Fasting and Prayer gives you power.

Aloha!!
This week was a week that had a firework at the end.
We did a blitz exchange this week. That means we had two sets of
elders in one area and we did exchanges while doing that. Cool story
while that happened.

I had Elder W. Elder w has only 3 weeks left of his mission,
so he is pretty non-motivated. So he would tell me where to drive and
then when we got there he would say "I don't even wanna try this
house." So he would put a new address in the gps. He did that a few
times. Then we drove like thirty minutes to this one home and he was
about to do the same thing. But I felt like I needed to be an example
and that we needed to try this home. So I said " well we are already
here, we drove a while, so we better just try it." He said ok. So we
started down and there was this mean looking dude sitting in his car
and we asked if so and so was home and he said she was inside. I don't
remember the persons name.... Let's say her name is rose. When we got
rose we introduced ourselves and we asked her if she was interested
and she invited us in. We sat down and talked about her life and
stuff, and she is so prepared. She was in an accident and it's hard
for her to remember stuff and all these ther things. but she said
something awesome that made it clear why I felt we should try this
home. She said " you know, it's really weird that you guys are here.
Just yesterday I was looking at where your church was and what time
church starts.... Just yesterday I was looking at your church's
website." Elder w said " well it looks like it is meant to be."
And she AGREED! We shared a scripture, ether 12:6 or 27(they're both
about faith) but we asked her what the scripture meant and she
explained it beautifully. Better than either one of us could have. We
set a return appointment and when we were about to leave she says....
"Is there anything you guys want me to do or to read?  I have the Book
of Mormon." So we told her to just read that and pray. She is
prepared. When we left elder w said "man that was so cool. that
has never happened to me before. Not in two years. You were prompted
to have us get out!" Glad that I could show him that God is still in
need of his help with these last 3 weeks.

Oh then while on exchanges we went to this less actives home and she
seemed just out of it. She then said her daughter tried to commit
suicide and she was being bullied and all these things. It made me
emotional. I didn't cry but it was just like... Agh. We shared a
scripture and I told her that Christ has suffered for everything. Not
just for our sins but for our pains-physical and emotional. And that
she was not alone and she can receive strength through Christ to get
through these hard times and all she had to do was ask for it. And I
think that really helped her because she looked like she was thinking
hard about it. Idk just her body language ,you could tell she was
feeling the spirit.




Zone training was this week. We played some games and I ate it hard (I fell hard)
 and scratched up my whole arm and bruised my hip. 









I'll send pictures of my arm but it's pretty much healed.

I arm wrestled Mike and I got a video... So I'll send that, he has
crazy old man strength.

We had president and sister Johnson come down for district meeting.
Had an interview with president Johnson and I love him. He makes sure
you know that he loves you and will do anything for you. Sister
Johnson is just so sweet and cute. She talks so soft- same with
president too. President always tells us how much he loves sister
Johnson and how grateful he is for her and all this cute stuff.
Yesterday elder cook and I fasted so that we can be guided to find
real investigators, ones that are ready for the gospel. So we went to
this town Jenners and did some tracting. We talked to this guy above
it the restoration and his gf was kind of listening to what we were
saying from afar  ,and nodding her head agreeing to what we were
saying, and then a little bit later she came over and listened with
him. They truly were prepared. I really think they can become members.
They were genuine. It was awesome.

Then I saw this guy working on his car.. I introduced us and asked if
we could share a message then I asked his dad too and they invited us
in. We were planning on sharing the restoration but all I could think
of was to share Matthew 14:28-31. It was weird. I'm pretty sure it was
the Holy Ghost whispering in my ear because I could almost hear the
words faith, Peter, Christ. So I listened to the promptings. It lead
perfectly into the gospel of Jesus Christ so we gave them a pamphlet
of that and they invited us to come back anytime! Super nice people!
They were awesome! Fasting and prayer works.

Then we went to visit less actives - only because they are like over
80 and can't drive or anything. They were awesome. It remined me of
like grandma and grandpas home back in Fremont. Red carpet. I don't
know. Something about it just reallllly made me think of that and papa
Lorenzo. I don't know why. But their names are the laRoses. The
LaRoses mentioned how nobody ever comes to visit them or even call
them. And that they felt so alone and nobody cared for them. And agh.

It makes me mad that the member aren't visiting them like they should.
Not even like every month do they visit. It's like come on. I could
tell that they really felt like nobody cared. I asked them if they had
anyone to give them the sacrament and they said no. I called our
branch president to ask if we could and his wife picked up and said
she would call him to have him call us. It was 8:07 and he still
hadn't called us, I was checking the phone every like 15 seconds. I
was worried he wouldn't call in time. I said well if he doesn't call
at 830 we will just have to go. I started saying silent prsYers that
he would call. I had faith that God would make this happen. I was
still worried though. It was 8:17 and elder cook said we had to go so
we said a prayer to leave them with. During the prayer I had a feeling
that someone was calling us. I just knew someone was. I trusted our
Heavenly Father to hear my prayer and help us serve. I wanted to look
at the phone during the prayer but that wouldn't be good. I waited
till amen was said and right when elder cook said amen I looked at the
phone and it was our branch president. I smiled and kind of jumped out
of my seat and said "I knew it". He gave us the go ahead. We got the
bread and water ready and I told brother laRose I had said silent
prayers and I KNEW that God would make this work out. He just smiled
and laughed. While we gave them the sacrament they both were crying
and I could see that it had been a while since they had taken it. I
know that the spirit told me to give them the sacrament and I know God
was there the whole time making everything work out the way it did.
Even till the last second. Im so grateful to be a tool in the hands of
the Lord. When we left they stood by the window waving goodbye to us
with the "I love you" sign with their hands.

I know that the spirit guides us and puts thoughts into our heads we
wouldn't have thought of. I love this work. I love it so much. I'm so
grateful to be a missionary. I'm so happy to know that I am a help for
God to bless others. It truly makes me happy.

Elder Cook and I gave talks this Sunday along with sister S for
her homecoming from Mexico. So the branch heard a newbie missionary,
one in the middle of his mission, and a return missionary. Of
course.... I started crying and couldn't talk so I ended my talk
early. Haha so dumb. I'm never crying again. Hahaha.
Being a missionary is awesome. I love it. It's hard but it's so
rewarding. I do my best and Heavenly Father sees my efforts and
blesses me. I know our Heavenly Father loves me, you and the people of
Pennsylvania. I know this because whenever I sit and talk with someone
I see them through the eyes of God and I can feel the love He has for
them. I can feel His presence and I love Him. I say these things in
the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Stupid. Snow.

Well,

I just hate how cold it is here. It snowed all week and we had to do a
lot of service in it. It was horrible. My fingers freeze and my toes
freeze. But I'm glad I have a struggle with it because that means I
can improve. Stupid snow though.

This week we went on exchanges because my companion is the DL so he
has to go on exchanges with the district. Then the ZLs had to go on
exchanges with him. I'm so grateful for a obedient trainer with a
desire to serve. While on exchanges with the district- none of them
really did anything. A lot of them just wasted a lot of time in the
apartment until they had an appointment. The zone leader was good
though. Elder A, zone leader, went and taught a lesson to a
less active family. That family was awesome! Then we went tracting and
both the times we stopped people they were accepting. Elder A
did the first one to show me how it was done, and he made it look
easy. So I said "I can do that", and went to a group of these guys and
did it and they all were like "oh we will for sure check that out." It
was awesome. Elder A is awesome.

We do a lot of service for a family in our branch named the S's.
They are SO cool. We work in his green house doing a lot of stuff.
Cutting up compacted dirt. Soaking the dirt so it can expand, planting
tomatoes, planting flowers, and a whole lot of other stuff. They
always feed us too. Brother S said "man elder you've got a big
appetite." I said " yea people don't always realize that because I'm
skinny" he just laughed. He's awesome.

Jackie and Column and the kids send me letters and pictures and
drawling. I love them. They were my highlight of the week.
In church the branch presidency introduced me as "the new elder Segon,
skinny guy, we are trying to fatten him up so feed the boy." Everyone
laughed. I then shared my testimony and talked about getting
spiritually fat and I mentioned that I just can't gain weight. So
after that everyone said elder Segon challenge excepted. So the branch
is going to be working on fattening me up. Haha!

Yesterday we went tracting for about 3 hours and it was 39 degrees. It
didn't even seem cold! I'm getting used to it....
We had dinner at the snyders parents home, so still the S's
haha.... And I ate so much I almost threw up!!! I was in so much pain
and I was like sweating haha... Agh it was horrible....
During gospel principles class they had a lesson on Jacob 5 and they
talked about missionaries a lot. About how great they are, the spirit
they have, their purpose, and all these other things and it was
awesome. I felt the spirit and felt how much they care about us ad
helped me see how much they look to us. It was just an awesome
experience.

Every night I come home dead tired, exhausted, drained, but I am so
happy. I have a happiness that can only come from this work. It's a
happiness that's never ending. Hard to obtain. But it is a true
happiness. The greatest of them all.

I've been reading in the New Testament and I've realized that it
mentions the priesthood so much. Our church is the only church with
the priesthood or even knows about the priesthood, to what I know.
There's so many other things that testify to me that this church is
true from reading the New Testament. It's awesome. Christ is awesome.
Without Christ we are nothing. But with him we are everything. With
faith we can walk on water. Through faith we enable all of our
blessings. Don't doubt, don't fear just have faith that the savior is
near.

I love this gospel. I love this work. I know that MY redeemer lives. I
know he atoned for the sins, sorrows, sadnesses, and pains of the
world. We are never alone. He has felt more pain and sorrow than any
of us and to receive strength we must ask and we will be given it by
our faith. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and was given the
priesthood to be the prophet and to translate the Book of Mormon. I
know that by reading, praying, and pondering the scriptures you can
grow closer to our Heavenly Father and feel his love and presence. I
know you can come to know this too- if you read, pray, and ponder
having faith in Jesus Christ and having a sincere heart and real
intent, that you will act on the impressions you receive- you will
receive an answer from on high. We are children of our Heavenly
Father. He loves us all. His hand has been in your life forever, all
you have to do is look and you will see. I say these things in the
name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love you all. Miss you all.

Crazy Week!!!

Everyone,
Crazy week.
First I'll start with my travels to Pitts, pa.
So we got to the airport perfectly. We got on the plane and there was
something wrong with the plane so they had people working and trying
to fix the plane for an hour. They said they fixed it and we took off.
When we landed in Atlanta the plane was leaning to the left and
everyone kinda freaked out (this being my first landing on a plane
thinking it was normal, I had fun). But I'm sure got put his finger on
the right wing of the plane to make it safe again. Then we missed our
flight to Pittsburgh because that hour delay. So we didn't know what
to do. No phone nothing. So we had talked to the employees at the
airport and they said they can get a few of us on one plane and a few
on another and so on. We decided we wanted to stay together and wait
until the morning flight. We were still trying to figure out how to
tell president jon son  what had happened and a member came to us and was
asking us what had happened and such and she let us use her phone.
Then while on the phone another member came to us and started talking.
He found out our situation. And he says "well I work with this hotel
at this airport ( he was in charge of all the hotels on the west
coast) so let me see what I can do." He pulled out his phone and about
five minutes later said" I have 3 rooms for you so take the shuttle
and they will give you the keys." So we went to the shuttle, elder
furball did some missionary work, and left to the hotel. When we got
there and told the person at the counter what happened he said I
didn't know about this. So we got the manager and she also didn't
know. But when explaining we said the name of the guy that hooked us
up and then the guy at the counter said " oh there's 3 rooms for him"
then the manager said " well there you go, give it to them" we went to
our rooms and called president j what was happening then ate dinner
and went to sleep. The lord provides!!!!! We woke up at 4 and went to
the airport got to Pitts pa and were safe and sound and president and
sister Johnson were there waiting with smiles.
President and sister Johnson are AWESOME!!! I love them. President j's
brother spoke in conference!
So during that whole time in the airport a lot of people stopped us
and talked to us or walked by and yelled go missionaries woooh. 'Twas
cool.
So we went to visit a guy named M.  He is an alcoholic smoker just
not in good shape and I really didn't want to see him from what I had
heard. But I took a breath of courage and went in. This guy. Haha he
was asking me all these stupid questions that he knew I was going to
say no to like want a beer want a smoke want to roll a doobie. I was
so mad haha. But as the time went on and he told me his story of how
he made mistakes in life and stuff but last summer he was almost
killed. No reason. Just got jumped. He was beat almost to death. He
said his nose was were his ear should have been and he was just beat
to a pulp and blood was in a puddle the size of his body. He had to
have all this surgery and plastic surgery and he doesn't look like
what he truly looks like. He said that's when he started to really
drink and smoke. When he was telling me all this I began to just love
him. I truly began to feel the same love Heavenly Father has for him.
It was amazing. Then he showed me pictures he had of Christ and the
temple and just wow. This poor man. When we said goodbye he hugged me
with a little pat and rub on the back like family would do and said he
loves me and during his prayer he said he's lucky for us
missionary's.hes an awesome guy, just has had a lot in life happen and
is having a hard time with the wow.
During conference I went into it with a question. Did JC have me
personally in mind while suffering to atone for our sins? I also had a
question of how can I grow closer to Christ but I wasn't looking for
an answer to that one. Well.... Both of them were answered in one talk
by elder renlund. It was awesome. While he was answering it I felt the
spirit so strongly. God does really hear my prayers. God really does
call and sustain his prophets and apostles. Prophets and apostles
really are inspired from God and are the mouthpiece for Him.  It was
awesome. I gained a huge testimony of prophets and apostles in the
matter of 5 minutes. Sometimes that's all it takes to gain a testimony
of something of you are having faith and truly seeking an answer and
willing to act on that answer. Such a specific question, and still
such a specific exact answer. Amazing.
The church is true. Christ leads our church. We are lead by people,
but people that have revelations from God the almighty, to lead the
world.
What a blessing!!!
My companion is elder cook. He's been out 9 months. He is a hick, just
like the people in Loomis. He will see a cow and say ohhh I wanna
just wrestle that steer or something stupid like that haha. He cracks
me up. I love him though. We sopped by his house and thought this kid
named D the restoration for five minutes. We came back and taught
him more about the Book of Mormon and invited him to be baptized and
he accepted. So we will see how that goes. Other than that we only
have about 1 real investigator. Everyone else knows the church is true
but won't be baptized and that's excactly what they will say, it's so
fustrating. The 1 other real investigator is accruals a family. The
mom and kid. The guy is my age and played a bunch of sports so we get
along real Good and his mom sees that so hopefully that will help the,
in the conversion process.
It's funny, my comp and other missionaries, investigators always are
supprised that I'm a greenie. I don't know why but they say I'm
already like a veteran missionary. It's funny cause I don't feel like
it. It's all the Holy Ghost and the people I had in the Mtc to help me
learn and grow.
My comp will be on the phone and I'll here him say, " oh he's awesome
he's not even like a greenie its so easy with him."
I have no clue what he's talking about because I feel like I'm doing
nothing to help but. Idk. It's good though.
The church is true. I love you guys. Write me. Even throughout the
week because I can read my emails I just can't reply to them until
Monday. So write me often!
Love
Elder Segon

P