Alma 37:6-7

Alma 37:6-7
Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.


.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!



So today is my 19th birthday. So crazy to spend a birthday like that on a mission. I am only a year out from hitting my 20's. Kind of scary but real! I had the greatest day and week ever. So I will try to explain it all to you in the best detail I can! Here we go!

Every missionary in the England London Mission is allowed to go to see a musical! Either Lion King or Wicked. So I had to take the opportunity of serving in the heart of London to go now. So last week I decided I needed to go. I got a few other missionaries to join in and go with me. One of the main characters in Wicked is a Mormon in the young single adult ward and so we know her! She is also in all the bible video on LDS.org. So we called her and told her we were going to be coming on Saturday for a show and she said that after the show she would meet us and bring us back stage to meet some people and have a back stage tour!! We all were freaking out with excitement. So we could not wait for that. But we did not even have our tickets yet so we had to find a way to get them. We found out that on the day of the show you can wake up early in the morning and camp out to get front row tickets for £30. We called our Mission President and he said that should be fine!! So all these amazing things were falling into place. 

So this morning we wake up at 4:45 to get ready and leave to we could be at the theater in Victoria at 6 in the morning. So we get there and we are first in line!!! We then wait with all 7 missionaries until 10:00 AM for the doors to open! It was such an adventure. It was freezing cold and when we first showed up to the theater, there were so many homeless people sleeping right where we had to be for the tickets so we just sat there with them. So we got our front row tickets. I had first row seat 21 (which is a lucky number for me. My old baseball number growing up). We then decided to rent out Barclays Bikes and ride them all throughout Hyde Park! It was so pretty and we got to see Speakers Corner and other cool things that are within that huge park. We ate lunch and then headed to see the amazing show!!! 

I could not believe the seats that we had. Literally right in front. We could see the spit of the actors fly from their mouth as they sang. I had chills the whole time and of course it was amazing. I could barely talk after intermission because of how loud I was screaming!  After the show ended, when everyone was taking a bow, Savannah waved at us and it made us feel so cool. Everyone was like, "How do you know her?" haha crazy. We then walk to the stage door and I press the button and say we are here to see Savannah and they just let us right in and told us to wait for her to get changed and she would come up to give us a tour. As we wait on the inside of the stage door we see the whole cast leave and we got to meet all of them and say hello. Savannah then came to get us and took on us on a special tour through the wardrobe and all the secret doors that are backstage. We then find ourselves on the stage looking out at where the audience was just seated during the show. It was the coolest view ever. And it was so surreal to be standing with the star of the show. We took pictures and then we left feeling like Kings and Queens. 

I really can not describe the day accurately according to how I felt. But to say the least I felt good haha. It was like a dream the whole day. To go see Wicked in London while serving a mission and then to have a backstage tour by the lead actress. 

Of course I will attach the photos and what not so you can experience it with me. 

And to top it off..... We are having two baptisms tomorrow!! A mother and a son! Their names are Margaret and Chaminda. They are from Sri Lanka and are so amazing. 

I am so happy right now. I can't stop smiling and I know that there is so much happiness to be found in this life. I know it and I know God does love us. He is loving. I hope you all have a great week and remember to have fun in life. It is meant to be enjoyed not just endured. 

I personally don't have all the pictures so as I get them from the other missionaries, I will send them out! 

Love,
Elder David

Oh P.S we were walking by the nice Ferrari that I talked about in my email last week and the guy got out and so I asked him if we could sit in it and take a picture. Elder Adriano took a picture of me but it was blurry. He said he was nervous haha but I will send you the one I took of him since it is visible in that picture.  

The first one shows how close we were and the second picture is how the theater looks from the stage. 








Here is the link to Savannah in the Bible Videos. She plays Mary the mother of Jesus. Enjoy!!







Monday, January 20, 2014

Ferrari's and the Spirit!

I hope you have all had a great week! Sorry about last week and not being able to get the letter out by Monday but President Jordan extended the deadline for me. 

So Elder Adriano and I live right by the Gloucester Road Tube Station and it is a posh area. For instance everyday when we walk to go to the Church we pass 2 Ferrari's, 3 Aston Martins, 2 Maserati's, 3 Bentley's and of course the most amazing Rolls Royce. It is a fun walk. So we like to stop people and talk about the cars then turn it into a gospel discussion. Everyone, well mostly guys, like to talk about cars so it works really well. On Thursday morning we walking to the chapel to go meet someone there and while walking we saw this father and son walking with down the road. The son looked to be about 4 or 5 and was just having a good walk and then all of a sudden he paused to behold the most buttery looking Ferrari you have ever seen. It is red and had just been waxed. It is parked so delicately, and there, the race car, just sits in the street. It surprised me, seeing how old the boy was, that he would recognize and appreciate such a car. The father at the moment was looking down at his I phone and did not even see it at first until the kid tugged a daddy. It was so amazing to see. Young boys love cars just as much as old men. As I saw this I began to ponder how smart children really are. They are sponges when concerning knowledge. The rising generation knows how to work with Ipad better than those who can even afford them. For instance, last time I was with my little cousin Blue in California and I just sat there watching him navigate from one game to another and play the different games. It just shocked me. Kids are so smart and can recognize small things. Even the Spirit. 

As Jesus taught in the Bible He proclaims, ..."Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." Children are pure and perfect and have the intelligence to discern the Spirit if they are able to recognize the beauty of cars. I began thinking that if we teach children how to feel and recognize the spirit then they will be able to be like the little boy who pointed out the Ferrari. I am sure that at some point his father pointed out that car to him once before and now the second time the son was able to point it out for the father in return. In Galatians 5:22-23 it reads, " But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,Meekness,temperance: against such there is not law." This explains what and how we may feel the Spirit. When Christ was talking with Apostles, telling them that he would soon be killed, he gave them this comfort. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." The Comforter, or the Spirit, is here to guide us, warn us, help us and be there so we may not feel lost or alone. This promise is only to those who invited the Holy Ghost into there live. Some say to me that they do not feel the Spirit. We then talk about their daily habits. Then it becomes obvious why. We must strive to be worthy of the Spirit and we must always teach our little ones from a young age what that feels like and how they may point it out when we are "looking down at our Iphones." 

I would send off some more  pictures next time but I forgot to charge the battery so here are a few.... Oops. I will talk to you all on Saturday. I am switching my P- Day to saturday so I can go see Wicked! WOO HOO! It will be a good birthday! 19 here I come!! I can not believe it. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder David



Tuesday, January 14, 2014

I Don't Remember What I did This Week

My apologies everyone! Yesterday was a crazy day and it consisted of singing all day and spending the day at the hospital. I am alright but my companion broke his thumb playing basketball so here is my weekly email a day late!

Have you ever had those weeks where you absolutely can not remember what you did the last week or month or year? Yeah that explains my life every Monday when I try to write these letters. I sit here and look through my daily diary (planner) and try to compose some master piece of writing. It is difficult when everything is a blur. I just know that I did missionary work. What ever that means. 

But our week started off by getting a call from our Mission President, President Jordan, and he said, "Men I have a special assignment for you. I need you to go out and buy a ukulele." That ended that conversation and then went out to get one. There is a place in London called Denmark St. which is a music street. Every shop sells music stuff and so we bought the Ukulele and on the tube ride home we started playing for people and singing. It was quite fun. We go to Presidents flat and then he pulls us into the back room to show us a video of some other missionaries on Youtube playing the song "How can I be?" He said, "This is song you will learn so you can perform it in 3 days at Zone Conference for all the missionaries." So we agreed and were able to learn it and put our own arrangement on the song. So we performed and it was a hit! It was a good time. Sister Jordan will be putting it up on her blog soon and so I will post the link when she does so. 

At Zone Conference, which is for all missionaries in the London area to meet and be trained on how to be better missionaries, we talked a lot about culture and discouragement. We also talked about being anxiously engaged! I loved the discouragement part that was spoken about. We all, throughout life, face this emotion. It sometimes overwhelms us but we have to ability and "power" to overcome this. God has given us the amazing gift of agency. The ability to choose for ourselves. We are not forced to make any decision. We have the ability to choose. God will not force us to believe in Him but rather He wants his children to grow and exercise faith in him so that they may use this wonderful gift righteously. We have the choice to be discouraged and we have the choice if we want to be anxiously engaged in a good cause. We are commanded to not be idle. (This one is for you Austin, since you like to lift so much) When talking about lifting weights, there is no such thing as idleness. It is either you get stronger or weaker. You must rip and break down your muscles so you may get stronger. You must always work and try to succeed and progress. This concept is the same when compared to the gospel. We must not be idle. We are encouraged and commanded to use the ability to choose for good so that we may bless our own lives as well as the lives around us. Have you ever wondered why the church doesn't just give people jobs? "If you give a man a fish, he will be fed for a day. If you teach a man how to fish, he will be fed for a lifetime." We must become self sufficient. Not lazy and idle. I look back at before my mission and man was I lazy. I could have been doing so much more. So much more good but I was too focused on taking that nap or just watching the tele. I think there is a wonderful link between being anxiously engaged and being encouraged rather than discouraged. Of course we will fail but when we fail doing the best that we can, we are not disappointed in ourselves but rather we know that we can improve and move on even faster. No more self pity and discouragement. Go and do and take some initiative. Be as Nephi of old who says, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded for I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." GO and DO because you KNOW it will have a positive outcome. And even if you don't know, pray for help and then go 100 MPH. The Lord appreciates when his children come to him with solutions rather than problems. 

I told you all about the pictures of Abbey Road and I finally have them! And a few others of the M&M factory here. So I will share those with you! Also here are some pictures of The National British Museum. It is huge!

Love you all, 
Elder David












Monday, January 6, 2014

Prayer Is Real!!

Good Evening/Morning Mates!

What a great week Elder Adriano and I have had. I am having such a good time right now on my mission and really everything has just felt like a dream. I still walk around and think "Man I am in London!" It doesn't feel real. I feel like that youtube video "David after the Dentist" when the kid asks his father, "Is this real life? Is this ever going to end?" The new title is now "David during his mission."  

Elder Adriano and I have been praying for new people to teach. The area in Hyde Park, where I am assigned, is fairly new so there was not many people to teach. We have been spending entire days just talking to people on the street and we were not having much success. So Elder Adriano and I decided to step it up. We were more obedient, and we fasted and prayed for people to teach. After doing all of this suddenly things immediately changed for the better. Last Thursday night we were on our way to teach this man named James.  And as we were walking this woman stopped us and asked us, "Hey are you Mormons?" We answered her then she began to tell us that her daughter is Mormon and that she wants to learn more. She then invited us over and we have taught her twice and has accepted to be baptised! Woo! We will also start teaching her other daughter and grandchildren that live with her. 

Then the next day we were talking with one of the recently baptised members and he said that his sister and mother want to learn more from us. We went and taught the sister with him and she has accepted to be baptised as well! We will meet with the mother this week too and then she will most likely follow suit. 

Then yesterday! Wow what a day. So we have been meeting with this man who is a less active member of the church and helping him through his various addictions. And yesterday he brought a friend who had been asking him questions on what he believes and his friend is searching for a church to join! His friend, on his first time being to church, bore his testimony during fast and testimony meeting yesterday! He is so cool! So he invited us over to teach him this coming Thursday! Then later on in the meeting I said hello to this woman thinking she was a member (because I do not know the ward very well since I have only been to 2 Sacrament Meetings here) and she then responded saying, "Hello I am Margaret and I want to join this church. And I want my son to join as well. We are teaching her this Thursday. All of these miracles have come from stricter obedience to mission rules, and from fasting and prayer. I know that God wants to reward us but we have to show effort and desire to receive these blessings. We have to work harder and be more diligent. I am thankful for being able to learn this principle on my mission because it will help me for the rest of my life. If I am not getting what I want right now. Work harder. 

Before my mission I didn't really understand how important baptism is. I really did not understand it as well as I should have. In the Bible in John 3:5 Jesus is teaching Nicodemus about being born again or, in other words, about baptism and He says, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, unless a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Even Jesus Christ, being absolutely perfect, was humble enough to obey His Fathers commandment and to set a perfect example on what we should do. Jesus Christ also traveled to one who had authority to perform such an ordinance. Wouldn't you say that the one to be performing this important saving ordinance must have the authority or permission from God to act in His name? This is why Jesus traveled to John the Baptist. To be baptised by one who had the authority. I know that these two things are so important. To be baptised by immersion for the remission of sins and the one to be performing the ordinance must be one holding that Priesthood Authority. These two things are only found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Jesus Christ's same church that he established on the earth once again restored in this last dispensation. I love these truths and the restored gospel. This is why, for those who may not know, baptism is so important. It is the first step in we take to returning to live with God again. It is the opportunity to be cleansed of all of our sin and to start a life devoted to living like Christ. 

Here is a funny/creepy story for the week. So like I sad last week, we have roof access and next to our flat complex there is a taller one. So one night I was leaning out the window talking on the phone because our flat has terrible reception. And I look up and see the man standing in his underwear looking at us from his window above us! It was terrifying! And he does this like every night! I have to make calls every night to talk and take reports from the other missionaries so I am always leaning out of the window on the roof terrace and he is always just standing there starring at me. So last night we decided to have a little fun with this guy. So all of us missionaries turned off all the nights then snuck in the room and had Elder Dominguez from spain ready to turn on the light. So we counted to 3 and then turned on the light and jumped up in an attempt to scare the weirdo stranger. It didn't work. He just stood there and kept starring. Yep he is a weirdo in London. 

 Have a great week and I will talk to you soon! 

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year! 2014 Woo!

Happy New Year!! 

This past week has been one of the most fun times on my mission. Being in Central London is amazing and even more crazy then where I have been the past 6 months. Especially between Christmas and New Years. 

I now live in a flat on Gloucester Road. The most expensive flat in the mission because of the location. Our next door neighbour's have Ferrari's, Mercedes, Lambo's and so forth. We just have our side bags and our shoes and that's how we get around haha. And I am the only native English speaker in the flat!! It is so funny to listen to everyone's broken English. My companion is from Portugal and the other two Elders (the assistants to President) are from Italy and Spain. I am surrounded by culture 24/7! it is so great. 

Last Thursday night when I was still in London North, Henrike had all the Elders over to watch Elf and to burn her doctors coat and my 6 month tie. Sounds funny right now but let me explain. So it was boxing day that day and we can also watch movies. Henrike has been a doctor for 26+ years now and she has finally decided to give it up and so she wanted to do that by burning her doctors jacket. So who does she call to assist her? 18-20 year old young men. Of course. So we told her we would assist her. On that day it happened to be my 6 months out on my mission so tradition is burning one tie. I was not thinking I was going to do it but it was the perfect time to do so. So we had a burning party. I will attach some pictures of how it went. 

Last night was New Years Eve and so we received instruction to be home by 7 to avoid the drunk craziness of London. And let me say 7 was even too late. Elder Adriano and I were about to get on the tube and as we step on we then find ourselves in the London Zoo. Everyone on that tube was dressed as some animal. Lions, Tigers, and Bears oh my. Some even brought their pets from home. Frogs, cats, dogs, birds. You name it and it was there. And to add they were all sipping on their alcoholic beverages. At the next station we had to switch to get on the district line and to our suprise on the next car it got even worse. People were just partying away on the tube and no one cared who was watching. It was ridiculous. Elder Adriano and I soon made it home safe and it was a quite night in. Our plan was to set our alarm for 11:55 and wake up so we could do a countdown into the new year on the roof (we have access to the roof from our flat). So we set the alarm and went to bed. I then woke up at 6:29 this morning so bummed that I missed the countdown. Then Elder Adriano said to me, "Man last night at midnight it was so loud! Everyone was screaming, there were fireworks for like half an hour and the city was literally shaking!" I then began to ask him in a very loud voice, "Why did you not wake me up!?!?" He then explained what happened, "Man I did! I woke up at 11:55 hearing the alarm and went to go shake you to get up. You then began to tell me to go back to bed and that you were way to tired. Within like 30 seconds of you saying that to me you began to snore like I have never heard before." I was absolutely shocked! I was so mad at myself because I know it is true. I am sometimes so tired in the mornings when I wake up that I subconsciously turn off the alarm and go to sleep. I hate not being able to control myself when I am tired!  So New Years Eve was less then exciting this year for me haha. I missed New Years while serving in the heart of London. I will never live that one down. 

Earlier this week one of the members of the Ward invited us over for dinner and as we got to his home we found out that he lives on Abbey Road! That same Cross walk where the Beatles took their album cover photo! So of course we did the same. While taking pictures we met two young woman from BYU. They were visiting for the Holidays and wanted us to take their picture as well. In exchange they took ours and said they would send them to us (since they had really nice cameras) they still have not sent them but I will send you them when I get them. So here are some pictures! Enjoy!

Have a Happy New Year and may all your wildest dreams come true. 

Love,
Elder David

Picture 1: Elder Hein and I. I lived with this fellow for 6 months! This picture is taken from Suicide Bridge. Nice name right? 

Picture 2: We found a Adam and Eve London Borough.  
 







Here Is the Burning Party!!