at about 12. I was grateful for the meeting. It really gave me a boost. I had been feeling pretty crummy and that meeting somehow just picked up me up and refocused me on what is important.

I am so grateful for the chance to serve a mission. It is so hard sometimes because you grow to love people so much and want to see that happy but they don't always understand the happiness that comes from living the gospel. I hope all is well! Have a great week! Love you all!

-Elder Lords

 

 

Hello!

Hey!

Things are going pretty well out here. The weather is warming up and that is so nice. Today the high is 80! That is pretty exciting! I am enjoying being here in Des Moines. We have the opportunity to meet so many different people and see so many different cultures. It is a pretty diverse plays comparatively speaking to Rexburg, Idaho haha! This week we knocked into an apartment complex of Muslims it was very interesting.

We knocked quite of few doors this week which can be such an interesting experience. You never know who you are going to knock into. We were in a very interesting neighbor hood/ apartment complex and we met very interesting people haha! The picture attached below is from the neighborhood haha! We have been able to keep in contact with Coreana while she is in Texas. Ive been a little stressed about that because she still hasn't been confirmed yet. We have a lesson with Jackie tonight and she is Progressing really well towards getting Baptized on April 11. I hope all is well. Have a great week! I love you all!

-Elder Lords

What a Week!

Hey Everyone,

What a week it has been. The stress in missionary life can be stressful haha! So last week I talked about how Coreanas date was going to have to be moved back. Well during Pday we got a call from President Jensen. He had heard about Coreana and her date being moved and he said to do everything we could to get her Baptized. I thought it would be impossible. We went to work anyways. President Jensen wanted her to get baptized so she could have the gift of the Holy Ghost when she left this week to go see family in Texas. So we meet with her everyday this last week helping her prepare for Baptism. She passed her interview on Wednesday and we announced the baptism as best we could. Usually we announce them the Sunday before but we didn't think she would be getting baptized.

It ended up being the most spirit filled baptism ive been apart of or seen on my mission. Coreana was so excited to get baptized. She was sitting in the gym before the baptism listening to the prelude music and she just cried and cried from then until after she was baptized. It was cool to see her get baptized. She almost didn't come because she was feeling to sick she texed and told us that. I was stressing out!

The only sad part to the story is she didn't show up to church sunday to get confirmed before she left to Texas! She texted and said "im too sick to come. ill see you when im back from texas." Well immediately I went into thinking like my Dad. The thoughts going through my mind are things my Dad would say to me on Sunday. "If your too sick to come to church then your too sick to hang out with your friends next weekend!" haha then I really wanted to tell her that if she was to sick to come to church she was too sick to go to Texas haha. I didn't tell her that. We just told her the blessings that would come if she came to church and how important it is. She didn't come and I was so sad, but Heavenly Father gave us our agency. She choose not to come and will have to wait 2 weeks to receive the gift of the holy ghost when she is back. This week we also knocked into a Ton of Muslims it was very interesting. That is a very interesting experience and the church has strict rules on teaching them because their lives can be endanger if the return to there homelands.

Anyways we had a good week. Things are going well and Elder Cox is doing awesome! He is really working into the swing of missionary work! Love you all! 

 

 

Happy Monday!

Hey Everyone!!!

I hope everything is going well. We had a crazy/busy/good week haha! We got a call from our vehicle coordinator Elder Shelley telling me that he got us a car! I was so happy! It is so nice having a full time car and not walking all over! We got a 2013 Subaru Impreza. Its a pretty nice all wheel drive car!

Well my new companion is Elder Davis Cox. He is from Kaysville, Utah. We have been having a good time together. He is a nice guy. We have a lot of the same interest. I.e Football, Baseball, camping, fishing, outdoor stuff.

We had kind of a hard week. Coreana was supposed to get interviewed this week so we could announce her baptism for next Saturday. So Elder Cox and myself went over the interview questions with her the night before and she couldn't remember any off the commandments. It broke my heart. Then she told us that she drank tea and so we had to move her baptism date back. Its been really hard/sad because she wants to get baptized so bad. Plus she leaves to Texas for 2 weeks and so we will have like no contact with her other than over the phone.

Im grateful for prayer and being able to turn to our Heavenly Father for help. This week I was having a lot of feelings of inadequacies. I have been feeling some mission stress and I turned to my Heavenly Father in prayer and felt comforted. I hope all is well! I love you all!

(Pictures-The picture with 3 of us my new companion is the one on the right. The other picture is me and Elder Hatfield he finished his mission this transfer and is one of my good friends.)

Transfer Week!

Hey Everyone,

How is everything going?? Well this week is transfer week. President Jensen called this morning and called me to train a new missionary. I said yes of course. I am not sure how I feel about it but im glad to give it a try haha! Things have been going pretty well. We are working with a lot of investigators now its time to decide who is ready to except the gospel and who is not. I had the strong feeling we need to spend more time finding and less time with investigators who want come to church or change. It is very hard though when you grow to love someone like Christ would love them.

Anyways so Elder Sessions will be getting transferred this Thursday. Im sad to see him leave. We had a really good time together. He is a great guy!  We have to be in Iowa City at 8:45 a.m for the Trainers meeting on Thursday. Iowa City is about 115 miles from here or 2 hours. I am curious to see who my companion is. There are only 4 new Elders coming to the mission so I have a 1 in 4 chance of guessing my companion haha!

This week we saw a miracle or an answer to a prayer. Coreana is an investigator who is preparing to get baptized on March 7th. She really wants to join the Church and get baptized. She hasn't missed church in 4 sundays which is a blessing by itself. The only thing holding her back is that she lives with her boyfriend and she has to be living the commandments for 2 weeks before baptism. She said she wanted to fast to make the decision of whether or not to marry him or break up with him and kick him out. Well we were hoping she would break up because we think he is abusive because sometimes we see her with bruising and we know he isn't leglally in the country. Well this week we tried calling her and she wouldn't answer. We were worried that she was going to drop us. But the Lord was watching out for her. Her boyfriend and her got into a fight. SHe kicked him out and he stole her phone. SHe was scared to live at her apartment so she spent a couple days with her Brother. We finally got in contact with her on Friday and she came to the ward game night on Saturday and then church sunday. Heavenly Father loves all his children and I would be an idiot not to recognize his hand in missionary work. Things get tough when I try to do things my way and not Heavenly Fathers way. Im so grateful to be a tool in Heavenly Fathers hand. I am about 100 pages from finishing the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time on my mission. I Love the Book of Mormon. It answers so many questions. Conference is only a little more than a month away and im excited for that! I love conference! I love you all! Have a great week! Sorry for the longish email!

-Elder Lords

I cant believe I have been out for 7 months!

Hey Everyone,

How is the weather back there in Idaho? Its been a little cold the last few days. For Pday yesterday we went bowling. It was pretty fun to be out bowling. We weren't in shirts and ties and it felt so weird. My first time in Public without a shirt and tie in 7 months haha! Then we went and played basketball at the stake center. Pday is always a pretty good day.

We had a good week last week. A lot of walking. We figured we averaged about 10 miles of walking each day. Its hard because we have scheduled appointments and then any free time we spend walking from place to place. Its okay though because we have the car this week so we should be able to see more people. Its crazy at how easy I took things for granted back home. A warm car is such a blessing.

We were able to see some fun people this week. We are teaching a man named Doug. He is 24 years old and is really intelligent. He is a great guy with a lot of questions. One nice thing about Doug is he isn't trying to prove us wrong he is just honestly looking for the truth. Usually people with lots of questions are trying to prove us wrong he isn't. He asked a cool question this last week. He said "If Joseph Smith was an inspired man and a prophet wouldn't he have found the errors in the bible and corrected them?" We were like yeah that is exactly what he did. So we showed him the Joseph Smith translations and he thought that was cool. Its great to see how the spirit can work on people to convert them. If you get the chance listen to a talk by Dieter F Uchtdorf "Come, Join with Us". Im so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary and serve people here in Iowa. Transfers are coming up next Thursday February 26th and chances are Elder Sessions or myself will be getting transferred, but who knows! Have a great week! Be safe and Love you all!

-Elder Lords

Hello Everyone!

Hey Everyone!

Everything is going good. Here all the snow is melting. Sounds like it is melting about everywhere though. Well we had a pretty great week. We have been staying busy. We had the car this week and we always get so much done with the car. We teach a lot more lessons and see more people its great. We don't get to talk to as many people while walking and it gets us out knocking doors more if we aren't in the car. This week we met a guy named Doug. He is a super cool 24 year old. He is crazy smart but has to much ADD to go to college. We had a great discussion with him. He is from Cedar Rapids so me and him talk all about Cedar Rapids haha! He is like ever other Iowan he can talk for DAYS and he smokes like a chimney.

We also had another cool experience. We got a call from a man in Utah named Dan Bell. He was a missionary in this mission about 30 years ago. He still has had contact with a man in this mission named Maurie. He is a really cool guy. He has read the Book of Mormon a couple times. He lives with his Sister in the Winter and then he lives under a bridge here in Des Moines in the summer. He is a really great guy.

Carena also came to church this sunday. She is preparing for baptism on March 7th! We are really excited for her. I just hope i don't get transferred by then. But if i do as long as she gets baptized that is all that matters. I hope all is well for everyone! Be safe and have a great week! Love you all!  

-Elder Lords

Missionary Work

Hey Everyone,

Well this winter has been a change for me. It hasn't been to cold and there isn't snow on the ground. It is a mild winter here from what I understand. This last week we had 2 days in the 50's. That makes doing missionary work a lot easier because you don't freeze haha! This week we had a pretty good week. We had the car so we were able to see a lot of people. We were able to find some new investigators. We are trying to build up our teaching pool. That's always kind of the goal but we are scheduling times to go finding and knocking doors instead of scheduling lessons with people who aren't progressing. One of our really solid investigators Sylvia moved to the sisters area so we aren't teaching her anymore but that's okay cause the sisters are!

Next transfer we might be getting a car so that would be really cool! If I don't get transferred which I might who knows. The work is pretty good here though. There are a lot of prepared people so that is good.

We are teaching a lot of people who are very sad or depressed. I wish they would just live the gospel of jesus Christ it would fix all their problems but no one believes us "dumb Mormons" haha! Things are going great! Im grateful for the wonderful blessing I have of being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. It is such a blessing! Are focus this year as a mission is to teach families. We were able to teach a young family the moms name is India and the Dads name is Cameron. They have a 2 and a 3 year old with African names that I cant say or spell but they are awesome! Have a great week! I love you all!

A Warm Week!

Hello Everyone,

We had a pretty good week. The weather completely flipped. This Thursday the temperature was 51 degrees! The following week it was -7 and then -17 with wind chill so that is a huge difference. We weren't wearing coats and it is January.

We can stay very busy scheduling lessons but our goal is to find people who are more prepared. Some of the people we meet with we cant get them to keep commitments or to come to church. We have found 5 new investigators in the last 5 days, so the Lord is really blessing us. Some days its hard to want to go knock doors but once we get out doing it, it isn't so bad.

One of the highlights of my week and mission was this week. The Sister missionaries in the Des Moines ward told us they met a lady at a Rehab center that was interested in learning about the church. They gave us her address and asked us to stop by. They told us that she might not be fully accountable. This always makes me upset when people say they aren't accountable to get baptized! If they have a desire we shouldn't stop them. Anyways so we stopped by and taught the first lesson on Friday. It went pretty well and she loved it. She asked for a Book of Mormon before we even finished the lesson. Usually we give it at the end and commit them to read it. She was so excited to have it. I didn't think anything of it and then we went back on Sunday. We had asked her to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon. We talked and then I asked "Did you get the chance to read the introduction?" She said "Yes I loved it". Then she said I just couldn't put the book down and I read the first 8 chapters. We were so excited because it had only been 2 days and she had already read 8 chapters. It was an awesome experience. Im grateful for the Book of Mormon and its truthfulness. Have a great week! Love you all!

-Elder Lords

Transfer Week

Hi Everyone,

Well, we have come to the end of another Transfer. Elder Sessions and myself are staying together another Transfer. So neither of us are leaving. LEO got BAPTIZED this week. It was awesome he is a really great kid. It has been a little cold here. We finally got snow last Monday. We were "Grounded" on Monday because of the snow and also on Wednesday for cold weather. Grounded means that we can’t go out and tract. We can only go to scheduled appointments or we have to have a member drive us. So Monday and Wednesday we were very restricted. The first hour was nice to have a break until we realized we had nothing to do and we wanted to be out working!

Things are going well. We are working hard with a lady named Dawn. She is on date to get baptized on January 31st. She went to High School with Elder Olsen’s mom and so we are teaching her with Elder Olsen. It is an interesting experience. Hope all is well! Stay warm and take care!

Love you all!

-Elder Lords

Happy New Year!

Hey!

Well things are going pretty well. Its interesting to see how the work has really exploded. When we got here the missionary being Transferred out said "Good luck that's the slowest area in the mission". I've never had so many referrals from investigators and members from the surrounding wards. There are a ton of apartments to knock. (Knocking apartments is my favorite for a couple reasons. The people are humble and its easy to knock a lot of doors.) Sadly with the way we are able to schedule out are week we have only had 2 hours in the last 2 weeks to go knocking. I'm very grateful to be busy but its always good to find more people to teach. 

We had a good week though.

For new years we had a small get together with the other missionaries that live by us and serve in the ward. We ordered pizza and played monopoly and Phase 10 it was pretty fun stuff! We had a couple investigators at Church on Sunday. Leo and Dawn were there. Brandy was not at church because she was admitted into the hospital but that's another story. For another time.

Leo is getting baptized on Saturday at 4 P.M we are so excited. He bore his testimony at church on sunday! It was so cool. President Jensen come to our Sacrament meeting. He is a very powerful speaker. He bore his testimony and kind of got after the ward! It was awesome because they respect him and so they really listened. We had 3 members invite us over to dinner after that. We have only eaten with 3 members in the month that ive been here. 

Well I hope everyone had a happy new year! I had a happy new year love you all!

-Elder Lords