Elders Grillin' for the ward

New Place

Happy Halloween! Again!

Oct 26 at 12:27 PM

Hello family!

October is coming to an end! Feels like we just had general conference! And now it's almost Halloween. I'm still trying to figure out why the time is moving so quickly.

We had some really great things happen this week. Lots of huge blessings and amazing miracles!

We actually moved to a new place! We moved out of the apartment we were living in and we are now living with some members in one of the wards here. We live with Brother and Sister Kraus they're an older couple and we're living in their basement, which was just redone. When Elder Freestone and I first walked in to see our new place, our jaws dropped. Seriously the nicest living place I've ever seen for missionaries. It looks like the cover of a home decor magazine. Everything is just so perfect and perfectly place. Sister Kraus is super crafty. So she loves it too! I'll send some pictures. And then to top it off, we got a brand new car! A 2016 Toyota Corolla. It's such a huge blessing to have a car now. We really have been blessed so much this week! 

We had some amazing lessons with Emma! We were able to teach her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it seemed that that's exactly what she needed because she committed to being baptized on the 14th of November! She's still having her usual struggles but overall she's doing really well.
 

Last Saturday we had a Fall Festival with the branch. We had such a good turn out. Better than any other activity that we've had here. So many people showed up! So that was really cool. And to show our appreciation to all the members here, because they really do so much for us and support us in so many ways, we did all the cooking for the activity! It was a lot of fun.

I still love that quote by President Monson, "The Lord qualifies those whom He calls." I was able to see that in action this week. So we were out seeing a less-active family with their home teacher last Thursday and at the end of the lesson, the husband asked for a blessing. Confession, before that moment, I had never given a blessing in Spanish. I was expecting to just do the anointing, but the brother asked me to give the blessing! It was in that moment that the Lord qualified me. And because of the strength He gave me, I was able to give that man a blessing. I was pretty relieved when it was over. But then the sister asked for one! So I got a double dose! So it was really cool experience for me. 

My faith has growth a lot this week. I've really come to realize how important it is to continually striving to strengthen our faith. Because when it comes to have faith in Christ and our testimony of this gospel, it's either growing or decaying.  

So that's why I chose this for my ponderizing scripture for this week: Heleman 5:12

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

I love you all so much! Thanks for all that you do for this great work!

Have a great day!

Elder Scott

Bikes!

Today at 1:39 PM

Well we got transfer calls last Saturday (sorry, totally forgot to mention that last week), and Elder Freestone and I are staying! Pretty much expected. It's pretty crazy what's happening to our zone though. Our Zone Leader, Elder Richins, one of the greatest missionaries I know, has been assigned to be the new assistant to the President. And It seems like EVERYONE is getting transferred in our zone, even the companionships who just started training! But not Elder Freestone and I. So we're both pretty excited for this next upcoming transfer. This next transfer goes to December 2nd. And it's going to come before we know it. 

Time is going by way too fast for me. It's kind of a sad thing when I think about it too much. I have really come to enjoy my time here. And despite opposition, I've been able to learn what I need to do to overcome it through Christ. And that has really made the mission worth while.

Emma was, once again, unable to come to church this week. She gave us a very solid yes Saturday night that she would be coming to church the next day. We even made a plan for her to follow us in her car. We stopped by Sunday morning and she told us that her daughter who's pregnant is going into labor and she needed to be at the hospital. It seems like every week she has something else in her way preventing her from coming to church! She was feeling really bad about it though. Other than that, she's doing really well. Still reading. Still loving what she's learning. Still wants to be baptized!

I was able to work in my old area again this week! I was able to go on exchanges with the other Elders in the district. So that was super great to be able to see some familiar faces and sleep in my old room:)

Elder Freestone and I were able to ride bikes for the very first time on our missions this past week. It was the Hermanas turn for the car last Monday and the Elders we live with didn't need their bikes that night so we just hopped on to our appointment! It was awesome. I forgot how fun it was to ride a bike. But then it was it wasn't as fun when I realized how weak my legs are. So now I've truly experienced the missionary life.

So this is my "ponderizing" scripture for this week: Moroni 7:48

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

I love this verse so much. Becoming more Christlike should be at the center of everything we aspire for. Over these last few months, that's really what I've been focusing on, is becoming more Christlike and more charitable and loving with everyone.

I love you all so much! And I'm so grateful for all that you do! Have a great week!

Elder Scott

God is our loving Heavenly Father

We had a great week full of miracles and amazing lessons with our investigators! It feels like we just barely had preparation day! And here it is again. Time is just moving way too fast for me to keep up.

We were able to find this amazing new investigator who is now on date for Nov 7th! She seems super great and very humble. Her name is Patricia, and we meet her at the beginning of last week when we were out tracting. Just before we met her we said, "okay, let's knock one more door." And then we found this amazing investigator! We came back last Friday with a member and now she's on date! So we're really exciting for her and all of the other new people that we have found this week.

Emma, our most solid investigator right now, told us that she has to go to Mexico for a little bit. I guess she has to get her visa renewed or something. She could be gone for a whole month--maybe two! So that wasn't too fun to hear. She's still doing really great though. She's reading in the Book of Mormon and she really enjoys meeting with us.

Like I mentioned last week we had a zone conference with Elder Daniel L. Johnson of the Seventy. Such an amazing experience hearing from him again. He literally spent the entire time talking about the very first principle of the very first lesson: God Is Our Loving Heavenly Father. Usually when we teach that to people it only takes a minute or two. But after that training from Elder Johnson, I realized that that's one of the most important principles that we teach. People are so confused about who God really is and that he really is our loving Father. It was such a refreshing point of view, and has already made a huge difference in our lessons.

I forgot to mention it last week, but I'm talking up Devin G. Durrant's invitation to "ponderize" a scripture every week! So each week I'll be telling all of you my scripture for this week.

Last week was Moroni 7:33:

"And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me."

And now this weeks is Alma 41:10:

"Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness."

I can already see the differences in my life from taking more time to ponder and memorize scriptures, even only after two weeks! It helps me to see that how big of a blessing it is to have the word of God with us, to help us, and lead us to where we need to go. I'm so grateful for the scriptures and the Book of Mormon! So I invite all of you to do the same each week!

Love you all!

Elder Scott

Simplify

Well wasn't General Conference just the greatest? It's always the greatest! Being able to hear from modern prophets and hear exactly what we need to hear in our time--what a blessing!

And on top of that, it was a really amazing week! We were able to see a lot of our investigators and have really amazing lessons with them.

One of them being with Emma. We were able to see here multiple times this last week and she is doing really well, could be better, but doing very well. She committed to watch General Conference last weekend but she had unexpected visitors come over and she didn't get the chance to. We had another lesson with her last night and she still has the biggest desire to be baptized. But she still doesn't feel she is ready... It's a pretty tough situation that we're in and we've been praying a lot to know what we can do to help her. What's such a pleasure to see is how strong her faith is. And how strong of a testimony of the gospel she has. It's as if she's already a member! She's super great.

Elder Johnson of the Seventy is coming to the mission this week. Should be a real treat! He was the one who came to our Stake Conference a couple months ago and he was absolutely amazing. So I'm really looking forward to hearing from him.

Back to General Conference. Some of my favorite talks was President Uchtdorf's talk on simplicity. And how we all need to analyze for ourselves and ask, "Is the gospel working for us?" And I really enjoyed Elder Haynie's talk on repentance and the Atonement. Incredible talk about how REAL the Atonement is and how we need to be applying it every single day of our lives. And then how could you not love Elder Bednar's concluding message! It was as if each man he quoted from was able to live on a little bit longer during General Conference. That truly made me so grateful to have modern prophets and apostles on the earth today. These men are so inspired in everything they say. I know that they are called of God and that they are truly under the direction of Jesus Christ.

I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for everything that you do for me!

Have a great day!

Elder Scott