October 15, 2013

Well hello there,

It has been a week. I have learned a lot about myself, as I serve more and more as a district leader. I have found out a lot about our missionaries. I have witnessed the hearts that these Missionaries have. Unfortunately, I have learned a lot of negative things that exist in the missionaries. Lack of drive, lack of focus, lack of ability, disobedience, laziness.... I could go on forever and ever. 

I have found that my issue is, I make everyone around me feel like they are worthless. Elder English quoted the part from SpiderMan, right before the guy goes and kills Uncle Ben, where instead of stopping the eventual gunman, Peter Parker looks at the man and repeats the same phrase "I missed the part where that is my problem".

Apparently I am good at showing everyone the places that they can do better, but I lack in the most important part, helping them become better, and showing them what to do.

I guess my biggest issue is, everyone gets the same training, knows the same rules and has the same schedule, but only a few actually do all of that. So, I shouldn't have to teach them again. But, this is how our Father in Heaven feels. I really need his help to get these missionaries reaching their potential.

On a brighter note, on Wednesday, I get to conduct my first Baptismal Interview! and on Saturday, my great friend Brianna is getting baptized, by my great friend Brother Birch. Man, being a missionary is SO AWESOME.

Love you

October 7,2013 - pictures

 the two elders that were sent to me to train, english and despain

 Riley: "I made a ton of taco's for my homies in between conference"

me:  "Those look like Grandma Nelson taco's........Good Job!"

Riley:  "thats how i made them, only i was cheap and didn't put any meat in them, just beans and cheese."

B-day party at the woodland village 

October 7,2013 - 10/7/13 Kerry

This is a lady named Kerry that we met, this set up in her garage is really impressive. We talk to her about every week, we invited her to watch conference on t.v. so we will see how that went. she is really funny and loves it when we stop by, she is always in her garage sewing quilts for people. 

October 7,2013 - 10/7/13

These last few weeks have been pretty intense, I have been impressed by how much time leadership puts into their assignments. wherever my freetime was (i would write in my journal, or read the ensign, or eat) just got filled with making phone calls, planning district meeting trainings and exchanges. I have never in my life had a calander run out of room before, I had to put sticky notes on top of all of the days to fit all of the things that need to be done.

 

but other than that, conference was really good, I was really impressed by Elder Hollands talk especially. I need to get the ensign so I can go over it again with the notes that I took. Preisthood session was the best, as usual. I know President Hoy (EQP) got a kick out of the talks on home teaching.

 

We need to find new investigators. All of the ones we have are ready to be baptized, they just have to wait for someone elses ok (Braiden needs his dads permission, Steve needs his P.O.'s permission) but Brianna is good to go for the 19th. We have met a lot of people who we want to start teaching, one in particular, Roni aka "Lolo" is a man from Guam, he is in his 30's, has tribal tatoos all over his body and takes of his shirt whenever we come over, he says its because he feels comfortable around us. He might me moving to Murieta soon, so I fear I will not be able to teach him that much. He gave me all of his info though, so I can look him up.

 

The problem I am facing now is, I need a stronger testimony on the importance of ordinances. because Lolo is such a christ like man, and his family is really open to us and kind, I get a little bit of a doubt that anything less than the best is instore for them, whether or not I teach them. So that is where I am focussing my studying.

 

Well, the work is moving forward. I get to look at all of the areas in my district and look at past performance and everyone reports their weeks to me, and I report them to the Zone Leaders. I'ts awesome to make graphs to show how everyones area is going.

 

By the way, next week Pday is on tuesday. and My cd of The lower lights broke :(

 

Love you,

Elder Strong

September 30, 2013 - Cheasy Missionary Letter

To whom it may concern,

On January 2, 2013, I went into the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT. I really didn't know what I was going to find as soon as I got there. What I found, was that this church, puts a lot of time, energy and resources into making effective missionaries. 

Studying what to teach, practicing to learn how to feel and teach from the spirit. Everything we did was on the Lords time, and was to prepare us for when we would get into the missionary field.

On January 22, 2013, I landed on the airstrip in San Diego, CA. I knew that my Mission President and his wife would be there waiting for all of us, to greet us into the Mission Field. I still did not know what the work would be like, or how I was going to do any of it. I just had a reassurance that the Lord was doing a lot more than I knew that he was, to make the work happen.

Now I know that the amount of time and energy that I saw being spent in the MTC, being used to prepare all of the missionaries there, is not comparable to the amount of time and energy that the Lord uses in the mission field, to bring his children to the fold.

Missionary work is greatly dependent on the members of the church. Bishops, Ward Missions, and other members of the Ward Council are the ones who bring people to the Missionaries who are the ones who teach. If you want an analogy, the missionaries are like washing machines, and people who need to be taught the Gospel are dirty clothes, and the ward members are the ones who throw the clothes into the washing machine, with direction of the ward council and ward mission.

I know that the Lord is with us in the work. He provides the detergent, the fabric softener and the water, he just needs full time missionaries to clean, ward council members to load, and ward families to fold and put away the fresh, clean clothes into the closet.

Thanks so much for all of the support to me, and I know that you can be successful in your own noble efforts as well. 

Love, Elder Strong

September 30, 2013 - Life

Note to mom and dad,

1. I wish I could send you home one of the fish tacos that I've been buying with the money that you sent me. Also, I found a new favorite place to get california burritos

2. my new companion is super funny, He is a really good guy. He is from Lake Mary, Florida

3. Being a District Leader makes me SUPER BUSY. it fills my calendar with tons of extra stuff to do. I have to go on 9 24 hour exchanges in 3 weeks.

LOVE YOU

September 30, 2013 - Pictures from Pat

Pat sent these pictures to Riley