Week 53

What herb/spice is there never enough of???? Thyme ;)

Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 9:08 AM

Hey family!  How are things going??  Sounds like y'all are doing well.  That's good.  Sounds like the camping trip was fun.  Good stuff.  Let's see...I did get the music and ensign last week.  Also something else maybe...not sure...can't remember...and I don't think we checked the mail on Saturday...

So, my companion is Elder Warren and he's from Bowling Green, Kentucky slash Buffalo, New York.  He's waiting to go to Bogota Columbia North mission.  He's a really good missionary with a powerful testimony.  He teaches from the heart, which is really good, and has a true desire to serve the Lord.  Not sure on how long he'll be here...I realize that the longer I am in my mission...the more difficult it feels to train in a way.  Allow me to explain...so many things at this point are second nature that I forget it's not common knowledge.  Make sense?? ;) Bien.

I do remember Elder Copeland.  I remember when he gave his final testimony in a zone conference meeting thing.  Crazy stuff :)  So that missionary broadcast thing was fantastic.  So powerful.  The work of the Lord is truly being hastened, and if we don't hasten with it, we'll be left behind.  The emphasis on member missionary work was powerful and prevalent.  So crucial.  My new companion actually saw his zone on the panning camera.  He missed being there by 2 days ;)  

So, do I have a story for you.

On Friday night, we had the privilege of attending a wedding...that's right...a wedding.  And can we guess who the wedding was for????  One of our investigators!!!!!! Hurrah for Israel!  She got married to her returned less active boyfriend-now-husband.  So exciting; I can't even articulate it.  It's like a missionary fairy tale...something you only ever see on the district (DJ will understand).  Her and her 2 sons should be getting baptized at the end of July!  Sooo great :)  We loved it.  Super nice family. 

Soon the work will absolutely explode in this area!  It's fantastic :)  Thank you so much for the music and such.  I really appreciate it.  I hope I'm not a bother.  I hope dad got his letter.  Thanks for everything.  I love you all so much.  Last night, it was reaffirmed...this is truly the work of the Lord.  I know it.  Jesus Christ heads it, and when we all do it His way, it works...and not only that...it works miracles.  I love my Savior.  I love prayer.  I love that I can talk WITH my Heavenly Father and He cares so much.  Don't ever forget it.  

Be lovingly bold.  Be courageous.  For the Lord our God is with us, wherever we go.

Love,

Elder Patty

ps.  Not much else to say...

Week 52

Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 1:07 PM

Hey family and friends and friends of the family and my family's friends, and my friends' families and...

Hope all is well.  So this past week has been pretty good.  We saw a lot of growth, and we're starting to know the wards better which is good.  So funny story...but not really...but ends up funny...so this 2 ward trying to feed us thing had a slight explosion last Thursday when 2 different families were under the impression that we were going to their home for dinner.  We had confirmed with the one that we thought was the one we were supposed to go to, and didn't call the other.  Well, the other assumed we were coming over...they both had invited friends over.  The one we didn't go to was mad.  The meal coordinator was upset.  Not a good way to start.  Ultimately, we had gone to the correct house for dinner, but that didn't help appease the other.  Obviously, it wasn't malicious or anything, but we decided to do what we could to mend any broken trust/relationships.  We ran to the dollar tree and bought some cookie dough stuff and some smiley face balloons.  Hurried and baked the cookies, and then delivered them in what was supposed to be a clandestine manner.  Well, the second wasn't so much as they just happened to pull into the driver the moment we set it on the doorstep...haha.  But I think it helped out overall.  I don't think I've ever been such a middle man in all my life.  :)

So back to life.  Sorry I didn't inform you of my companions’ names and such.  One is Elder Buckner from Cedar Hills, UT (near Alpine), the other, Elder Bentley is from Mount Pleasant, UT (near Manti); he actually went to Snow college, so he was wondering where Chris will be staying.   I forgot to report letters last week.  I got 50 51 from mom (weird that it's almost 52...half way...) 2 from grams, one from Christian Rock, Kati Kamas (have I already mentioned that??) and 1 from DJ, which funny story about that...I got the first page of the letter he wrote to me and the last page of the letter he wrote to Holly.  I was super confused for a moment when I was reading it because it just jumped from one idea to the word Logan and then explained some about Karolyn.  As I kept reading, it said something about doing a good job in Italy and that's when the cat came out of the bag.  Just BTW...so if you want to send me the rest of my letter, I would enjoy reading it, maybe not as much as Holly did ;) tee hee

Mom, way to be a stud on sharing the gospel.  Keep it up.  All else...follow path ;)

So, I don't really have any stories to tell you this week minus the fact that there is a ton of work to do in Wake Forest.  We have one family who is the soon to be wife and 2 kids of a returned less active member who should be baptized at the end of next month or so.  The amazing thing that happened yesterday is that we learned they had just bought a marriage license and also they stayed for all 3 hours which was a huge step, her separating from him for Relief Society.  Miracles do happen.

Oh, and I will be getting a new companion this Friday.  So the trio will be through.  He's a visa hold and I will be training him.  Super exciting.  President called me this morning.  So, we'll be splitting back up to our ward boundaries.  Good stuff.  We have a huge district though.  My last had 6.  This one has 12.  

Keep it real. 

I know our Savior lives and loves us.  He always will

Love,

Elder Patty

Week 51

Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 10:13 AM

Hola family,

Well, well, well...here I am in the good ol' Wake Forest public library.  To start, hurrah for Israel on Tropical Storm Andrea.  No one even told us it was coming.  We just woke up one day and it was raining...and then it didn't stop...we biked to our dinner appointment that night...and got soaked.  Didn't even bring our ponchos because we didn't know we were in the middle of a tropical storm.  We got a ton of flash flood warnings though. 

Next thought...it's disgusting how expensive everything is...especially shipping...but I also bought brake pads...I haven't had back brakes for about 6 months or so :)  Good story on the condo.  Sounds like fun.  I live in an apartment.  It's pretty nice.  Since normally Wake 1 and 2 would share the car, we get the car full time since we are wake 1 and 2...back track...so we are covering Wake Forest 1st ward and half of Wake Forest 2nd ward aka church from 7:45 to 4:15 on Sunday :)  Also, aka lots of ground to cover.  To spice up life even more, we're whitewashing Wake 1 aka we didn't really know anyone there...not even the two investigators who got baptized 5 days after we arrived.  The baptism went really really well though.  I got to play the piano :)  and there was tons of ward support.  Then last night, we went to a fireside for recent converts and investigators at the mission home, the 2 recent converts came and 1 bore her testimony of her conversion.  Solid :)

So Wake Forest in a nutshell??? Tons of baptists and hills...Wow...and when I say hills I mean hills...I'll have to get you a picture sometime. (I forgot my camera today btw).  My legs are going to be ripped for sure :)  I don't know if you know but we live down the street from the huge Baptist Seminary.  Ahhh yeah...just to break me in on my first couple of days, we talked to this man waiting for the bus and he kindly went on to say "I don't associate with devils."  I was like "oh???  That's good since neither do we."  That conversation ended rather quickly following that.  As we left I thought, "welcome to wake forest :)" haha :)  Seriously, I wonder what those preachers tell their congregations about us.  I know some vehemently profess we are a cult.  I'm not sure how people can profess to believe a religion that talks like that about other people, about many of the people's friends.  Seriously, if my whole church just ripped on all my good friends' religions, that would be the end of that. 

Our Ward Mission Leader for Wake 1 is amazing.  He understands his role and everything else gospel related so well.  He is a spiritual genius and super kind.

The Tri-Fecta of power (aka my trio companionship) is going pretty well so far.  We all get along pretty well which is good.  One of the companions has been out 20 months and he's a really good missionary.  He has no problem talking to people and is very personable; we have some good times together.  There are a ton of Thorntons up here.  The bishop for the next ward over is Bishop Thornton.  There's a Thornton in the temple presidency.  Intense right?? I've never met so many Thornton's in all my life :)  We have 4 sisters and 7 elders in our district.  good stuff :)

So, ps, here's a good story for y'all ( I hope I didn't share it last week).  Sharing the gospel doesn't have to just be with our friends, acquaintances are just as good, and usually there are a lot more of those.  For instance, right before I left Southport, we got a call from a member of the Relief Society Presidency who was in a thrift store getting some clothes when she started having a conversation with a lady who worked there (Ok, I think at this point we can all relate to this).  The amazing and crucial part comes next.  Upon hearing about what this lady was going through, she asked if she could share some about her religion with her.  She explained that she was a Mormon and explained how the truths and principles of our religion would help her deal with the situations she was going through in life.  She bore testimony of how it's helped her in her life.  Now the last part is key, the invitation and the plan for follow up.  She invited her to call the missionaries since she had learned that this lady had our card, but more than that she called us and told us about her and where she worked and everything so we could follow up with her too.  2 groups following up.  When she told us this, I couldn't thank her enough for what she did.  Imagine if everyone did this all the time...we missionaries would be ridiculously swamped :)  Keep up the good work, family.  Be the studs y'all are.  I love you tons.  Enjoy all the weddings and receptions y'all are attending.  Should be a blast.  :)  

Live the good life,

Love,

Elder Patty

Week 50

Mon, Jun 3, 2013 at 9:58 AM

Howdy family, 

So, details wise on the transfer and everything...I have limited.  I will be going to Wake Forest as District Leader.  I have no idea how many elders and or sisters are in that district.  I do know that the assistants are in that district (oh great...first leadership assignment, and the assistants are going to be watching every step...watch me crash and burn ;) just kidding but seriously) and I'm pretty sure there are some sisters (which is scary enough as it is...)

Last Friday, we were up in Knightdale for our leadership meeting.  It was super good.  I learned a ton, despite the fact that I semi felt slightly inadequate.  The Lord helped me out though.  I love being able to talk with Him.   :)  

The outage is finally over and things are starting to settle back down.  Our 2nd counselor in the Branch Presidency is returning from less activity ;) haha, but seriously, that's what this outage does to people.  More Elders that I really look up to are going home which is sad...they're all dying :(

I don't really have much to say.  This last week blew by.  It was like a hurricane came through (it didn't but seriously, I wish it had...I love hurricanes).  So, the Book of Mormon musical thingy is coming to Durham, which is going to add publicity to Mormons (be it semi-negative publicity).  That comes in February.  

It's starting to get pretty warm and humid.  I sweat like a 3000 lbs hog in the middle of a rain forest volcano mix...not possible you say? Ah Contraire, it's like I have a fountain drink system coming off my forehead...attractive, if I do say so myself ;)  but it's nothing like it will be in July and August...especially up in the foothills :)  So, something else...I think I'm going to be in a tri-panionship for 6 weeks in Wake Forest.  That should be interesting for sure.  Originally, I was supposed to finish a visa-hold person's training who was waiting to go to Brazil, but he left to Brazil ergo...I won't be finishing his training.  

Hopefully, I can get everything packed today...well, I kind of have to, I guess.  

Sounds like y'all are staying busy at least.  We had a really powerful testimony born on Sunday.  This man who was baptized in the early nineties hasn't really been fully active in the church.  He knows it's not the person his Heavenly Father needs him to be and it hurts and embarrasses him.  The other night though, he got a letter from his nephew who is just getting out of the MTC.  The people in the MTC told the missionaries to think about someone who is slipping or something like that and to write them.  He chose his uncle.  Seriously, that one letter may have just changed this man's eternal destiny.  It was powerful.  At the end of his testimony, he said something like "today is the first day of the rest of my life."  Amazing thing, the spirit.  What would we do without the spirit.  Pretty much nothing, probably.

I love my Lord.  I love my God.  I love this church.  I know it is His, our Savior's.  I wish everyone else could see it.  We talked to a Weslyen (sp) Methodist the other day.  His church is basically, in a nut shell, our church without the priesthood authority.  John Wesley, the original Methodist, saw the perfect consecrated church in Acts and tried to pattern a church after that knowing that it wasn't going to be exact.  Modern Methodists have gotten away from it slightly, which is why the Weslyen broke off.  I wish they would all just join the church.  Everyone.  Why not? Honestly.  I know the Book of Mormon is true.  I know it.  No one could ever tell me otherwise.  And I definitely know that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of the Lord.  How grateful I am for all he went through so that we could have what we have.  One day I'll be able to personally thank him.  That will be a wonderful day.

Thanks for being such a great family.  I love you all.  Stay strong, for the Gospel is true...and what else matters :)

Love ,

Elder Patty 

Week 49

Tue, May 28, 2013 at 11:55 AM

Hey family,  

Life's good.  Okay, so normally I wouldn't know by now what the situation with transfers would be, but because of some extenuating circumstances, I do know a good chunk of what's going on in terms of me.  I have been called by our Father to be a District Leader somewhere up near Raleigh (which means most likely that I'm not leaving the mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hurrah for Israel!!!!).  Additionally, I'm doing something interesting.  I'm finishing the 2nd half of someone's training at the same time.  Interesting, right?   The extenuating circumstances that allowed for my prior knowledge is the fact that because of my calling, I also am attending a joint leadership council meeting this Friday in the Raleigh area.  I'll get exact details of where I'm going I think later this week.  

Last week, I got 2 letters from mom (oops, I forgot the numbers again ;) ) and 2 from Grandma (one which had a second letter included that apparently was returned to sender a while back.  

Let's see what else...I was talking to a fella' in my branch here who has a son out on a mission and he said they like to hear about the people we're teaching...so here goes...

We're currently teaching a ridiculous amount of people.  There seriously aren't enough hours in the day to do everything we need to do.  There's one investigator who is 15 years old who has been making some huge strides recently.  He has a good heart and wants to be baptized.  If things continue to go well, he'll most likely be baptized in June.  His name is Nate.  

Another lady we are teaching came to church 2 weeks ago and absolutely loved it.  She had other people trying to tell her to come to this mega non-denominational church, but she was like, "no, I found my church" and everything.  She's super nice.  We've just got a few things to work on and everything.  

Anyways, Thanks for being the best family in the world.  I hope you liked my letter.  I think the outage is supposed to finally be over this week...

Love,

Elder Patty