Welcome back, I hope you are ready for another day! I promise this one won't be as long as yesterday's, and I won't rant and ramble on and on. Ya know, I'm trying to remember what all happened in August of 2024, so this blog post will be as much as a surprise for me as it will for you. So, let's talk about it, shall we?
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| Meow-meow loves his Taekwondo classes. |
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| He got his Yellow Belt!! Way to go!! |
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| Um.....don't ask. I was being weird. Playing around with my hair. I have no idea why I decided to take the picture. |
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| Got my first harvest of corn!! I did get ears bigger than this, but I was just so excited to have my first harvest of corn, and it tasted AMAZING!! |
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| Meow-meow had his first day of 6th grade!! It's his very last year of elementary school!! School started stupidly early this year. Who ever thought it was a good idea to start school near the beginning of August should be drug out into the street and well, you know. |
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| Nathan decided to try his hand at growing cactus. |
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| I got more bruises. Not sure what I did to get this one. |
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| Jacen and I went on an adventure out in the west desert. We wanted to go see an old mining ghost town, but it was closed off. Instead we found a Horny Toad. I haven't seen one of those in years!! I used to catch them all the time when I was a kid out in Pine Canyon. |
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| We also came across this really old and very creepy pioneer cemetery. Apparently it seems to be the favorite spot for teenagers to come to and put stuffed animals, dolls, cards, jewelry, lipstick, makeup, trash, and anything and everything you can think of on top of the graves. This was a child's grave and it was just full of stuffed animals. |
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| We found a lovely black lizard, but he was too fast for us to catch. |
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| Then we found this!! I'm not sure what this is, but whatever it is, it was creepy. Ya know, the stuff out of nightmares. Not sure what was up with the rocks that were painted red, but we noped out of there rather quickly. |
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| Close up of the centerpiece. |
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| On our way back home, we took a detour up to the back of the Copper pit. We used to drive up here all the time when I was a kid. |
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| My sweet and snuggly little Cocoa Bean |
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| This is a Persian Carpet Flower cactus. |
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| First football game of the season baby!! Nathan surprised us all by coming to the game. I've converted him to the one and only true football team!! LOL!! All kidding aside, Blue is a much prettier color. BYU played Southern Illinois and beat them soundly 41 - 13!! It was the first time in our 13 years of marriage that Nathan truly got to see me in my natural habitat.....I am a cougar after all. |
Well, that about wraps things up for August 2024. I was still working on getting my blood pressure under control, and it was finally coming back down into more reasonable numbers. I had been at such high blood pressure for so long that I had completely forgot what it was like to have normal blood pressure. It sure does feel nice. Meanwhile, Jimmy was having his own adventures in Las Vegas.
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| Ah the pig! They went to visit a lady who, as Jimmy said, had a menagerie in her house with the star of the show being this massive pig that resided in her closet. |
We got three emails from Jimmy in August!! Yay!! We love getting emails from Jimmy!! That's where I get all of these neat photos from.
The first email was from August 6th
I'm terribly sorry I missed last weeks email. It was a crazy day. I guess you all will have to enjoy a longer email. Quite a bit happened. It was pretty much a good week full of finding and teaching. It's still going hard. We started our week with a really interesting member visit. We have a recent convert who gave us a rice cooker. We enter her house and she has a lot of plants. A lot. It looks like an AI image of a room full of plants. Oh, but that's not all. It smelled very familiar in there. It smelled just like the horse stalls my grandpa, and I would clean when I was young. Turns out she had, in her extra bedroom, like 10 bunnies. Which is enough to blind the eye from the 50 rats behind them in a cage. Oh, but that's also not all. We walk back into her room and look Into her closet. And there's a 150lbs pig just chilling there. This is where the fun begins. She allowed us to go and pet it. Elder NeVille went first. As soon as he walks in, the creature starts wailing and nashing its teeth. The look on Elder NeVilles' face was one of complete horror. He said he was about to jump over the thing and run out. Eventually, it calmed down. We started scratching the being with a fork. Turns out pigs like to be forked. So we started stabbing the thing with a fork. It was pretty crazy. We taught English to Spanish people again. This time, we each had someone in our class, so we both taught alone. Had an exchange with the district leader. Then later we had zone conference. It was good. Spiritually fed. Ready to be bold with baptism. It was a good day.
Week 2 started by going to the temple. There were some fun names there. Our ac broke again. This time, it only got up to 95 degrees in our apartment. Got a new car. One of the elders dented our old one, so now we have a car that has auto start, which helps a lot. Elder NeVille had a tougher week. He got sick one night and then busted his knee. Had a zone council. Then, a really fun exchange with Elder Cachimuel. He's got long hair, and he's funny. Went out with one of the richest members in Las Vagas. Saw a toad. The crazy guy named Joe we are teaching showed us his gun collections. So that was nice. Had 2 district councils this week. There's been a lot more fun people out on the streets than usual. Quite a few more infact. Fun week, yet again, sorry for missing last week. Will try to do better. Love you all. Hope you bin chillin. Luv ya bye.
As a regular person, you ask and get asked many questions. Now, this may be something as simple as how may I take your order? Or it could be a question that determines the job you have for the next while of your life. When we ask questions to people, we get to know them, understand them, and sometime even help them.
As a missionary. We strive to get to know our friends and ask inspired questions. Soul searching questions. The kind that get you thinking, wondering, pondering. Some go so deep and yet are so simple. "How can the atonement help you and your family" "What does it mean to you knowing that a heavenly father strives for you to make it home to him" "How would you benefit from an eternally binding promise with God"
The scriptures are full of inspired questions. They hold questions and hold answers to questions. I personally have started to mark inspired questions from the scriptures. One place I have seen that has great questions is the great alma chapter 5
Verses 14-16
"14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have you received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?
16 I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?"
As we ask these questions as often as we can, it tell us what we need to change. What we need to fix. How we can feel the spirit more.
In modern days, we have our prophet to help guide us through asking us questions, Are you thinking Celestial?
The gospel is the gospel of learning, growing. As we ask questions, we can think and learn how we can grow. The savior gives us the opportunity to change through his atonement. I love him, and I love you all. May these questions and many more help you on your path of righteousness. I say these thing in the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
The second email was from August 13th
How is it going everyone. Hope you had a fantastic week. It was a pretty good week for me. This week flew by real quick compared to last week. Had a half day with my zone leader. It was a really good night. We went to a kess active member and he told us that the mafia was chasing us and then gave us 200 dollars, he's such an angel. While teaching English classes we had 6 people the first class and then the second class we taught alone and I had 5 people. So that was a little shocking. I final got to get into a lesson with Joe, still a very stubborn man. Then had another exchange with the zone leaders. This one was funny because they told us they were gonna be at our apartment at 8:30, and we got a knock at 8:00 so we open it expecting them, and the APs just waltz in. One went straight for my guitar. Then the zone leaders came a little later. It was a pretty good exchange. Talked to a lot of people. Caught a lizard in district council. One of the elders decided to hold onto it and while holding it my companions alarm went off and it scared every one and the lizard jumped onto the table and ran straight towards the sisters. Luckly one is tongan and one is Hawaiian so the had no fear. There was like 8 cop cars and caution tape all over our apartment the other day. Saw conner McGregors house. Has Dennys and went out with brother Skelton, whenever we do we get blessings so that was great. That pretty much the week. Love you all, miss yous. Be safe, be great. Luv ya bye.
As humans we have a lot of wants and needs. Wishes and desires, hungers and thirst. We have things we need to attend to for our body and mind to continue. And then we have things that we want to fill the pleasure of it all.
What's cool about faith is that it is a desire. To live the gospel you need to have a desire. 3 nephi 19:9
"9 And they did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them"
When we seek good God, he will manifest himself to us. Look at Joseph smith. He asked seemed truth, with the desire to find God's true church. And the truth was given to him. 3 nephi 19:25
"25 And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them, and behold they were as white as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof."
Just a question we can ask ourselves: What are your desires?
I hope that we can seek the good message that comes from Jesus Christ. For as we seek it, we will find it, in the name of Jesus Christ amen.
And the third email was from August 27th
How are you all doing. Hope you are doing fantastic. I'm so sorry i missed last weeks email. I typed it out and just didn't press send because i got busy with transfers(transfer news after week 1).
Week 1: Not much happened this week. Helped a kind basher guy move a compressor at night. That was strange. We had blitz exchange(both companionships in one area). but we split it up so that half of the day was in our area. The other half was in theirs. Taught English to 6 people again. It's hard when you know very little Spanish but it's really fun. People who speak Spanish are funny. Our friend nija came to church, which was sweet. He is great. That's pretty much it.
Transfer news: Elder NeVille and I are no longer companions. Im leaving the Charleston Blvd area. It hurts since i was there for so little time. Although I was only there for 2 transfers, I'm gonna miss it. Especially teaching English classes. I am going to be a district leader while follow-up training. I am quite excited. The area I'm now in is R I C H, probably the most rich area in our mission. Which is a little bit of a change from the ghetto of Las Vegas. We cover 2 wards. And we are back on bikes, baby! I am actually happy about that. Love biking. A lot of members are up here. It's also the most West side of our mission, so it was a part of the West's mission, and boy, the difference between missions and missionaries is crazy. My new companion is Elder Devey. Although he's only been out for about 7 weeks, he is a really good missionary.
Week 2: This week was fun. I'm pretty much just getting to know the area plus the members. It cooled down, thankfully. It's back down to the 90s and sometimes 100s. Got a new bike. Met a cool member named Derek from an open garage door, and he came to church, which is great. Had a ton of miracles happen while getting youth out. We had a soon to be missionary come out with us on bikes, and the Lord blessed us. I love this area. I'm excited for this transfer. I love you all. I hope you all can experience a great next week. Reach out if you need anything, oh also I'm 19 now, so I guess that's progress. Luv ya bye!
As a human race, we are constantly lacking wisdom. Things are constantly improving. Gain more wisdom. Look at the phone. Once a brick on a string used to only do calls, now a device that has so much wisdom, it can cause so much damage and do so much good.
A lot of us are searching for earth wisdom, but something the human race needs most is the wisdom that comes the one that knows all things. This is the wisdom Joseph smith sought out when he read James 1:5
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
This lack of wisdom leads to the recompletion of the fullness of the Everlasting gospel.
How do we receive this wisdom. How can we use it. One of the definitions of wisdom is the "ability to apply knowledge, experience, understanding, or common sense and insight."
By applying the knowledge of the scriptures, the experience of a ray of light, the understanding of the gospel truths, and the common sense of being nice. We can see the tremendous difference.
When we gather the information, study for understanding, with a little faith, and bring to Heavenly Father in prayer. Miracles will happen.
As a missionary, I have come to the knowledge of a drip prayer( Daily revelations increase power). How it works is 1. You go to your sacred Grove or go to your Gethsemane. 2. Go in with the scriptures, with a pen and a paper. 3. Write down questions you have, 4. Be very prayful, in and out of prayer constantly. 5. Write down words, scriptures, feelings, inspiratios, and thoughts. 6. Be prayerful and ask your questions. 7. Review and repeat if needed
I know prayers are answered 3 nephi 18:20
And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.
It's a ture gospel, even a beautiful gospel. I know prayers are answered, we just have to ask. In the name of Jesus christ amen.
Well, that's it for August 2024. Just wait until tomorrow when we discuss September 2024. Things really start getting weird.
