ANOTHER DAY WITH PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

This week has been even better! Things are starting to pick up a lot so that has been great! Jesus is still on for the first, but we are not completely sure. On Saturday we taught him in the house of one of our members and we went over the baptismal questions with him. He is all ready for the interview and we had it set up for yesterday after church with the president.  But yesterday before church we were talking to him and he said that he was going to walk to church and then we got there and he wasn't there!  He just didn't show up to church and so we had to cancel the interview so we are hoping to get it on Saturday before the baptism. There will also be a two other baptisms in our ward that day, one who is 8 and is the daughter of the family that got baptized a few days ago and then one other investigator named Javier. But Jesus has such a strong testimony and he is so ready for baptism and has the desire so we are super excited for him! We are really hoping for Saturday because he wants it so badly! He has so much love for the Savior and so we are so happy! He will most likely be baptized this Saturday!  

I haven't been feeling great this week though so that has been hard.  I hadn't been feeling great for a week or two whenever we would eat with members.  After Friday I just lost all my appetite and couldn’t eat.  I talked to the nurse here at the mission and I am feeling a lot better now. She talked about just eating more fruit and drinking more water and stuff so hopefully that will work!

Yesterday though my companion and I got split apart. We were getting off the train and my companion got off a little before me and I got stuck behind a few people getting out. All of a sudden the doors shut.  I don't know how the guy in front of me got out but anyways the doors shut. The doors in the trains are like all of the ones that we would see when we were on vacations and the doors just shut even if people are in the way and dad would always get his backpack straps or something shut in the doors. I was laughing because it was like when Annie got stuck in the bus in Europe because my companion turned around and the door shut and he was like what oh no. I thought it was so funny so I just had to get up to the next stop and get off and come back down. I was laughing so hard the whole time because there is honestly nothing I could have done!

But I love the families here so much! There is a family named the Perugachis here and I love them so much! They are from Ecuador! The other day we were at their house and two of their kids were wrestling and I just loved being there. They all have the really long hair because that is the culture from where they are from! I love them so much and I love spending time with them! Everything is going great here!

I am glad you went over and visited Morgan though! She is going to love Guatemala! All of the people in my ward from there are absolutely amazing! And that is crazy about Bobby already having his call! I got his email today so I am going to respond to that soon! And it is amazing Kristy is already going! But yeah the work is hastening right now! This is the time of the wave of the missionaries and so this is when we really need to step it up because this is when we have the most people doing it every day all day!

But I love you so much! I hope you have a great day!

[Thanks to Megan Moffitt and Jerelyn Moffitt for sending me this photo of Elder Eichers since he didn’t send photos this week.   The red thermals are great Megan!  Also.. i love the giraffe lamp next to the bed.]

SHARING THE GOSPEL ON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Oh that is great that you went out to lunch with Marce! And it is so true that President Woodbury looks so deep! I feel like every time I talk with him he knows exactly what is going on in my mind! He is perfect to be a mission president because he is so in tune with the spirit!

I am sorry about grandpa. That break looks terrible.  So Bobby was just up there then and had to carry him out to the car? But that is good that you are all taking time and spending it with grandma and are taking care of her.

   

The whole baseball thing is crazy.. but I will for sure play softball with all of my friends back at home because I miss playing so much! I took for granted just going to the field and taking batting practice and ground balls, I would love to be able to do it again.

And with the Wallace's, are they going to the same mission as Kristy? That is amazing that they get to go all of the way out to New Zealand! That would be such a sweet mission but it doesn't compare to Chicago :)

This week has had some pretty funny things happen though. On Thursday we were coming home from the church and we were on the train and there were these three guys standing across from me and one of them had two bottles of tequila in his pocket and two glasses.  Then one of the guys next to him was standing there just staring at my name tag. I was like oh you are staring at my name tag, I am actually a missionary of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and then the guy with the two bottles is like Oh I have heard of them before. So basically Joseph Smith was a giant conman and he tricked all of these people and then he was lynched and martyred.  This kind of hurt me that he was saying things. I just pulled out a Book of Mormon and was like if you want to know these things for yourself and know these things are true and not just hear the words that this man is speaking, then I invite you to read this Book and bore my testimony. It was my stop of the bus so I just bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and offered them the Book. They denied it of course but it was the best I could do. It sucked to be shut down by someone who just made up random stuff but I did the best I could and it doesn't change my testimony! 

I love talking to the Spanish people so much more because they are much more willing to listen! Then the next day we were talking to this lady and we were just like oh how is it going and asking questions about the weather. Hadn't said anything about the church at this point and then she was like why are you asking so many questions? We were like oh we are actually missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and she was like NO NO NO and then I was like okay we just want to be your friend and she cut me off and was like I SAID NO and then like ran off to the other side of the bus stop. I thought it was so funny that she ran away and all we were trying to do was be friendly.  

Something great that happened was this week we put Jesus on date for the first of March! He has been taught all of the lessons and wants to get baptized but he just didn't know when.  A few days before President Woodbury had spoken about the importance of praying with faith and having our investigators pray so we asked him about how his prayers had been. He said he hadn't really been and so we invited him to pray about the first (because he has the desire to be baptized). Then yesterday we were with him at stake conference, which he invited a friend to, and one of the other Elders in our district was like oh Jesus we are excited for your baptism on the first and he just got the biggest smile and was like yep the first! I was so happy because he just confirmed his date for baptism!  It was a huge miracle!

Last pday we ended up going bowling and it cost 4 dollars for 3 games and shoes and I got a turkey!!!! It was the first time in my life and I was so happy!

I am going to send some stuff home though probably next week. But I hope you have a great week and that everything is going well with Grandma and Grandpa! 

[Elder Eichers bowling with the alias of "Lloyd."  Lloyd got a turkey!]

VALENTINES

Yes I got the valentines package and I loved it! Elder Dussan loved the package too! We were so happy to get something from you! But I love the tie too! I didn't see that you embroidered a heart on it though hahaha. But that’s great that you went to the scrapbook workshop! Did you stay at the Marriott or where did you stay? There is a huge Marriott here right off Magnificent Mile that you would love, every time I see it I think of you! But I heard that Conner is back! That is so crazy! I feel like he just barely left, it is crazy that I am even a missionary!

But this week has been great, but also stressful.  There was a family baptized in our ward by the hermanas! We have the sister training leaders in our ward and they are literally amazing! They baptized 3 in a family and in the next few weeks they are going to baptize 2 more daughters! One of them turns 8 on the 11 of February! But Liz and Oscar are kind of having a rough time right now so I have been thinking about them lately! I feel like I am going through the same thing as them right now just because I love them so much! I pray so much for them that they will just keep with their faith! Then this week we have an investigator who has been progressing really well and then last Sunday we got him a ride to the church (because he is scared of the bus) and then when the ride got there he never came out! We were like oh something probably just happened and then on Saturday we had an appointment with him and we were going to teach him in the house of a member because his sister is really Catholic and doesn't like it when we are bringing members there! But anyways we had been talking to him and when we show up to his house to walk with him to the appointment he just wasn't there! So we are just like oh this is weird but we just moved on and then yesterday we got him a ride to the church again and we were like he will be at your house at 12:40 to pick you up and he was like perfect I will wait for him! So we were happy because he was going to come (he has already come 4 times) and then when we get to church and the member walks in late but no Jesus! The member got to his house at 12:42 and waited there until 1 but he never came out! Then half way during sacrament we get a text and it was the commandment of thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.. All I can do is laugh about it because we had him the ride and everything he just didn't come. I was really stressed about it but looking back on it it is really funny! This is what comes with a missionary but I love it so much! He wants to be baptized in a river too so that may take some time and get the gift of the Holy Ghost from the prophet! With all of this though it just makes my testimony stronger! It makes me love this gospel and I feel the Saviors love every day!

I don't have much time today because we are going downtown soon so tell everyone I love them! I will send more pictures next week because I have to get them from the other missionaries first! Love you bebe and have a great week!

[Below is a picture of the missionaries at the Ward Family Valentine’s Party.  Also below are pictures of Elder Eichers and Elder Dussan (Bogata, Colombia) at Cheesecake Factory in downtown Chicago, thanks to Scott Ellenson who made these Elders' dreams come true!]

6 MONTHS!!

I know it is so crazy that it is almost 6 months! I feel the exact same way as you! I feel like I have been out here forever but at the same time I feel like I slept in my bed at home last night! It is crazy! The time at home is passing by so fast because hearing from all the people in school and everything I feel like their year is just passing right by them! But I don't need anything specific right now and we have tons of warmers still so don't worry! But yeah I am thinking that I am going to send my Mr. Mac suits home maybe and some letters and things so that I don't have all of this stuff here! I am thinking I am going to send my winter stuff home in the summer too then I wont’ have as much stuff! But I am glad that Annie liked her sweatshirt! I was debating just keeping it and wearing it for me!

But for your lesson I think that gratitude definitely correlates with small miracles! I think recognizing the small miracles and being grateful for the Lord go hand in hand perfectly because for a person to be happy, it is not just one huge experience where we are all of a sudden full of joy for the rest of the month or something like that, we experience small little things everyday that we can be grateful for that make us happy! For me, I always try to be grateful for the small things because those are what bring to pass the great things like in Alma 37:6-7. As a missionary, we don't have huge miracles everyday where someone comes up to us and is just like I want to be baptized right now, but we have small things that happen every single day that contribute to people learning about the gospel. Like if I made someone smile, that is what makes me happy! If I get to teach a lesson to someone, that makes me happy! If I even just see other people happy that makes me happy! These are small miracles that we can see every day and we need to be grateful for all of the small moments in life! I think the Atonement applies to this perfectly because Jesus Christ does so much for us and died for us that we could be happy! We can be clean from our sins and we can always have his spirit to be with us! With his spirit we can feel his love and enjoy our time with our family! When we receive this happiness too we can just have that sure knowledge that we are all children of God and that is something that we should always be grateful for because we have a father we can always turn to! Being out here too, I thought oh my testimony would be perfect the whole time because I am a missionary, but I always am asking questions to the Lord to help me to know that these things are true. I have received strong answers at times but for the most part it is just a daily feeling of love and happiness. This is something I am truly grateful for! One idea that you could use for your lesson though is there are Mormon messages from 2013 that are called Daily Bread, you could watch these they are all on lds.org and that talks about how we need to lean on the Lord everyday and we need to continually rely on the Lord and his teachings and be grateful.  Sorry that is really long I just started typing and couldn't stop, but with your question you just answered some of my prayers and my questions.

But that is great that Grandpa Goodman is doing great and that Grandma is doing better! Please tell them that I love them and also to not worry about writing! I completely understand!

But this week has been a pretty basic week again.  We have been working a lot with Liz. We have an investigator though who is named Jesus and he is ready to get baptized and has a testimony.  He just wants to be baptized in a river and be anointed with oil and for the prophet to give him the priesthood, but he wants to be baptized so that is great!   I love the people here so much! 

! love you all so much and have a great day!  I am sending pictures of right before Christmas with Hermana Chinchilla and her daughter, Allison! I love them so much and I feel like Hermana Chinchilla is like a second mom to me!

9 DINNER APPOINTMENTS

I love hearing from you guys and that the ward is doing missionary work back home! That’s great because a lot of the members in Utah don't even worry about it when it is the most important thing! I am glad that you guys had fun in Hawaii too! But Tell Grandma Goodman that I love her and that I hope everything goes well with her eye surgery.

But this week has been pretty normal. Just working hard and trying to find more people to teach! We had 9 dinner appointments so that was a ton to eat. We have to eat so much to make the Members happy but I love that! I am so grateful that we always have food and that we also can spend time with the members! I am loving the ward so much! Oh and it is -25 windchill so the schools are closed again, it is so cold! I love everything so much! This week is short because it was just a pretty normal week! But tell Stephanie thank you for the letter and that I will write her back as soon as I can! It made me so happy to get something from her! I love you all so much! Have a great week!

ROSALBA'S BAPTISM

I asked Elder Dussan and he said that he is from Bogata North which is right by the temple! But you guys are so lucky to be in Hawaii in the warm weather! I was just laughing about when we went to Hawaii a few years ago and I flew home early for the championship football game with Dad hahaha! But yeah I got the package and I was confused about he tie because I didn't see one in there but I love the keyboard I! It makes everything so much faster and easier! Now I don't have to type everything on the ipad #firstworldprobs. I love that you got fried on one side! Classic Newport for all of our family haha.

But this week has been great! We had another baptism on Saturday! It was the lady, Rosalba, who Elder Gomez and I were teaching and then asked for the sisters. I was so happy to hear that she was going to get baptized because it made me feel so much better about her asking for the sisters to teach her! I was so happy to hear the news and then earlier in the week we got a call from the sisters and she had asked if I would baptize her! I was so happy I was going to start doing cartwheels in the middle of the street but Elder Dussan told me not to. So on Saturday her and her son were going to get baptized and when they showed up the son didn't want to get baptized anymore so it was just the mom.  My heart was so full of love for them and The Lord! I had to baptize her twice because I accidently messed up on one of the words so I felt kind of bad but hey she is baptized now and has the gift of the Holy Ghost! I never realized how important this gift is that we have because investigators are always like it is hard to understand the scriptures and then when you guys come and are teaching it makes them seem so simple.  This is because we always have the spirit with us and the spirit testifies directly to our needs in the way that we most effectively learn.  I love Rosalba and her son so much! One thing that made me so grateful that during their baptismal interview, we went with the district leader and his companion because they needed another man, the sisters were talking to the son and were reviewing the questions with him and they asked him what God means to him and he responded that he means so much to me because he's like my dad right now because I don't really have one! It was the shortest but most sincere testimony I have ever heard. I am so grateful for you guys all as a family, especially dad and Sam too for always having the priesthood in our home! I never knew how important it was until I got here and I am going to do all I can for the rest of my life to live worthy of it so my family can live worthy of it too.  My heart is so full of thanks for them and for The Lord right now in my life. I know this gospel is true!

But Liz and Oscar found a dog the other day outside in the snow and it is so cute! It is just a baby and it looks just like Carol! The girls named it tiny Browny and it is funny because their other dog Butterball looks like a mix of Kev and Box so it makes me feel like I am right at home! I took a picture with it, and don't mind the hair because I just barely took my beanie off.  But I hope that you have a great time in Hawaii. I love and miss you guys but there is nowhere else I would rather be! Oh and me and Elder Dussan are staying together again this transfer.

Rosalba's Baptism 

BAPTISM IN THE WINDY -- BELOW FREEZING -- CITY

We are supposed to stay inside all day but we may run to the Church so we can be with some of the missionaries! I always cover myself to keep warm!  The only part of my body you can usually see is my eyes.  We will be safe - don't worry.  But I will send a better email in a little while!  Love you!

Okay so we are at the church now! We made it just fine! I wore two hats, a scarf, my big coat, a sweatshirt, sweats, long johns, 2 pairs of socks and my long gs.  -40 below isn't as cold as you would think it is haha. We played sports at the church for a long time today and are going back home to rest!

But I loved your pictures. That is so nice that Kev let you and dad sleep in her bed, such a sweet dog.  And I think that is one of the first times I have seen Dad in a suit in forever! But I would love to meet up with Jim if I can! But yep I made the Christmas cards! It took me like 10 minutes to do I just went to Walgreens and had them done on one of our p-days! I also have a funny Christmas card that I just haven't sent you guys yet, it is written and sealed and stamped I just need to send it.

Liz's baptism was amazing! It was funny though because our ward mission leader doesn't really help us that much and our bishop gave him the keys so we were waiting before the baptism at the church to fill up the font and he arrived late so we were stressing out that the font wouldn't be full and that we wouldn't have the jumpsuits because they are both locked. Finally he gets to the church and we are like thank goodness but we still need to hurry. He is sitting there for a second and then he is like I forgot the keys in my temple pants because all of the members go on Saturdays to the temple here. I am so stressed so the other missionaries helped us take off the locks for the font so we basically broke into it and luckily he had another key for the jumpsuits. After that though the baptism went great! Her husband did baptize her and it was amazing! Oscar's dad confirmed her on Sunday and we were talking to her after and she was like today is the happiest I have ever been! She said she was overwhelmed by the spirit and that she could feel it enter her when she was confirmed. We reminded her that that feeling is hers forever now! It was absolutely amazing and it was nice for our other investigators to see! President and Sister Woodbury came too.

And then yesterday I was fasting for help to find new investigators and then one of our part member families walked in! The husband (the investigator) had been out of town for all of December and he finally came to church! It was an answer to my prayer and he looked up all the scriptures during the classes and his son got ordained the priesthood! It was a miracle!

Everything this week has been so great! Love you guys all! I will send some pictures in a few minute too when I am back on my iPad.

ELDER DUSSAN, LIZ AND OSCAR AND FAMILY, ELDERS EICHERS AND GOMEZ

ME AND MY DAD WITH OUR FAST SUNDAY TIES ON FOR OUR FIFTH FAST SUNDAY: