We have a Date!!!!

Today at 12:23 PM

Hola (: 

This week was great!!! Ahhhh it's a great time to be a missionary (: The highlight of the week was that we set Alana with a baptismal date of February 15th! AHHHHHHHHHH! :D Finally! Then we actually found out that her parents wouldn't be home that day, so we are going to change it to the 16th, the Sunday afterwards. We are so excited! We were able to do so with the help of Elder Whited when he came to our area for exchanges of Saturday. Elder Whited was my first ZL back in Santa Maria, and now he is on his last transfer and he is my ZL again. We had an awesome exchange! But we are so happy for her and we are going to talk to her a lot about faith, because that is something she can definitely benefit from. I really enjoyed the exchange I had with Elder Whited. He really is so great! He is from Amarillo Texas (: 

Can you believe I hit my year mark in a few days?! I really can't!! That is so nuts to me.... time goes by quick. 

We were able to read some more chapters from the Book of Mormon with Ian. He is really good at understanding what is going on. It is so great! We usually only have to read chapters once and he gets it. We feel he is progressing in that manner. His health still causes him to stay home, but we are going to try to see if there is anyway to get him to church. 

We had a really cool miracle last night. So Elder Toa and Elder Horsley were stuck in their apartment due to Elder Horsley's knee. He injured it pretty badly, and he is unable to ride a bike. They needed about 7 declarations (which is just basically telling somebody a restored truth) for the week to meet standard of excellence (which is 20 per week), so they called us to see if we could go on splits with them that night to get their declarations, but we aready had a couple appointments set up. Well, we came to find out that the appointments we had fell through, so I went with Elder Toa to his area to get some declarations. Usually we don't see much success past 7:30 pm, especially with declarations cause most people arent' out at night, and they don't like it when we knock on their door super late, and we were going out at about 7:45 or 8. But we went out with faith and we were able to get 15 declarations together and 1 lesson to a non-member with a member pressent, all in about an hour period. It was a true miracle and we are definitely blessed for it.

During my studies this week, I studied a lot about the Atonement. It truly is amazing the depth of everything that it covers. I learned that His grace truly is sufficient to cover all of us. I love the Atonement and I have loved learning about it so much while I have been on my mission. Jesus Christ truly did so much for all of us, and I honestly feel the least I can do for Him is give 2 years of my life back to him. I love being on a mission! I love serving the Lord!  What an amazing opportunity (:
But yeah, I have seen the new video for the temple a couple times. It is sooooooo good! I saw it last time and when I went with Elder Spencer. I was really surprised when I heard that they made another one! I'm excited to see that one (: haha but I saw the old film many times, when I went with Bro. Leatham, and when I went with Hadyn (or Sis. Richardson) and I also saw it the time I went to the temple for my own b day. But I like the new one a lot better! It portrays everything so well (: But I hope all is going well! Know that you are always in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you for all that you do for me! Know that I am well and loving my life as a missionary (: have everybody write me a letter! 

Thank you so much for all that you do (: 

Elder Teeples 

So grateful for the Atonement!

Hello! (: this week was great! We had our stake conference yesterday and Saturday. It was so good. Pres. Eyring, Elder Arnold and Elder Anderson spoke to us via broadcast to many of the stakes here in SoCal. it was so good! Pres Eyring shared a story about his cousin and how he had "strayed from the past" and the last words he heard (or remembered)  his grandfather saying to him was "get Eddie" his cousin. I could kind of relate with him about ----. I heard Grandpa T's voice in my head saying "get ----" at that moment, so I may write him a letter today. 

We pumped out that nasty pool this week! it was a lot of fun (: I'll have to send some pictures of it sometime! 

So this week we met with Jack. He went on a week long retreat with his privately owned catholic high school. He told us a little bit about it and he said that he learned a lot from it. I guess the objective of the "week long field trip" was to help everybody come closer to God. He said it helped him a little bit in that aspect, but he mainly just grew closer to his acquaintances. We had a really good lesson with him yesterday about pondering scriptures. We read Enos 1:1-4 with him and had him ponder about what Enos was going through and the role pondering played in his life. He brought up a lot of concerns on why he doesn't want to be baptized and it will probably take close to a miracle for him to get baptized this transfer. We are praying with faith, along with most of the ward, that he will have a "mighty change of heart." 

We met with Alana this week as well. We are planning on setting her with the date of February 15th. (: We really have a good feeling about that date, even if she doesn't end up being baptized on that day, it will get her closer to baptism than she is right now. She is a really special soul and she is already living all the commandments! She would make a great worthy member, we just need to help her realize the importance of baptism I guess. (: 

We have been reading Ian the Book of Mormon, and it has been going really well. He seems to understand a lot of what is happening in the story. We are in the middle of 1 Nephi 4 with him right now and his is enjoying it. 

We went over to a lady named Diane's house yesterday with a 16 year old member and found that Bishop was there, because she is his sister. Diane has been reading the bible a lot, and along with the Bishop we talked about Ezekiel 37: 16-19 and she said she got "goose bumps" and let her know that that was the Holy Ghost talking to her telling her that it is true. So we read Moroni 10:3-5 with her and she said that she would start reading the Book of Mormon when she got done with Isaiah, which she only has about 10 chapters left of. We are going to invite her to be baptized next time we see her (: 

Elder Gray is doing good.  He has been here for a long time, but he is still doing good. Our zone goals this transfer are really motivating us. We are going to do some good work this transfer, and we are excited to be here together!

My studies went well this week. I studied the Atonement quite a bit, and it really is amazing to me just how much it relates to everything in the Gospel. Everything in our church is just an "appendage" of the Atonement. It is really cool to ponder and think about. I love the Atonement so much! I love the peace and forgiveness I constantly receive from it. I love this Gospel and I love the testimony I have of it!

Thank you so much for all your love and support (: you are in my prayers always! Love and miss you!!!!! Have a wonderful week (: 

Love,

Elder Teeples 

Me and my comp(:

Staying in Simi with Elder Gray....AWESOME!

Hellooooo (: 

Well!!!!!!! We got the call for transfers... and! I AM STAYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D and so is Elder Gray! This will be his 5th transfer here! We are so stoked (: we are going to do some good work! 

I'm glad to hear you got the package! And I'm glad you liked the bag/purse (:  Right when I saw it, I totally thought it was your style, so I saved it for a couple months to send it home (: i'm glad you like it! and thanks for storing my stuff! 

We went to the temple this past Friday! It was so amazing (: I love the temple! I always learn soooo much! 

But yeah about my bike. I got transferred to Newbury Park, so the mission stored my bike along with a lot of other missionaries bikes in a garage ( for those who are in a car area) and somebody broke into it and stole 5 bikes... one of which was mine. So the mission doesn't store bikes any more (: haha. and the 57 Chev, he is just trying to sell it really fast, and he needed to sand the whole thing for something.... so we helped him  (: haha and this week!!! We did a NASTY service project! I sent a picture of the pool we cleaned......... eeeeewewwewewewwwwww! Nasty. It was the worst smell I have ever smelt. Not exaggerating! Gross.

We had a great week this week though! We met with Alana quite a bit, and we are really helping her progress towards baptism. She had an interview with the bishop this week, and he said that went good. (: She really has a strong testimony of the church, we just need to help her act on that testimony more fully. Please pray for her! She needs it! We are going to try to set her with a date sometime this week (: 

We met with Jack as well, and we just discussed how his scripture study and prayers were going and he said that they have been improving so that is an answer to our prayers. He is going on a week-long retreat with his private Catholic High School, which he is excited about.  We hope that he takes advantage of that time to read his scriptures, pray, etc. to follow the spirit.

Ian has been really sick. We read the rest of 1 Nephi 1 with him. He is in bad condition and he could use prayers as well... We think he has pneumonia on top of all the other health conditions he has. We are really praying for him! 

Sorry I would make this longer.... but I"m out of time. But thank you for all your love and support! Jaxon is in my prayers! hopefully he can get his problem figured out! I love and miss you lots (: Talk to you soon!

Elder Teeples

This is a picture of a pool we cleaned out in one of our investigators back yards... sooooooooooooooooo gross!! oh nasty. the pool hasnt' been touched for 12 years or so...... it smelt soooooooooooooooooooo bad! 

And we went to the temple this week for Elder Grays birthday month!!!

This was Elder Grays "Birthday Ice Cream" when we went to Reds BBQ. we got Tri-tip steak and it was sooooooooo good! 

And this was the Bday cake he got from a member... pretty cool (:

The Lord giveth.....and....the Lord Taketh Away.....then.....He Giveth...again. But not quite as giving as the first time :)

Hello! (: 

First off... Happy new year!!!! and Happy birthday mom! :D 

Well, I am super super super short on time today!!! AHHH!

I got an email today from Marie. She is engaged! I always knew this day would come sooner or later when I would find that out.... and I never knew how I would feel about it. It was a big surprise when it actually came, but I feel good about it, and I am happy for her (: It's a weird realization though. 

So this is a short update.... but we had a lesson with Jack and it went pretty good. We are still working with him and things have gotten better a little bit, but he still kinda has the same attitude towards baptism, so we are working with him on that. 

but ALANA!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH! We had some AWESOME lessons with her this week! (: She wants to be baptized! We some really good lessons with her talking about why baptism is important, and how if she does get baptized, it will be an experience that she can only gain from. She really has nothing to lose! I found out that she fasts for 2 meals every fast Sunday as an 18 year old non member! She really is so solid. We have transfers next week, and we are pretty sure Elder Gray is leaving... And he wants to be here for her baptism, but we aren't sure if that will happen. So yeah! that's big news! We are soooooo happy (: we seriously feel so much joy from hearing about her desires! Please pray for her! she says that she feels something holding her back, but she doesn't know what it is, but we think it may be some kind of fear. Please pray for her! 

Oh, we did a service project this week and we power sanded a '57 Chevrolet 210! It was awesome (: until my sander broke.... so he had me take off the chrome bumper and a couple other parts of the car. It was soooo much fun! the bolts had been rusted for a LONG time... they were the original ones so they were tough to break but it was fun (: I really enjoyed it. We'll have to work on a car together when I get back dad ;)

Other than that not too much happened this week. I'm sorry for the short email! But thank you so much for all your love and support! I love and miss you all so much! 

Love,

Elder Teeples (:

Oh!!!!!! heres a picture of my sweet new bike (: I told you about how my other bike got stolen right? This is what the mission replaced me with... legit (:

Look mom I got in a pool with my companion!!!! We did service for somebody and this nasty pool was in their back yard (:

Got some sweet gifts and loving the spirit of Christmas!

me and all my presents

Hello (: 

I hope you had a most wonderful Christmas! It was soooooooo good to talk to you and the rest of the family! This Christmas really was a great one! I really got into the spirit of giving rather than recieving. I gave one thing away, and it made me feel good, and so I gave something else away, and it made me feel even better, so I just started giving things away that I didn't really need to some people who would enjoy it more (: It really is so amazing how good serving others made/makes me feel! I don't know what it is, but I LOVE doing yard work! I love doing service for others (: It makes me so happy! hopefully that attitude will stay with me when I come home in a little over a year ;) hahahah. but yeah, we got taken care of reeeeeeeaaaaaaallllllllyyyyy well by the ward. We are so blessed by them! 

Thank you so much for the money (: it really means so much to me! and thank you to Grandma and Grandpa C for the money as well! I love you! (: 

So this week was good! We were able to talk to Jack. We talked to him about baptism and what his thoughts were on it. He told us that he doesn't want to be baptized anymore... It made us really sad to hear, but I really think he is just going through a phase that will pass hopefully sooner rather than later. I think he wants to go try "the world" before he gets baptized and we are going to talk to him about that. Any thoughts or ideas on how we can help him?? 

Alana came to church this Sunday, and we were able to visit with them this past Friday. She went to a baptism the Spanish branch had and she said she really enjoyed it. We are really trying to work with her to get her progressing towards baptism. She really is so great, and I can see the light of Christ in her! She wants to do what is right, we just need to get on the same page with her. 

We have decided to read the Book of Mormon with Ian. He hasn't ever kept that commitment, so we decided to read with him, and it was really good! He had a lot of questions that we were able to answer, and we think he understood it for the most part. That is what we plan on doing with him everytime we visit him now. Hopefully he will feel the spirit from it and feel motivation from it to read on his own! 

We talked with Kim yesterday. She is going through some really hard times..... Like really, it hurt my heart to hear about her trials and to see how humble she is. We talked to her and she mentioned that she was planning on her boyfriend taking the lessons, but they have had the flu the past couple days so she is waiting for that to pass. She is still planning on coming back to church and we were overjoyed to hear that! I can't remember where I heard it, I think it's a scripture? But it talks about how when one soul repenteth, there are many angels in the heavens that rejoice, and that is how I felt! I love seeing people change their lives for the better (: 

I went on exchanges with Elder Hortin this week. He is a really good Elder! He is from Walsburg, UT, which is up Provo Canyon on the way to Heber. He knows his area really well, and we were able to have a really cool experience with a lady named Nanette! She is going through some hard times in her life, and we planned her for a certain time of the day, and we were able to make it to her home right at that time, and she said right at the moment we knocked on her door, she was really over stressed and needed somebody to talk to. It was a really cool experience! We were able to share scriptures to comfort her. It was a really good day (: 

I hope everything is going well at home! I'll be really looking forward to hearing from you next week! You are in my thoughts and prayers always (: I love and miss you so much! Talk to you soon!

Elder Teeples (:

Attached, a picture of me and my comp (finally (: ) 

and remember the souls taht you put into my Doc Martins last year?? yeahhhh (: I walked through them pretty good. 

Merry Christmas!

Helloooo (: 

Well this week was good! I played my sweet rendition of Silent Night at our mission's Christmas devotional. It went good! Pres. Castro asked me to play it right in the middle of his talk! He told us all the story about how the song Silent Night came to be, and he built it up just perfectly! Then the song sounded good (: Except the mic for my guitar was far away from the guitar and couldn't get any closer.... but that's alright (: I had fun doing it! Then I played Away in a Manger on the piano for some other Elders while they sang it. It was great! 

So this week Elder Gray was still sick... He had/has pnemonia!!!!!  So he spent this week resting again. Our mission's general physician had him in the apartment most of the time, so we weren't able to get too much done this week either, but we did get some of the most important work done. Luckily I am still alive (: I haven't caught the Pnemonia yet! he has been sick for 13 days now! 

We had a lesson with Jack again this week. We had a lesson with him at the church right before he had an interview with the Bishop. We really think he is just feeling pressure from his family.. I went with Elder Kanenwisher (an Elder from the 2nd ward) to teach him, and the only thing we felt to do was to testify to him and bring the spirit it. We talked a little bit about repentance and how it is truly a gift from God. We aren't really sure what to do at this point, but we are praying for him a lot. 

We saw Ian as well. Elder Hortin (the other 2nd ward Elder) came with me to that and we had a really good discussion on faith. He said that he understood that faith would help him with his trials right now, if he had it, but he wanted to know what the religious importance of faith was. So we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and explained to him that faith was that first stepping stone that eventually leads to our salvation into God's Kingdom. So it was a really good discussion. and apparently during our lesson I sat on "the cat's chair" (the chair his shedding cat sleeps on) and my behind was COVERED in cat hair. So he saw it all over me as we were walking out the door, and he was like "whoa hold on!" (he has a british/english accent) and he grabs a lint roller, hands it to Elder Hortin, and says "you rub his bum, cause I'm not going to" hahahahahha! I got a crack out of that (: So Instead, I just rubbed my own bum. 

We wern't able to have a lesson with Alana this week, but we are hoping to meet with her and her family this week! 
We have been getting SHOWERED with gifts from this ward! So far, I have recieved 3 ties, 40 dollars in gift cards, and LOTS of candy! Plus all the left overs we get from our dinners...... I love the blessings that come from being a missionary (: sometimes I just want to pass it on to somebody who truly needs it though! (My belly doesn't need to get bigger from all this candy (: ) but it truly is a blessing to be serving in a wonderful area where most people treat us good.  We had an awesome experience this week. Elder Gray was sick of the apartment, so he said he wanted to go to Subway fro lunch, cause they have a special going on right now with $2 6" subs. So we decided to go with the 2nd ward Elders and we had all of our sandwiches made, and right as were about to pay, the lady that just got done paying for her meal hands us a gift card and says "I hope this covers your meal" and walks away.... what?! So we said thank you, and all together our meal ended up being like $8.60, and there was still $11.40 on the card! She paid for a $20 gift card right in front of us to pay for our meal! It was so nice of her (: So we had our sandwiches and it was great. Later that night, we asked the 2nd ward Elders if they wanted to go to Subway again to get dinner. So we decided to go again. and once again! As our sandwiches were all made, the person paying in front of us told the cashier that he was covering our meal. We found out he was a member, and he bought us chips and a drink as well. Then he pulled out a $20 bill and handed it to us and said, now I want you to go to the dollar store and buy you some candy bars. WHAT?! We told him that we weren't aloud to accept money, so he was like "Alright, then I'm going with you then!" So we walked over to the Dollar store and we each grabbed 1 candy bar, and he was like, "so you like these peanut butter twix's?" and we were like, "sure..." and he grabbed the rest of the box and dumped it in the cart! and he started grabbing a bunch of other candies and threw them in.... it was the full $20 of candy bars.... The blessings of being a missionary are great (: We are taken care of so well! 

I am very excited for this Christmas! we have plans to go caroling and I'm stoked (: My companion is gonna call home around noon, so I'm going to call either before or after that. I can definitely try to talk to Bradon on the phone (: that would be great! I haven't talked to him for over 2 years! Crazy! But yes, I got the package (: thank you so much! The presents are sitting under our California Christmas tree (in the picture) Thank you so much (: If you get a chance, watch the most recent mormon message. It is a really good one (: Thank you so much! you are in my thoughts and prayers daily! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I love you so much (: I sent letters today! Hope you get them soon! Talk to you later (: 

Love,

Elder Teeples (: