Monday, August 2, 2021

August 02, 2021

 I promised a couple people that I'd write a weekly this time so this will cover the past 2 weeks. Sorry for any typos, my phone has been silly thanks to maas360 (agency remover app on phones). We do have transfer this Thursday, but our mission president procrastinates his part in deciding where missionaries will go, so we won't get any news till Wednesday evening.


A couple Sundays ago, my companion and I were with a sister from our ward for a weekly lesson. That time, that sister noticed that my companion never let's me speak in lessons, other than to say "we leave this with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." And so this sister said she wants to hear from me the next time and not from my companion, which was great. It was obvious from the beginning of his transfer that my companion wouldn't give me a chance to talk and all the companionship inventories about that hasn't done anything, so it came down to praying for patience and a softened heart towards my companion. This sister with only a couple words was an answer to my many prayers. I'm learning patience and tolerance for something.

We've had some pretty cool things happen with random people who aren't members. We went to get ice cream and there was a guy in line ahead of us that I started talking to and since we can't proselyte, I kept it with just getting to know him. He had talked with missionaries before but moved and hadn't seen any since and wasn't very interested in learning anything, but he was super nice to us during hat conversation. He ended up buying both of us ice cream. A couple days later, we decided to get pizza for dinner, so we went downtown and the place we went to had an interesting set up, we were confused with it. So I went up to a guy and asked if he knew how it all worked and his response was "no thank you, not interested. Not the place or the time man." And I just told him I wasn't preaching, I was just asking how to order. He was like oh yeah, sorry, uh blah blah blah... so we went over to order, nd the pizzas were hecka expensive, so we just decided to go somewhere else. As we were leaving, that guy called us over and asked what we got and we told him nothing and explained and he asked who we were and why we don't have very much money and all that and we just explained that we left everything behind to serve God and we don't get paid, we just get a little "allowance" every month. He bought us a pizza and we talked a bit more and he said he respects us as a 21 and 19 year old guys who "could be partying with cute girls and enjoying life." Hahah and he's not wrong, there's a lot id rather be doing, but I've been growing a lot out here. Another time we went to try the famous jucy lucy burgers and those are delicious, but we were randomly seated next to some members who paid for our food and we had a really good conversation with them. Anyway, 4 random people showed us kindness which got us through the week. Id encourage all of you to support your missionaries in any way you can. It doesn't have to be food or money, just being invited to spend time with your family means a lot and helps a lot. It isnt so much the food for us, although that is always very kind, but it's the interaction and knowing that people do care about us and that we aren't alone. Treat them as you would want other people treating your children.

We take some walks here and there to get out of the apartment and to enjoy the dangers of this city and it's always adventurous. We met a dragqueen who we started teaching, until he said he believes all of this (the world, his life) is only a simulation, the only commandment that matters is love, and that Jesus Christ committed suicide. None of that is true, by the way. We've talked to a girl that used to be a witch and she has some very dark stories, but now she's married to Jesus... We've met some people who have been using drugs for years and years and it's sad to see what that does to the mind. We've been cussed out and threatened. We've met a couple people who asked about our church and said they'd come, they haven't yet, but fingers crossed. A couple ex members who made fun of us by singing "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" but jokes on them. We get some news every morning and unfortunately there are always overdoses, shootings, burnouts, dumpsters on fire, dogs getting kidnapped, and a bunch of other things. This past week a young woman was decapitated by her boyfriend in the middle of an intersection. This city is sad and dangerous. The majority of the people we have talked to dont believe in God because of everything going on. But the smaller group of people who still believe in God have grown closer to him. It's the same theme in the Book of Mormon. Those who do evil, continue to harden their hearts and during trials, their hearts are hardened even more. Whereas on the contrary, those who believe in God and do good, have something to live for, to hope for, to work for, and their hearts are softened.

If anyone has read up to this point, I'll end soon.

I got to do exchanges with the Spanish elders and that was super fun. The gift of tongues is truly real and a divine gift. I really enjoyed being with those elders and still having a different culture to experience. Because spanish and italian are so similar, I was able to understand a lot of what was said. But I noticed that as an English missionary, while I still do my best to listen, I still get thoughts of what I could say and then I hang on to them before the person speaking is done. Whereas in Spanish, I had no intention of thinking of anything to say because I was trying so hard to figure out what they were saying. There is a difference. Truly listening to someone helps grow love for that person. 

I have 6 months left and I'm very excited to go home. During these final months I would really appreciate prayers for patience and long suffering as well as charity and positivity. Some of you know, many of you don't, that I've had depression for a couple years. I never tried to get it under control until my time at home after Italy and before this half of my mission. Being a missionary has sent me back into depression, despite taking meds. I'm doing my best to keep my head above the water, but most days I feel like I'm drowning. I was doing much better before returning to missionary service, but with everything happening as a missionary with the circumstances of his mission, my best efforts aren't enough. 

Im always told to write an email so everyone knows im alive and what I'm up to, but I dont hear back from anyone. It would be nice to know you're all alive and what youre up to. Have a fantastic week and I pray you all find someone to share your light with.

Here's a picture with a family that took us out to eat


Monday, July 12, 2021

July 12, 2021

 Caught in the middle of a shootout

This week was another crazy one! We had zone conference, a walk through downtown, and exchanges with zone leaders. 


Zone conference is when all the missionaries in a zone get together to either be chastised by the mission president and his dogs (the aps) or we receive spiritual upliftment. For zone conference, we were fed cafe rio, which is so much better than half a sandwich, especially with it being 8 hours long. The main focus of that zone conference was to chastise us... The mission leaders (mission president and his wife) have no trust in us missionaries, so they spent an hour showing us how to eat food with members, how to text members, and then what we need to do as missionaries to be better. But we got to wear normal people clothes, which was nice. 

Our walk through downtown Minneapolis was very interesting. For anyone that doesn't know, im right in the middle of all the unrest, which is fun for me. It keeps things interesting. As we were walking around, we were stopped by some dragqueens and talked about God and what we have to do to be saved. They had some interesting things to say. My companion is so confident, that he doesnt let me speak when we are with other people, so I only had the privilege of listening to my companion talk and say false doctrines (like Mormon wrote the Book of Mormon, and all we need to do to be saved is believe in Christ). Then we were walking back to our apartment and thats when it all happened. It started with us taking a picture of the George Floyd memorial. The people in the "peace garden" started yelling at us saying that we are dirty cop spies and then came to us real mad. Then the shootout started. We were right in the middle of it all. It was so crazy, but so fun. I wish that actually happened. Haha no shootout, just some angry people. But we went over to their peace garden and said hi to a lot of the people and they don't hate us now, we're just racist because we're white and we wear white. We got to talk to a lot of people during that walk which was great. 

Then we had our exchanges with the zone leaders. Thats when we change companions with another set of elders for the day. That was fun. My temporary companion and I had a delicious breakfast with some members to start our exchange. And then we had a full day. At the end, during a lesson with a latina girl, I got to share my testimony in Spanish. It was a really good exchange.

I gave a talk on Sunday about prayer. As I studied the topic, I found a few things that really stood out to me. One, is that Heavenly Father will answer in one of three ways. The first, is through feelings of peace, or a "burning of the bosom". The second, is an unsettling feeling, or a stuppor of thought. And third, is no response at all. That doesn't mean he isn't answering your prayers, but he is answering by letting us know he trusts us. Prayers aren't a one and done thing. God doesn't work that way. He wants us to grow. We were sent here to struggle, so we can learn and grow to become like Him. Answers to prayers will be a step by step, or line upon line, not everything given us all at once. It is important that we also give thanks to our Father for the answers he's given us. Elder Bednar gave 3 principles to have more meaningful prayers

Principle #1. Prayer becomes more meaningful as we counsel with the Lord in all our doings

Principle #2. Prayer becomes more meaningful as we express heartfelt gratitude.

Principle #3. Prayer becomes more meaningful as we pray for others with real intent and a sincere heart.

Here are some pics from back in Winona with Elder Downey. Then one pick of the george floyd memorial/peace garden. Then at a 4th of July party we went to  







Monday, July 5, 2021

July 05, 2021

Held at gunpoint

 I dont think I mentioned, but I'm right downtown in Minneapolis where all the shootings and violence is happening, which is really exciting for me. It's good to be in a ward, but I still miss Kasson a lot. I know I'm here for a reason, but I feel I was taken out of Kasson too soon. I'm happy to be in a city though. 


This week we got news about covid restrictions. Being fully vaccinated, I can do everything a missionary could do pre-pandemic, except for regular proselyting. We can finally spend time with members without masks. No more masks in hot and humid weather doing yard work. We can finally eat with members. For 4th of July, we were invited over for lunch and then also for dinner. We also get to do exchanges with the zone leaders which will be fun.

Not much this week, just a little update 

Monday, June 28, 2021

June 28, 2021

 I got taken out of Kasson after only 6 weeks (1 transfer) and now I'm right in the middle of all the chaotic protests happening in Minneapolis. I'm in an area called Uptown. The ward here is awesome!! The members are really excited to work with us and very eager to do missionary work themselves. Hopefully we get some covid restrictions loosened so we can at least go in to members homes. We are being fed now and then which is very nice, it helps us feel cared about by members and want to help them.


I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone from Kasson so I dont have any pics

Monday, June 7, 2021

June 07, 2021

 What a good week!! I got some exciting news too

We got to spend a good amount of time with other missionaries on Tuesday after our district council. That was great to be around people.

We had a nice amount of outside service this week and that was so so nice to do some real work and to be outside. One family we did service is an awesome family and their oldest son just graduated from high school and we went to his open house which was super fun. It took some convincing to get my companion to go. He prefers to be in our apartment than outside and I couldn't be any more different.

Another family we got to visit with is new in our branch and they have 2 kids going out on missions within the next 2 weeks. We had a lesson with them in person at their new home, but not inside. We got some pics with their dog Figo and he's a big German Shepard. 

I got my 2nd vaccine on Thursday and no side effects, which I'm super happy about. I'm really hoping covid restrictions in this mission will start to lift after this transfer. At least let us eat with members outside. What we can do is outside service and in person lessons, buuuut my super awesome companion doesn't like in person lessons so we've been doing most of them online. On Sunday I was talking to a bunch of members and said we can meet in person, which they're excited about so hopefully they'll start asking us to come in person.

For the exciting news... there's been some updates with me returning to Italy. If I can get my visa by the end of June, then I'm heading out here, but there's been some challenges with the travel office and so I'm hoping to get to Italy beginning of Italy. Either way, I know I'm going back so I'm super excited!!

Last Sunday, I gave a talk on reverence. To be honest, I never thought of reverence any more than a toddler. I was always thinking about what I'm gonna be doing, whether that day or throughout the week. Being able to study reverence taught me that its not only actions at church or in spiritual places, but its our actions and thoughts in every day life. Reverence is love and respect. 

i am currently in the Minneapolis, Minnesota mission, hoping to go back to my original mission; Milan, Italy mission.

The best thing about being a missionary is getting to know and serving people.

As a missionary, i have learned that Jesus Christ will come to each of us in each of our circumstances. His grace does not require anything, because the full price of justice was met with each drop of blood from every pore of Jesus Christ. One thing i have learned is during his moments of unimaginable pain, He turned outward and focused on each of us. He has never left anyone behind and he never will. He walks with us down every dark road we wander down. There is nothing, other than the unpardonable sin, that will keep us from the reach of His Atoning sacrifice which he made out of love for each of us. His love is personal. His grace is priceless. His arms are waiting to embrace us when we turn to Him. He loves us all and has given us the ultimate example of love and charity, long suffering and forgiveness. He is everything, because without Him, we are absolutely nothing. Jesus Christ gave His life so that each of us can have ours.

My mission has helped me to repent, which enabled me to turn and face Him and to know Him. Because i know Jesus Christ, i know of the power in His Atonement, and i am forever indebted to Him.

Frisbee Golfing

Little friend at a member's home

Tacos from the open house



Monday, May 31, 2021

May 31, 2021

 Nothing really happened this week. We had exchanges with our zone leaders and that was good. I gave a talk about reverence on Sunday. This week was tough, and I'll be honest, right now I'm just reminding myself that I have about 7 months left and then I'm done. There's a little light at the end of the tunnel. This Thursday I get my 2nd vaccination. We are all really hoping that'll lift restrictions. I'm excited for this transfer to end in 24 days. 


Hope yall are doing well!

Monday, May 24, 2021

May 24, 2021

 This past week was a good one!


Last week we played pickleball with our district which is just elders YAYAY! Then Tuesday wasn't anything special, we had district council and got bdubs after. I got mango habanero and a few other spicy wings and I can testify of the ring of fire😂 Wednesday we had a zone conference with Elder Wong and he's just all over the place. It was good, I didn't get a whole lot from it because it was basically to tell us that we suck at baptizing people. I didnt respond too well to his way of "encouraging" us to get more numbers. Thursday was a day of nothing. Friday, my last companion and I got permission to go to our last area for the funeral of the young woman we were teaching and that was a special experience. Her spirit was there and filled the room with love. I'm really thankful to have been able to attend. Saturday we spent the whole day doing service. We helped move a family into our branch and they're a super cool family. 2 of their kids are actually starting the mtc within the next few months. We did some yard work for another family and that was super fun, I loved being with that family. No pictures from this week

Monday, May 17, 2021

May 17, 2021

 Boy oh boy... what a week.


We were expecting transfers this past week which we got one day before transfer day. Both my companion and I are moved to new locations. The day we transferred, we found out a young woman had unexpectedly passed away the night before. We had met with her, her husband, and her 2 year old son every week and got to know them very well. I know her family could use prayers of comfort and peace.

I am in Kasson, another little branch, but they're so warm and welcoming. I'm excited for this new area, but I do miss winona. I was able to create some lasting relationships with some members there and I will definitely miss them. We had some good things happening in Winona right before we got moved, so we left that area with a lot of good opportunities for the new missionaries. I am excited to get to know the members in this area and hope to build some good relationships with them also.

The apartment in Kasson is DISGUSTING. Holy smokes. Walking in I was slapped in the face with a stench of buttcrack and body odor. There are 2 bathrooms in this apartment and the elder that I replaced was an absolute pig. The bathroom that is now "mine" had poop and pee crusted and caked on the floor. Some other unknown substances on the floor. Mold plastered the shower curtain and on the tub. And the smell in there was something so terrible, but so unique. I finally got my companions "permission" to buy cleaners to clean that bathroom. Wowzers. Now it's clean! I just need to buy a shower curtain, because I only got the liner. 

I got my first vaccination, doing good so far. I'm hoping that will help open things up for missionaries here. 

Something funny, to me and Elder Downey at least...😂 we shared a single washer and dryer with a whole apartment building and I found a little surprise in my last load of whites... I'll just simply say ladies underwear haha. I won't put a picture of it, but something for me to laugh about hahaha

Nothing is going on other than that. I'd love to hear from all of you and I hope you are doing well! 

Pics!!!:

Lexi made a tie for me


Before pics of the bathroom
After pics of the bathroom!!




Brooke! She has an amazing spirit and testimony

My walking friend Rigby

Monday, May 10, 2021

May 10, 2021

 Hello everyone! It has been a few months since my last "weekly" email. 


The man we were teaching that got baptized moved back to Oklahoma about 2 weeks after getting baptized. The kid we were teaching dropped us, but his older brother is still coming to church. We have a friendship with him and he's getting excited and prepared to serve a mission. 

I had a cool experience with a lady who I recovering from surgery. We decided to write her a little letter and I ended it with "ti vogliamo bene" which is italian for "we love you" in a non romantic way. She told us later while we were doing outside service for her that when she read that phrase, she was reminded of the peace she had when her first husband would sing italian to help her fall asleep. I thought italian would serve no purpose in this mission, but it helped her so much that she was able to calm down, feel peace, and get rest.

We've been able to do service for several non members which has been great. I feel like I'm actually useful and doing something productive. They're all friends of a lady in our ward.

Our stls finally chilled out a bit and we've had some good pdays together which has been good. Hopefully they choose to be our friends next transfer also.

We are planning to get our transfer news within the next few days and our transfer ends/starts on Saturday.

Not a lot, but I'm alive. Love you all! 

Monday, March 15, 2021

March 15, 2021

 I realized just this week that I'm actually back on my mission... buuuuut it's been good. Last Monday I got to play with some cows, I let a few suck my fingers and that's an experience.


 We went to zone conference and I'm ngl as soon as we got chastised in the first "training" i zoned out, then 7 hours later and only half a sandwich, we ended with a sermon on repentance, so I left hangry and couldn't tell ya what the heck they said to us. 

Other than that, we baptized Bill and he's gonna be receiving the priesthood in a few weeks. The baptism was awesome and we were able to get the first missionary that started teaching him to give the talks and she killed it. Bill is such a good hearted man and I'm so grateful I was here and had the opportunity to testify to him and to see him accept the gospel.

That's it, just tryna stay sane out here. The good thing is that my comp and I are still friends so meno male for that

Some other cools things happened that I didn't include. And sorry for the length.

The baptism on Saturday opened several doors for us. One is with a less active family with several kids. The oldest is old enough to go on a mission, but he isn't sure about it. We spent about 2 hours just him, my comp, and I talking about missions and answering his questions about them. We got a phone call from Bill actually, he was offering to buy us groceries and dinner, my comp muted and turned to me to ask what I thought and I said "dude, it's free food, absolutely we want it." And this kid said the way we reacted and handled that call looked really fun haha. But we got him hyped about serving a mission and he showed up to church yesterday. So we broke the ice with a kid that hasn't talked to the missionaries in a few years. We got through. The other door that was opened was with a middle age couple that had some hardened feelings towards the missionaries because of some comments from elders right before me. So I decided to talk to the wife because it sounded like most of the comments were made to her. I just asked her questions about her and her fam, how she met her husband and all that stuff. We talked for about 30 min before the baptism and then she helped me rearrange the chairs and we talked for another 30 ish minutes. Anyway, I got through to her and her husband and she asked me to reach out to her son who has kinda wandered off in a not so good direction. The ice is broken with them also which is incredible to me. 

We talked to a ysa yesterday and as we were talking she had just mentioned that she has been dealing with mental health for a while and I shared with her John 14:18 and I opened up to her a lot about my own struggles with depression and how crippling it is and how it numbs everything but no matter how numb we are and no matter how far away we've fallen from Jesus, he's right there with us, he's walking next to us, just waiting for us to turn even a little bit and see him and find that he has never left us, he's always been there. 

We liked that scripture so much that we shared it with another young couple. The wife is always interactive with us but he husband rarely says anything. I had a quick thought to ask the husband what that scripture meant to him and he opened up and shared so much with us. It was amazing and even though that thought came and went in about 2 seconds, it was still an inspired question. If I hadn't asked him directly, he wouldn't have said anything during that call, but he shared so much and we could see his own thoughts and words hit him as he kept talking. It was incredible.

We taught a lesson to a sister about prayer and we went deep into that subject. She's a convert from the catholic church, so she has learned that prayers are from the heart. She's been having some issues feeling like her prayers aren't enough. One of the things we mentioned was that even if we pray for one thing, with a sincere heart, that's more than a prayer full of a thousand things that we don't actually care about. She told us that the things we said answered her own prayers which is always so awesome to hear because it testifies to me that the spirit is real and with me. I wouldn't have known to say any of those things that I didn't if the spirit wasn't prompting me. 

I read a talk that said somethin like if you don't have faith in yourself, you cannot have faith in God. Then the speaker said our hearts follow our minds. Meaning we believe in our hearts what we tell ourselves in our minds. For me, I told myself that I wasn't enough for God's love, I wasn't clean enough for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and my heart followed and I believed in my heart what I told myself. Then when I started telling myself I do deserve God's love and I am worthy of the Atonement, my heart followed and here I am, serving a mission. Just some interesting points I found and thought I'd share.

But anyway, that's it for cool experiences. I have my next chapter of scripture underway. If you haven't had a chance to read the first chapter and if you'd be interested let me know haha.

Monday, March 8, 2021

March 08, 2021

 Not a lot to say this week, just trying to stay happy and positive. 


Yesterday my companion and I taught Bill a few more principles before church and then he got up to bare his testimony and he announced to everyone that he's getting baptized this Saturday. Then he went on to testify of priesthood power and shared the experience he had when my comp and I gave him a blessing of healing. We saw him stand up and we were on the edge of our seats just trying to contain our excitement because we both just wanted to get up and cheer him on and stuff haha.


Other than him, we were canceled on all week which makes things super difficult so this week was tough. I've just been telling myself that there's always something good in every day. And I also remind myself that this is still 10× better than the time I had with my first companion in Italy, and if I could get through 2 transfers with that guy, I can do anything.


Anyway, thats all I got. I hope y'all had and have a good week

Monday, March 1, 2021

March 1, 2021

 This week was a ride😅

 
To start it off, there is a guy we have been teaching that has a date set for baptism. He fell and cracked a few of his ribs and was experiencing bad pain every time he took a breath. So he asked us if we would give him a blessing, and we did. We called him the next night to talk about everything related to him being ready for his baptism. He said to us that he's always been a believer in the man up stairs, but he has never experienced something so powerful than that blessing we gave him. He said he went to bed with the same pain, and woke up with no pain. When he said that, I got goosebumps and that was a huge testimony builder for that man and I. I can't deny the divine power in that and neither can he. So he said he knows for sure that this is the true church and he's ready for baptism. I'm so hyped for him. The companionship of the spirit is the sweetest gift and I pray he takes that to heart. He really is an awesome guy, it was super easy to tell that he's just a teddy bear and loves his wife and he's genuine with everything.

Other than that, just same old same old. Facebook finding isn't great, but it's about all we have especially with the lack of local help and support from the branch. I'm really struggling to love some of the members here and it seems like they just kinda dropped the missionaries so that's awesome🙃 i heard there's a statistic for my mission that the average weight gain for elders is like 40lbs, which is not good.

Something really cool that I found while studying that we shared with a few members is a quote from Thomas S Monson and he said "Decisions determine destiny". Every day we make choices, and even the small ones lead to great things. Elder Uchtdorf gave a mission conference talking about how if he were to take off in a plane at the equator just 1° off course, he would be hundreds of miles off course by the time the pilot would fly around the world and back to the starting point. His message in that is even with small choices, they lead us to greater things, things that have a greater impact on our lives whether temporally or spiritually. There is power in every choice we make and we may not realize the consequences of our choices until way down the road. But no matter where we go, we never wander too far from the love of Christ and redemption through him.

Vi voglio bene!

Monday, February 22, 2021

February 22, 2021

 Ehi bulla, tu sai chi sei ;) magari puoi tradurre per la famiglia!! Vi voglio un mondo di bene. Siete sempre nell mio cuore. Magari possiamo parlare insieme! Mi piacerebbe molto!!


First of all, I know you all have been really supportive of me getting back out on my mission and I am so so grateful to be here. 

Weight and Bawden I'm really grateful to have had you guys as companions and for everything I learned from you both, I just regret not being the missionary during those times that I'm striving to be now.

Alright yall know I got the call 2 weeks before they sent me out so I went without having a mission email, no access to my missionary portal, and no mission support card which is used for groceries and haircuts and what not. The office elders don't know what to do so I'm a little stuck haha. We have a temporary fix buuuuut hopefully we get things figured out. I'll be using this email until I get my missionary email.

This mission is super different from Italy. There are sooooooooooo many more rules and if you know me, I don't like rules, but something I think is super cool is i was asking to develop obedience and here I am so I've got some character development ahead of me. Every companionship has a car. It's also so strange to be teaching the gospel in English. But actually having the spirit while teaching makes it easy to teach.

My companion is Elder Downey from Rexburg. He's been out for 6 months and was expecting a brand new missionary so he was surprised to get a missionary thats been out 13 months. We are definitely learning a lot from each other and in the most positive way possible. He's like 6'8" so it's nice to feel small. He's an awesome teacher and we've been teaching really well together already and it's only been a couple days, so I know the spirit is with our companionship.

Idk where the heck I am other than the name of the town. I'm in Winona, MN and it's an interesting town. The branch here is super nice. We got a meal my first night and it was super strange as a missionary bc in Italy id get a meal maybe 2 times a week?? Maybe. Sunday we got 4 meals which was insane to me. Like I'd never have dreamed of that in Italy haha. My comp and I got asked to give talks Saturday night and we both gave really good talks. Most of the members are really friendly and open to the missionaries. We have a guy with a set baptism date which is insane. And then we have a few other people that reached out to us which is incredible! Facebook is lowkey a drag, but it's all we got so we're making the best of it. The hardest part about being here is prolly gonna be learning to love the sister missionaries here. Thats about it for the few days I've been here.

My comp asked me why I chose to come back to my mission. I'll be honest, I haven't really felt the spirit in a long time and I had some experiences while at home that helped me eventually feel the constant companionship of the spirit, which good gretchen it feels INCREDIBLE. Because of that, I was able to actually feel the love of God which is so so real and extremely personal for all of us. That's one of many joys of this life. At least for me. Having that feeling makes me want to be close to him, but to also share that. I decided to come back to my mission to 1) become a man and a man true to my words and to my God and 2) help at least 1 person to find the path and feel the consuming light in their heart that Christ offers all of us. I know Christ has a love for each of us, and I mean it's a more personal love than we will ever be able to comprehend. I know God and Christ are both waiting for us to walk with them. When we make it a priority to have the spirit, God and Christ become our teammates and there is nothing more powerful and the light of Christ, feeling the love of God, and feeling the Spirit will push us to achieve salvation and develop ourselves into the divine sons and daughters that we all are.

I love you all and id love to hear from you!! I could always use prayers to stay obedient and loving

Anziano Brady