The Divine Gift of Repentence

Hello Everyone!

We had one hectic week. We hit a couple of rough patches but I was really glad that it was able to end on a good note with it being Easter Sunday. I had a very peaceful day yesterday and I was very grateful for that. 

Cierra came to church yesterday! I was really glad about that too especially since she hasn't been feeling well for the past couple of weeks, but she still came! And she even came to the church on Saturday for a service project with the Relief Society and then to watch the Woman's Conference. So she's really becoming so involved with the church and she just loves it! We're still working a lot with her husband, Adam, too to soften his heart so that she can will be allowed to be baptized. 

Ever since I got here it feels like we haven't really been able to find very many new people. But this week we made finding a much bigger priority and we were able to see many miracles from it. It's such an amazing experience to be lead by the Spirit to find new people 

One family in particular who we were able to find was Brian and Stacy. They've had a lot of encounters with the church in the past. They have a lot of Mormon friends who have given them copies of the Book of Mormon and have invited them to church. Then we come by knocking on their door. Brian took that as a sign that he needs to get to the bottom of this and see what this church is all about. Our first lesson we had with them was basically just a Q&A. He and his wife, Stacy, had a lot of amazing questions. They both committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We're so excited for them and how much the ward is going to welcome them in.    

I can't believe that General Conference is this weekend. This makes number 4 on my mission. i absolutely love General Conference and getting investigators to enjoy it too. I seem to always receive so much revelation for our investigators and myself and it's such an amazing experience every time.   

I'm so grateful for this Easter season. I'm grateful for the time that we have to celebrate the Atonement of our Savior. There was a talk that I studied through this week by Elder Christofferson from the 2011 October Conference. It's called "The Divine Gift of Repentance". It's gotten me thinking a lot about how great of a blessing it is to be able to repent every single day. One of my favorite lines is when he says that "whatever the cost of repentance, it is swallowed up in the joy of forgiveness." And without the Atonement, repentance wouldn't be possible.That's why we have to take our lives one day at a time and progress little by little--make those slight changes each day. And that's why I love being a missionary. Because there is always plenty to work on. But I decided just to take things one day at a time.  

And so, I'll be ponderizing this verse for this week: D&C 20:31 

"And we know also, that sanctification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true, to all those who love and serve God with all their mights, minds, and strength."

I love this gospel so much! Because even though we have hard times, we can always look to Christ to build us up. 

I love you all so much and have a great week!

Elder Scott 

1 Cor 15

Another week that just flew by! Feels like we just had a preparation day. But here it is again! But we had a really great week. Leading up to Easter is just such a great time of the year for missionary work. 

We were able to see a lot of miracles this week. Let's start with Cierra and her family. She has three kids, an 8 year old boy, and a pair of twin who are 6. They made SO much progress this week. And also her husband, Adam! We've been praying a lot about how we can help this family to accept the gospel. Because Cierra is a very spiritual person and wants the best for her kids and she loves the way she feels when she's learning about the gospel but Adam isn't as open. She even told us that he probably won't let their son be baptized. And Cierra doesn't want to be baptized without her kids. This last week though we were thinking of some ways to help get Adam involved. We were talking with Brother Erickson, our ward mission leader about how we could help him. And he suggested that they come by and help him in his backyard building his fence. So last Saturday they did! Cierra and Adam and their kids came by and helped with the fence. And Adam really opened up too! He's still not ready to coming to church and keeping commitments but he's definitely making progress. And to make it better, Cierra and her kids came to church yesterday! And they loved it. We're planning to have another family home evening with them tonight which I'm so excited for. 

We had such an amazing experience yesterday teaching a less-active couple. Their names are Ryan and Jacinda. Last week they received a visit from the stake in preparation for ward conference yesterday (which was AMAZING by the way). And they came to church and told us that they wanted to have us over and meet with us. The member from the stake who visited them told us that they are textbook example focus people for a ward council. So we were really excited to meet with them. We found out that Ryan is a returned missionary and Jacinda is a convert of about 10 years. They both expressed to us how things just haven't been working out for them and that they want to make things right. And they know that the gospel can do that. So we were able to help them set some goals for getting married and eventually progressing towards the temple. There were a lot of tears that were shed during that lesson. It was so nice to be able feel the Spirit that strong and seeing it work is someone else's life. After having that lesson, it really made me realize that by them being reactivated into the church and being sealed in the temple really is just as important as bringing someone new into the church. 

My scripture for this week is 1 Corinthians 15:20-22

"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

I'm so grateful for this Easter season to be able to remember Jesus Christ and His Atonement. And I love what this scripture says about how we are all in a fallen state which is why we need a Savior to redeem us and save us from sin and death. I find that the more that I seek to understand the Fall, the greater my appreciation is for the Atonement. I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who sent His Son for us. What a wonderful time of the year to celebrate that! 

I hope that all of you have a great week and a wonderful Easter! I love you all!

Elder Scott

Ian and companion temple today

Hallelujah!

Today at 4:08 PM

Hello everyone! 

Well, once again I forgot to mention last week that we have our temple trip today! So our preparation day is today and not yesterday. 

We had crazy week. It seems like so many things happened and we were running around ALL the time. 

Probably the best part about this week was gearing up for the Easter initiative that launched on Sunday. I mentioned a little bit about it last week, but if you haven't seen the video yet, go and check it out right now! It's on followhim.mormon.org. On the website is a beautiful video about Jesus Christ and being able to find new life through him. Every time I've watched it, it just gives me chills and the Spirit is so strong. And also on the website are some other videos that the church has put out that are amazing. Like the virtual choir singing Handel's Messiah with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. So cool! I'm so excited for this initiative and for this upcoming Easter. And I'm so excited to share this video with everyone so that they can feel of that Spirit as well. So go check out the video and share it with everyone! 

We had a really cool experience this week sharing this video. We went to the seminary building here and showed the video to all the class periods and talked to all the students about how they could share it with their friends and we handed out a bunch of pass-along cards to them. It was so much fun teaching seminary kids. It almost made me want to become a seminary teacher! And tonight we're going to the institute to do the same thing. 

We were able to see our investigator Cierra a couple of times this week which was really great. She's such an amazing person and a good mother to her kids. We had a church tour with her this last week and she even came to a baptismal service! But she was unable to come to church because of her health problems. She's been facing a lot of difficulties with her health in her life. And it hasn't been easy for her. So we've been praying a lot for her that she will be able to be coming to church and keep all of her other commitments. I'm really excited for tonight though, we're having a family home evening with her at a members home. So it should be really great! 

I had a very special experience in the temple this morning. I had a certain question going into the temple and during the session something jumped out to me that was a definite answer to my prayer. And apart of that answer had to do with one of my favorite versus in the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 2:23-25. I love the temple so much and I always receive so much comfort and peace every time I go in. 

And so, that will be my ponderizing scripture for this week: 

"And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."

Something that I learned was that sometimes I just need to take a step back and simplify. And just remember that we are here in this life so that we may experience joy. That is the end purpose behind everything we do in this gospel. That was something very valuable that I learned that has meant a lot to me. And it just makes me want to say hallelujah! 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Scott 

Springtime is Jesus Time

Hello Family!

Another crazy week. It seems like it hasn't slowed down a bit since I've been here. But it's been really great too. The weather is getting very nice. I actually don't have to wear a sweater everyday now! I love the spring time! With Easter and General Conference coming up. In the words of Sister Ware: "Spring time is Jesus time!"

We're meeting with a bunch of amazing people in this area. And we were able to have some amazing lessons this week with a few of our investigators. We were able to meet with Jason almost everyday this week which was really cool. He was having some really bad emotional problems that we were able to help him out with. He's still struggling with the word of wisdom, but he's been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and he's been praying. And he even came to church! He did tell us something yesterday though that wasn't too fun to hear. He's moving out of our area into a different ward! So we'll have to pass him off. So it's been pretty crazy with teaching Jason. And before we knew that he had LOTS of trouble with the law, so bad, in fact that he won't even be able to be baptized soon. I'm still praying for him though that he will continue to make those good changes in his life. 

We've also been meeting with this guy named John. He is 77 years old. I've never taught anyone on my mission as old as he is. He's lived a pretty crazy, reckless life though. So it's pretty hard for him to accept change. But he wants to be baptized and be a better person. We had a little fiasco with him this last week. We found out he was in the hospital! So we visited him in the hospital and he had pneumonia. But he is fine now and back at his house. He doesn't take is health very seriously. We keep joking with him that he needs to get baptized before he dies!     

We also had our first zone meeting of the transfer this last week. It was SUPER awesome. We talked all about more effective ways of working with members. I was able to learn so many wonderful things through the Spirit about member missionary work. I'm so excited to be able to work with the members here and help them to do their missionary work. And something very valuable that I was able to learn is that even after my mission and I have to take off the name tag, I can still be a missionary. I still have the same purpose and have the same commitment to invite others to come unto Christ. It's just that after my mission I will have to do that in different ways. Knowing that is so comforting. That member missionary work is what this church is all about.

Next Sunday the church is releasing their Easter initiative video. It is the best video that the church has put out in a long time. And what a great missionary opportunity for us all to share this video with everyone. I'll be sure to tell you more about it next week! 

And my scripture for this week is Mosiah 5:2

"And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually."

Thanks for all that all of you do for this great work. I know that this is the Lord's work and that this gospel is true. 

I love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Scott 

El Pasco

Hello Family!

This new area is really great. It's required a lot of adjusting. But overall it's a really great area. It's so weird being moved around so much. The last four transfers I've been in four different areas. But in each one of those areas I've seen so many miracles. So I know that it's where the Lord needs me. 

So I'm here in the Pasco 2nd ward in the Pasco Stake. And this stake is BOOMING with missionary work. So that's really great to be apart of. And, I've always been hearing about Pasco and how there's a TON of Spanish people--and there are! They actually have a Spanish Ward, not just a branch. So it's really weird serving in one of the English wards but I still have many opportunities to us my Spanish throughout the day. 

I'm still getting used to this whole zone leader thing. It seems like ever since I got here it's just been non-stop craziness with meetings, trainings, and SO much planning. But it's just another thing to get used to. But it's been a lot of fun too. Throughout my mission I've been able to receive so much joy out of serving other missionaries. Almost as much joy as serving investigators. And so I'm very grateful to be able to have this opportunity to serve other missionaries and help them so that they may help their investigators. 

My new companion is Elder Cordon. He's from upstate New York. And I'm going to kill him. Well, from off the mission. This is his very last transfer of his mission. I've never killed a missionary off before so it should be pretty interesting. Thankfully he's not too trunky. He's super great. I've been learning so much from him. Because he's not only the oldest in mission age I've had for a companion, but also the oldest in life! He's 27 years old. So I feel like a child when I'm with him. But like I said, I've been learning so much from his example and we get along great.  

This area is very special. It seems like every day we're able to meet these amazing people who are being prepared to accept the gospel. One in particular, his name is Jason. He recently just got out of jail and he's looking to change is life for the better. He has a pretty big smoking problem that we've been helping him out with. And this last weekend there were several baptisms in the zone so we were able to have him attend one. And he loved it! He really felt the Spirit and I'm really looking forward to continue to teach him. 

Here's my sctripture for rthis week: D&C 50:24

"That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day."

I love how much I've learned on my mission. And everything has been little by little, precept on precept. And at times it's hard because you feel like you're not growing because the progression is so gradual. But when you look back and realize how far you've come, you realize that you are progressing. And I look forward to continue to learn and progress throughout my mission and for the rest of my life. I know that his gospel is true and I know that I wouldn't be the person I am today without Jesus Christ and His gospel. 

I love you all! And have a great week!
Elder Scott

 

Baptism

Humberto y Martha

Another insane week. This has probably been one of the fastest weeks in the mission. Every single day just flew by. But it was a really great week. 

And probably what made it so great was that Humberto and Martha got baptized last Saturday! It was a really amazing baptismal service. And it's also what made this week stinkin' stressful. Usually it's the members responsibility to organize the baptismal service and everything. But earlier in the week we found out that that would not be the case. So we pretty much had to organize everything ourselves and make sure everything ran smoothly. So that was very stressful because most of our efforts this week were to make sure that the baptism was going to happen. But it all happened and it was great. They were also confirmed at the service too because we had stake conference this last weekend. The Spirit was very strong. Especially when Humberto and Martha bore their testimonies about why they made the decision to be baptized and how they felt. They are both such humble people and it was an amazing privilege to be able to teach them. Another really cool thing that happened was right after the baptism was over, Humberto walked up to the branch president and handed him a tithing slip. They really are so converted to this gospel and they've been able to undergo such an amazing change. And now, the branch president is working with them to get them to the temple. There's a branch temple trip this Saturday to do baptisms for the dead and we're working towards getting them recommends so they can attend.

So last was a very joyful day. There really is no feeling like it when you see someone, being so humble, enter the waters of baptism and making that covenant. Then after the baptism Humberto and Martha invited us over for dinner! So it was a really amazing day all around. 

We're now hoping to be able to start teaching the rest of their family. They have two sons who live with them but they aren't very interested--at all. But their daughter who's a bit older told us that she would like to start meeting with us. So we have an appointment tomorrow to meet with them and their daughter.  

Some more crazy news. Transfers are this Wednesday. And I'm being transferred. Again. I really can't believe it! I hat having to say goodbye to areas. I love this area so much and we were able to see so many amazing miracles. Elder Schaefermeyer will be staying though. So I'm going to Pasco, so I'm not moving very far. But what really crazy is that I've been assigned to be a Zone Leader in an all English area. I've never been in an all English area before so it will be pretty different but I know that it's what the Lord needs of me. 

Here's my scripture for this week: Alma 29:1 

"O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!"

Thanks for all that you do for this great work and for all of your love, prayers and support! I love you all and have a great week!

Elder Scott