Amazing week ! from 1/30/2017

This week we had a worldwide missionary broadcast. They announced some
very amazing awesome news for missionaries. The Lord has a lot of
trust in us missionaries and he has given us some slack on our
schedules. This is what a normal schedule used to be.
6:30 A.M- wake up, pray work out.
7:00 A.M- shower, get dressed, eat breakfast.
8:00 A.M- personal studies.
9:00 A.M-companionship studies.
10:00 A.M- proselytizing with 1 hour lunch and 1 hour dinner
9:00 P.M- plan for tomorrow
10:30 P.M- go to bed.
But now we don't plan at night, we have from 9-10:30 to ourselves. We
also have an extra 30 minutes in the morning to get ready for the day.
We plan in the mornings. And we decide when we do our companionship
studies. Lunch is also cut down to 30 minutes. So there is a lot more
time to relax and there is a lot more flexibility with our schedule.
Our key indicators have changed also. There was 9 key indicators but
now there are only 4. It's so great. I love it. It has already helped
me out! It also makes call ins so much quicker.
For district leaders, zone leaders, and the assistants have to call
each member of the district, or each district leader in the zone, or
all the zone leaders, and record the numbers. And I have all sisters
in my district and they can talk..... boy can they talk. Honestly half
the time I can't even understand them, I just say "oh really wow."
Haha these phones are so bad I can never understand, so I ask them to
put me off speaker so I can hear better and then both of them yell
into the phone and I just can't understand. But they talk a lot.
That's the point I'm making. And it makes it so I have to go to bed
later, and that really affects me because I need sleep. I'm a pretty
ugly man, and you know what they say, you need your beauty sleep. But
the reduces key indicators make it so much better.
This church is truly led by people that are called of God and they
receive divine revelation and inspiration.
But it's been a good week. We are finding a lot of promising people.
We have an investigator that read the Book of Mormon in like 3 days
and believes in everything. She is awesome. We also saw this lady down
a street struggling with bags of groceries so we went over there and
helped her to her bus stop and talked to her about the Book of Mormon.
We gave her a card, got her info, and a return appt. She also went
online and ordered the finding faith in Christ video so I'm excited.
We also have other sweet investigators that I could go on and on
about. The work here in Williamsport is going. There are 4 sets of
missionaries in our ward. Yes 4. That means 8 total missionaries. 2 of
us walk companionships, the zone leaders, and also an elder couple,
the samuelsons. The work here is truly amazing. I love it.
I gave a talk on Sunday about D&C 4. It went well.
I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve. It is hard. The harder you
try to do better the harder it seems to bear. And that's because Satan
knows how much this is going to help others and you.
This is the church of Jesus Christ. He is at the head of it. Joseph
Smith and his succeeders are prophets of God. The Book of Mormon is
the word of God. God is our loving Heavenly Father. He weeps with us
when we weep. He rejoices with us when we do what is right. Jesus
Christ is the son of god and He gave His life for each one of us. I
testify these plain and precious truths in the name of Jesus Christ,
amen.

Funny story. TALENT SHOW.

Cool week - from 1/23/17

This week was a cool week. We saw miracles. We were led by the spirit
to specific people. We gave this lady a blessing and she looked so
much better after the blessing. She said her headache was gone, that
she felt better, and that she felt a warmth come over her as she
received the blessing. She also read the whole Book of Mormon in less
than a week. That is simply amazing.
I don't have a lot of time to email, but just know I love yinz.
I love my family so much. Nothing else in the world means as much to
me as they do. I love them with all of my heart.
Funny story:
In district meeting Elder Cowan and I were going to dress all gangsta
like and do a "history center" instead of "sportscenter." Elder Cowan
told me it was a dumb idea so I made him do it himself. Haha.

So much to learn - from 01/16/17

Man there are so many things I would like to share about this week, so
I will try to keep them short little highlights of lessons.
On Sunday I was sick. I had a headache and felt like throwing up. I
got a blessing from the other elders and I the throw up feeling didn't
go away nor did the headache but I was able to endure teaching classes
and I learned something valuable and dear.
I hate being sick. Being sick is one of the things I hate most about
our mortal life. I absolutely can't stand it. But back home when I was
sick my angel mom would take care of me. I would cry to her, complain
about being sick, she would rub my head if I had a headache, or back,
or whatever. She would get me all the medicine I could possibly take,
she would go to the store right away if we didn't have one of the
medicines, she would buy me Powerade because I say that those help me
when I'm sick, she would do absolutely everything. And on Sunday I
didn't have mom there. She couldn't rub my hands (mush-mush:)), she
could get me my medicine, she couldn't console me. My mother wasn't
there. So I turned to my Heavenly Father and found consolation with
him. And I got thinking that He truly is just like an earthly father.
He loves me so much. He is going to take care of me. I'm so grateful
for loving angelic earthly parents and Heavenly parents.
Families can be together forever. I'm just so grateful for all of my
family. Each and every single one of them. They are not flawless, but
they are perfect.

Another thing that impacted me was my patriarchal blessing. I'm so
grateful for the knowledge that I am a literal son of God. It helps me
know that I am valuable, that I am worth something, and that my
potential is absolutely huge.

1 Nephi 19:9-10. I'm so grateful that my Savior "suffered it" all to
happen, that He submitted to heavenly Fathers will. I love my Savior.
I give my life to Him. There a lot of people here that try and tell us
that he was a prophet, and I love when they say that because it gives
me an opportunity to tell them that He is MY Savior and theirs too. I
feel such joy in proclaiming that truth. I will always stand for my
Savior. I will always proclaim that He is the Christ no matter what. I
love the Perfect Lamb. I am so grateful for Him. I owe everything to
Him. I'm not good at paying Him back. In fact I always come up short
when I pay my "rent" and I always will be. But He is so forgiving, so
understanding, so loving that He just cares that we tried. I could go
on.

I just, agh, I can't even remember everything I want to say. But agh I
love every single thing in this gospel. It changes lives. I see the
difference it has in people who live it and who don't. I see the joy
it brings. I FEEL the joy it bring. Peace, love, comfort, strength,
guidance, relief, joy, power, and improvement is what the gospel
brings into your life. I can not go without it.  This is Christ's
restored church with His authority. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

*FUNNY STORY*
So I sent a video and talked about how I made a song about Lori K and
how everyone knows it know, a couple people out of our zone too, but
not that much. Well after district meetings we go to Lori Ks home.
This time an elder brought his guitar and called me out and had me
sing to Lori K in front of everyone. Haha. I had no clue what to say
and I wasn't going to sing the same song because I talk about her "few
teeth" being "cute." Haha. So I did another on the spot song. Haha she
started crying right away it was so funny. Mostly everyone had their
iPads out recording it... so I have a couple different views of the
song. I'll send them all. So THANKS MOM, for telling her I play and
sing. Haha she said that you always talk about how I am a "great"
guitar player. Haha not even close, you're my mom- you have to think
those things about me. Haha.

Consecration - from 1/9/2017

This week was fun.

The zone leaders gave a training in district meeting about
consecration. It was so good. I'm so excited to really buckle down on
consecration. They gave us a talk to read about consecration and it's
sweet. I struggle with this so much. I half one foot on my mission and
one foot at home and I really want to have both feet in my mission and
completely forget about myself.

As I was pondering consecration yesterday at church I thought about a
couple of things. We do not come on a mission for us. That isn't
something I realized until yesterday. I thought of this mission as a
time for me to change, improve, and learn. It isn't. This is not MY
mission. This is His mission. This isn't about me growing and learning
and developing attributes, although that is what ends up happening,
but it is about HIM, Jesus Christ, and the growth of HIS church and
the members in it.

And in this time of meditation we sang hymn number 188, "Thy will, oh
Lord, be done." What a great song about consecration. Listen to that
song!

At times I think it is impossible but then I remember 1 Nephi 3:7. The
lord commands us to do it and He will make it possible.
When I came out on a mission I dropped Matt and picked up Elder Segon.
But Elder Segon isn't the name that is important on my name tag but it
is Jesus Christ. It's an honor to be able to have His name next to
mine, over my heart. When we put our name with His and put His name on
our heart and IN our heart we must give Him everything. That's what
consecration is, letting Christ into our heart, giving Him our heart.
We have to give Him everything. Sleep, sports, TV, future, past,
everything! We literally have to give up everything. Give Him
everything. Give Him my name and put His on. I can't explain how
important it is. We need to submit everything to Him.
At church we stood up to sing a song and when we sat back down my iPad
was gone. So I turned to Diane, a recent convert who is black, and
told her to give it back. She looks at me and says "oh I knew it. You
gonna look at me because I'm black. You think because I'm black I'm da
one who took yo ipad?" Haha I was laughing. She was pretty loud too!
She was messing around with me! But in gospel principles we were
talking about our eternal family and she talked about that and said
"see it's cool cause we all brothers and sisters. We play around with
each other. He knew I was pranking him and that I did it. Colors don't
matter we are all family." So that was cool that she truly understood
the concept of us all being brothers and sisters.
Good week. Was slow but good.

Thank you by the way to all who sent me a gift!!! It meant so much to
me! I love you all!!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ - from 1/2/2017

Oh what a beautiful week. We are starting to find some success here in
Williamsport this week!! We set 3 people with baptismal dates this
week. But more important than that is that we truly helped people
learn about Christ and how He has gave us all an eternal, infinite,
and everlasting gift. And boy did I get to have my testimony
strengthened of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
So most of our lessons this week were about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
One lesson we had planned to teach about temples and families, but the
person we were teaching had a lot of questions and was really
discouraged from doubts and feelings of unworthiness. And she was
really just struggling with repentance. So the spirit took absolute
control and just directed Elder Cowan and I perfectly. The spirit was
so strong as we testified of the Atonement and the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. I really felt the spirit as I bore testimony that it doesn't
matter how many times you make the same stupid mistake, that the Lord
and Heavenly Father will always and immediately forgive you the second
you get down and offer a prayer of repentance. And you could just
totally tell that her whole posture, emotion, and countenance changed
from discouragement to hope and joy. It was amazing. She really was
edified. It's amazing how the message of the gospel can totally change
someone like that so quickly. Even in her prayer she was just saying
"thank you for helping me, thank you for the gospel, please help me
remember what the missionaries said so I can get better."

We also had a lesson with this other person about the gospel of Jesus
Christ and there are a few cool things about this lesson.
1. This message is truly the thing that everyone is looking for. It
brings peace and joy. It really does. And as we talked to her about
the gospel and told her what the point of it is she took it to heart
so quickly and she understood the exact reason for the gospel. She
understood all the points. And while I bore my testimony that this is
the path that she is looking for that brings peace, joy, and happiness
she was overcome by the spirit! She was kind of in shock and said "...
wow" and she started tearing up! It was so cool! When she said wow I
know she wasn't saying wow at my testimony but to the feeling she was
having. I know for a fact that the spirit bore powerful testimony to
her that what I said was true. And so she didn't know what to say. She
was just stunned at the power of the spirit, she teared up and just
was touched, overcome, or any other description you could think of
that explains someone being taken back or shocked by the power of the
spirit. It was so cool!!
2. She told us about how one day she was at a low and she just said a
prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help her to know what to do, and
after she said that prayer the missionaries showed up and talked to
her. I promised her that it was an answer to her prayer and she just
sat there in awe thinking about the experience and said "it was. I
know it was." So cool.
3. When we invited her to be baptized she accepted. And along with
that all of her kids, 6 of them, started jumping around telling each
other I want to be baptized! And it was so funny, cute, and awesome!!

I testify and promise to you that this is the church of Jesus Christ.
It contains the original gospel that Christ established. That gospel
brings peace into my life in times of despair, it brings relief when
guilt and shame seem too hard to bear, it brings joy when I am too
sorrowful to care. I have a Friend who is oft called, a Savior, a
King, a Counselor, a Redeemer, a Prince of Peace, a Lamb of God, a
Shepard, a Master, a Messiah, and the Christ. He loves us all. He
knows you specifically and considers you a brother or sister. And he
loves you. His path is straight and narrow, but brighter than the sun,
and no matter how dark your surroundings may be you can always find
that bright light to lead you back home to that perfect path. The
gospel of Jesus Christ has changed my life. I am a witness that the
gospel of Jesus Christ really is what it is said to be. The atonement
is not a limited amount use program, but it is a path to which you
improve, find  forgiveness, get strength, and receive everlasting
peace, eternal joy, and infinite powerful love. I witness the gospel
change others life's all the time. And I see its message bring such
peace. It is true. I say this in the name of the one who declared, "I
am the way, the truth, and the life," - even Jesus Christ, amen.

Christmas - from 12/26/2016

So I got to skype family yesterday! It was so sweet! Man, it made me miss home a lot honestly, but I wouldn't rather be anywhere else than here. Man I love my family though.

This week for district meeting I had no clue what to teach about because the topic was so vague. So I asked the zone leaders and they didn't really know either. So I asked the other Williamsport district leader and he didn't know either. So I asked Elder Aguinaga if we just wanted to combine districts and kind of have a testimony meeting. He said yea and we made plans.

So district meeting was great. We showed a video and asked them of traditions they've had at Christmas time. Then we all went around sharing our testimonies. Wow. The strength of the spirit while all of us servants of the Lord shared our testimonies of the Savior. It was beautiful.
This week I also finished the Book of Mormon again.

I have learned so much these past 9 months as I have read the Book of Mormon. Every single day when I read the book of Mormon I feel peace. The spirit fills my heart and I cannot deny it. It isn't a super strong, overwhelming, long-lasting feeling. It is a calm, subtle, peaceful, warming, touching feeling that last about as long as you're studying does. You have to focus, look and feel for it. It is so subtle, but it is indeed there. There has never been a time when I have prayerfully delve into the Scriptures with a question that hasn't been answered. Every question or need I have had, whether that be "help me feel Christ love" or "how can I be a better teacher", I always received an answer. This scripture has answered prayers that I didn't even know I had until I found the answer. I have come to know that the Savior truly does love all of His sheep. He loves and knows each and every single one of us personally. Because He loves us He took away all of our pains, afflictions, sorrows, trials, sins, and mistakes so that our broken hearts may be healed. He knows all of our problems, emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually and He knows how to help us. He is always extending His arm for a hand to hold fast to. The book of Mormon has enhanced my understanding and knowledge of the mission of Jesus Christ. As I have read I have learned over and over and over lessons that have truly helped me become a better brother, disciple, and representative of Jesus Christ. I know with all of my soul that the book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet indeed. The Father and The Son appeared to Joseph Smith. The gospel and priesthood of Jesus Christ has been restored to its perfect and original form. It is found in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. This I know because I know that the book of Mormon is true. I don't know how else to say this other than I know that the book of Mormon is true. I am not afraid of anyone knowing my testimony. I am not afraid of everyone knowing what my testimony is. I am afraid of someone not knowing my testimony. I want my testimony to sound in every ear to stretch across the earth to all four corners. The book of Mormon is true. It always will. I wish every soul would read the book of Mormon. Every single word is sweet and Holy… And true. The book of Mormon is the key and prove that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that Jesus is the Christ and that His gospel and priesthood are once again on the earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.