Monday, May 19, 2014

Speed walking for the Lord.

Hello!
 
Well we had a really great week again! We saw so many miracles! First off, we got our transfer calls, and Elder Bate and I will be staying here! We are so excited! And this transfer will be a 5 week transfer, due to Pres. Castro ending his mission nearing the end of June. It's crazy how fast time goes by! I'm definitely going to miss Pres. Castro. I look up to him so much as a truly inspired man of God. I will miss him, but I'm sure that Pres. Felix will be great as well (:
 
So! whew. Where to start?!?! Well on Monday we saw a pretty awesome miracle! So remember a couple weeks ago how I talked about that girl named Tori? Well we went by to see her Monday evening and talked with her for a while on her porch. We were having a great conversation about  some scriptures in Alma 32 about faith, and as we were talking, her sister and her friend who is a returned missionary pulled up in the driveway after this returned missionary member yelled out "She wants to be baptized!!!!!!!!" Hahahaha they came up and we all went inside the house. I guess Tori's older sister, Megan, really wanted to read the Book of Mormon and so we gave both of them a copy. We are going to be helping their family move in the beginning of June and we are excited!
 
Hmmm.... Tuesday was great! In church a week ago a member brought one of her non member friends named Allie, and was like, "Hey Elders can you teach us the lessons?" YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's true member missionary work! Ha so the member is preparing to go on a mission and her friend was just I guess tagging along. But even that is perfect, because the spirit will have a chance to touch her heart. So we taught both of them on Tuesday and we talked about the Restoration and it was a really good lesson! We have another appointment with them this coming Tuesday.
 
On Thursday we were working in a neighborhood, and we saw this guy walking down the street, like walking for exercise status, so he was moving pretty quick. So we tried giving him a card, and he was like, "religion? No. But if you want to try to commit me, you can walk with me at my pace, if you can keep up." At that moment, I was just like, yeah we'll talk with him for a little bit... Nope. We walked like 1 &1/2 - 2 miles with this guy! And it was like 96 degrees or something like that.... So we walked with him for a while and had a conversation with him about faith. He said he doesn't have any faith, but I think Elder Bate and I gave him some things to ponder about in life. He definitely seemed to be a little bit more respectful towards us after we walked all that way with him. So we were then by his car, which was, however, now just that far back to our car...... poooooop. So we started walking back and saw a Wendy's so we thought we'd go in and get a water cup, so we did. And after we were done drinking our water, Elder Bate went to go get a refill, and a lady stopped him and was like, "Can I bless you??" Haha he didn't know what she meant by that at first, but I guess she just meant buying us a meal. She continued to say how she was a Christian and how she saw a light in our eyes as we walked into the restaurant and wanted to buy us some food and a nice drink because it was so hot. so that was awesome! I have truly come to find that most people here aren't as bitter and rude as you'd think. Most people are genuinely nice and will at least have a pretty good conversation with you (: haha.
 
Lets see....... Those were the main things that happened this week. I wish I had time to write more! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers (: I can feel them each and every day. I love and miss you lots! You are always in my prayers! Have a great week (:
 
Elder Teeples
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Monday, May 12, 2014

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's day again! :D
 
I wish I would have had more time on the phone! My mission truly has taught me just how much you do for me, and the rest of the kids. And honestly, I can't thank you enough! I can't remember if I told you or not, but while I was in the MTC there were multiple times where I needed a little extra money, needed to ask you a question, etc... and I would reach for my phone to call you, only to find that my phone wasn't there (: haha. And this past week during our leadership meeting we had a small "get to know you" activity, and due to mothers day coming up, the question was "how has your mother influenced your life?" ..... that's an intense question! So many Elders and Sisters stood up and said, "my mother is really patient, and taught me patience." "My mom is really proactive, so she taught me to keep busy." And on and on. But with you, I couldn't just narrow it down to one thing. I went through chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel while I was awaiting my turn, and went through all the Christlike attributes, faith, hope, charity, diligence, patience, obedience, humility, etc. and realized that you exemplified each characteristic, and at that moment I realized just how Christlike you truly were. So needless to say, I bragged about you to 30 other missionaries or so just how great you are (: That it wasn't just one way that you influenced my life, but that you truly were the most Christlike person I know in my life, and how you have set an amazing example for me to follow. I was going to tell you that over the phone, but I didn't want to "crunch" it in at the end. I love you mom (:
 
We had a great week this week! We saw so many miracles along with the rest of the zone! 5 out of the 10 companionships in our zone taught 25 or more lessons! We truly have been blessed! We had a great zone meeting where we extended a committment to the missionaries in the zone to teach at least 25 lessons this week, and to teach 40 lessons next week. We are so excited! One companionship went above and beyond and they went for 40 this week, and ended up teaching 41 altogether. Miracles happen (: We just need faith!
I got to go on a mini-exchange for an hour with Elder Navarrete this week. It's so amazing to see just how much he has grown since I had been with him! And It's great having him around!
We had a great lesson with our investigator Scott Neeley on Monday about prayer. He came to the ward's family home evening and he had a fun time, as we had a nacho making contest (: We had our lesson afterwards along with a couple members from the ward, and it was a very powerful lesson about prayer and how we can use it to get through trials. He shared some of his experiences with prayer and we promised him that he could have those same types of experiences as he prays about the Book of Mormon.
We taught our recent convert Desiree Rodriguez the Restoration this week for her new member lessons. It was another really powerful lesson and we feel she benefitted a lot from it! She really is such a blessing in our lives!
We also taught our investigator Brandon Dawkins. Unfortunately he is leaving in a few weeks to go away to college in Arizona. We are going to try to get his information sometime soon to send the referral over to Arizona. He is a really good kid and he would be a great addition to the church.
We had  a great lesson with one of our investigator, Jose's, sister, Erica. (My grammar has taken a nose dive, hasn't it? oh well (: ) She is really open to learning and we talked to her a lot about prayer and committed her to pray every night before she goes to bed. We followed up with her the next day and she said she had a great experience with it. She said she also prayed that morning and that she felt a lot more calm throughout the day! It's so amazing to see the Gospel take effect in other people's lives! I love being a missionary!
I had the privilege of interviewing an investigator being taught by Elder Atkin and Elder Fridal for baptism this week. It was a great experience! She is ready to be baptized and that baptism will be taking place this Saturday at 4. We are excited for them! During the interview she was telling me about her life experiences, and it reminded me of Hymn 270, I'll go where you want me to, so I sang it to her before we started the actual interview, and it turns out that song is actually on her baptismal service program. So that was
In my studies I learned a lot about humility, and how the scriptures are her to bring us reproof. I saw evidence of that this morning as I read from the scriptures and I am excited to apply what I learned! I love the reproof I get from the scriptures and I love seeking for ways to improve! The scriptures are such a blessing in my life and I love learning about my savior Jesus Christ!
Well, again it was good hearing from you yesterday! I love and miss you so much! I will keep the family in my prayers, especially dad in his this trying time and Jax with his stomach problems. Have a great week (:
 
Elder Teeples!

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Heavenly Father's timing is perfect.

Hello! (:
This week we saw so many miracles! I am amazed at how many miracles we saw this week! It is so amazing what miracles can come about from just simply talking to everyone we possibly can! Elder Bate and I had a goal this week of teaching 40 lessons all together, and we did it! Last night, the evening was coming to a close and we were at a total of 39 lessons, and I feel like we truly endured to the end, and acted in faith by searching for somebody to teach for the last minutes of our week. Gratefully, we had the opportunity to teach a lesson to a guy named Martin who didn't speak much english. But we did it! We met that goal and we are very humbled and excited to work even harder this week. Being companions with Elder Bate truly has been a blessing! It is great to have a support like him and to have a companion who is willing to work as hard as he does.
We are finding that there are certain "hot spots" to contact people. It's great (: we are working hard and enjoying our time here. We have a return appointment today with all the YSA people I told you about last week. We are excited! In total, we have given 5 of them copies of the Book of Mormon and we are eager to hear their thoughts about it!
We were able to teach our investigator Jose that we found about a month ago, and his 16 year old sister Ericka. We had a good lesson with them about the Book of Mormon and committed both of them to read it. They are both really open and willing to learn! It is great (:
We also had a great miracle this past week with a YSA aged girl named Tori! Last week I had a solid prompting to knock on a door as we were walking past it, so we did, and Tori answered the door and let us know that she was planning her grandfather's funeral with her family. We expressed sympathy, but she had a positive attitude about it, and we got to share a little bit of the Plan of Salvation with her. Then this week, we went by to see if she had read the pamphlet we left with her... nobody answered. ): So we just worked around her neighborhood for a time, and when we were walking back to our car to go to a different area she came out of her house and was heading to her car. So we got to talk to her! It's so amazing to see how Heavenly Father orchestrates things like that to wear we cross paths just at the right moment! Because seriously, any other 20 second gap we would have chosen to walk back to our car would have been the wrong one, and we would have missed her! We greeted her, and had a powerful lesson about the Book of Mormon, and she accepted one and said she'd read and pray about it. We have yet to follow up with her, but we are excited!
Here is another cool expreince. we were on exchanges this past saturday, and Elder Atkin, the Elder I was with is having a baptism in a few weeks. So we were on our exchange, and we went down by the beach area (cause there is always people there) to talk to people, and we started talking to this one lady, and it turns out that she knew his investigator who was getting baptized! She received an invitation to her baptism and was planning on going! Again, its' amazing how Heavenly Father plans things out like that with perfect timing!
I am low on time, but I am excited to talk to you next week! Thank you for all your love and support! I'm glad you passed shcool with flying colors (: I hope your knee is getting better! I love and miss you! Have a wonderful week, and I'll be looking forward to the letters from the kids! See ya!
Elder Teeples (: