READ YOUR SCRIPTURES

Last week I wanted to talk about the scriptures and how much I have grown to love them while being on my mission. I wanted to do that last week but something within me said wait. So I waited and I am so glad I did. 

This past week we had interviews with President Jordan and he gave a training on the power of the scriptures. And it is going to help me express how I feel about them. The scriptures have a special purpose and are a tool we must use so that God can communicate to us. As we read in the Old Testimant in the Book of Amos chapter 3 verse 7 it says, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secrets unto his servants the prophets." God talks to use through the prophets and prophets of old have written their words down in the Bible and the Book of Mormon so we may "feast upon the word of Christ." 

In the Helaman 3 27 it reads, "Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked.  

If we just lay hold upon the word of God we will be able to withstand from temptation. We will be able to go through the struggles of life and push them aside but that is only if we read our scriptures every single day. It is a commandment of the Lord to do so and there is great promises that come along with that.   

In Alma chapter 37 verses 5-9 it talks about how by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. As you personally read these verses think of how you can better value the scriptures in your life. It says that with out the scriptures that Ammon and his brethren would not have been able to convince the Lamanites into believing into God. 

The scriptures have powers. I know they do and I have seen that as a missionary. I personally have read the Book of Mormon twice since being here and have now started to read through the Old Testament and I love it. So read your scriptures and be more diligent. Strenghten your own testimony of the Book of Mormon and you will see a change in your own life. 

I will close with a really cool miracle of the week!

We were just walking to an appointment with the Caribbean family and as we were walking a young boy who is about 4 years old comes running from behind and grabs onto Elder Adriano's bag. We were so surprised and kind of didn't know what to do. As we were walking for a few more steps we hear a loud scream, "JOSEPH!! GET OFF THAT MANS BAG!!"  The mother came running up and started to apologize and we assured her it was totally fine. She tried to pull the young boy off and he immediately started to scream so we just said we would walk them home. We start walking home with this young boy attached to Elder Adriano's bag. She then asks us, "So what are you two young men doing exactly?" "Well we are missionaries from a local church and we teach people about God and how we can strengthen our families through such a belief." She then paused outside of her house and said, "No way. I honestly know nothing about God and have been thinking about learning more. Will you come back on Tuesday to teach me and my family." All because this little boy came and grabbed Elder Adriano's bag. Out of everyone in the crowd of people Joseph grabbed a missionaries bag.

Love you all,

Elder David

God is great! Soda is good! People are crazy!

So, exciting news...... I AM DRIVING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!! I have been asked by President to get my license so I can drive. Let me tell you it is so weird. I had to drive a stick so I am so thankful that I stole Dalton's Bumble Bee Yellow Jeep a few times so I could know how to kinda drive with a stick. It was a success. Driving in London is a bit different though. No one pays attention to lines and speed or anything else that is related to safety. People just run in front of you, bikes are right next to you, and giant buses are swerving in and out of traffic. I felt like Ricky Bobby when he decides to get back in the Race Car and drive on the track! All the cars were going to fast! 

On Wednesday we had a day just filled with cool miracles. 

Miracle #1: Last week we started teaching this really nice family and they were so amazing. We taught the mother (Charmaine) and her 2 kids about The Book of Mormon. We then asked Charmaine if her husband would be interested in learning more and she said no he is not very religious and I don't know what he thinks about God. So Elder Adriano and I have been praying to find a way where we can just include her husband. On Wednesday we were going to an appointment and we arrive and the people we were going to see said they weren't ready and to come back later. So we went to go talk to people on the street and the first person we stop was this really cool guy. I asked him, "Hey excuse me sir? When is the last time you bought a new pair of shoes?" He was confused and answered, "Uh like a month ago. Why?" "Well, when we buy new shoes we have to break them in. We don't buy them and they automatically fit to our feet right? We must break them in so they may be able to help us to do everyday things in the future! This is how the Book of Mormon is also! We must give it a try and let it "form to our feet" and then we are able to find that strength we are looking for!" The man was really interested in learning more. He then interrupted us and said, "Wait, I could have sworn that you two were in my house last Monday." We assured him we weren't in the area on Monday and he continued to say,"No you were with my wife and kids downstairs!" We then asked couriously, "Are you Charmaines husband?!" He said that he was and that he wanted us back to teach him and his family! Cool right?! Out of everyone in London we run into the one person we were praying for. God is great. Soda is good. People are crazy. 

Miracle #2: Elder Adriano and I were just talking to people on the street and were literally stopping everyone. While walking down the road and we hear someone scream, "Hey! Why didn't you stop me?!" To our surprise there was a man sitting up on some steps and we didn't see him. We then turn around and went to talk to him. We end up teaching him and he says, "I wan't to come to church with you guys and I want to bring someone with me." We love hearing those words! 

Miracle #3: This is the coolest miracle of the day! So the night before (Tuesday) we met this man named Ralph. Ralph is from the Philippines and we start talking with him about what we believe and the Book of Mormon. He stops Elder Adriano from talking and says,"It is cold, want to get some pizza then you can teach me more?" We agreed graciously. We taught him, gave him a Book of Mormon and he committed to read it. We then scheduled to see him again the following night at the same time. So we arrive to meet him again and he read the entire Book of Mormon. Let me repeat. HE READ THE ENTIRE BOOK OF MORMON IN ONE NIGHT!! He then began to tell us his favourite parts and showed us the passages he had highlighted. He told us that he knows it is true. We then asked him if he would be baptised and he said yes he would! The only problem is he lived up in Birmingham. We got his info and the missionaries in the England Birmingham Mission will be teaching him soon! 

On Saturday I went on a road trip!!! The singing group had a performance that was up in Ely. We spent the day singing around the town and telling people they should come to the free concert that night. It was the first time being outside of London during the day and talking to traditional English people. England it actually quite green and it was amazing to see the country side. It was so cool to see their culture. The town of Ely consists of about 500 people. It is so small! They have a huge Catholic Cathedral and it is beautiful. We sang and had a great day. We got back to our flat at like 11 at night and we were exhausted from the day of singing! 

Today we had a really fun P-Day! There was no singing practice so we had the day to ourselves to go around London. We were complete tourists. We set off to go see Buckingham Palace. It was the first time seeing it for me and it is so huge!! It was actually really cool being able to see the guards in person rather than on a picture. We walked through the park and found some guards that were outside. I heard the story behind why they were doing this march. I guess one day Queen Victoria was going to check on the guards and found them either drunk or sleeping. Because of these guards she instituted this march to happen everyday at 4 so the guards will not misbehave again. After we walked to go see Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, and the Westminster Abbey. At 5 PM everyday the Westminster Abbey does "Evensong." Evensong is a Church of England service where the choir sings and does a little bible spoken word study. It was quite interesting and it was so cool to go to a service in the Westminster Abbey. I have a few pictures so enjoy!!

Oh yeah and by the way I cut my hair really short. I wanted to be able to wear a hat without my hair getting messes up... So yeah.  

So Elder Adriano captured these photos this past week. I fell asleep in my suit after we finished planning and then before bed I was reading the Book of Mormon and just passed out. Enjoy. 

Be Careful What You Pray For!

All I have to say is God really does have a sense of humor!! I know this because I have a little brother who likes to blend things in a blender when I used to take naps at home. I know this because of how my family is structured with the personalities that sometimes blend and clash. I know this because of the people that are put in our paths from day to day to keep me and my companion smiling. For instance, on Saturday on Gloucester Road there was some big festival or party where people were dressed in funny costumes and were all very intoxicated and were just running around. It was quite the scene. We were walking into the tube station and we saw two midgets or small people (which ever one is more polite) dressed as minions from despicable me. It was the funniest sight I have ever seen in my life. They had the goggles on and their whole body was painted yellow!

But really my topic doesn't even come from those stories. Some missionaries in my District were struggling to find people to teach and they were working really hard and being really obedient but they just were not finding people to teach or people who would even listen to them. My heart truly was hurting for them because everyone goes through these moments as a missionary. So I just decided to pray and ask our Heavenly Father how to best help these missionaries in their work. I prayed that I would be able to understand what they are feeling so I could best help them. Very dumb of me to ask such a thing. I just thought that maybe God would give some inspirational words that I could share with them or that He would bless them with people all of a sudden. But none of this happened. Instead, my Father in Heaven thought I would have to actually go through what they were going through so I could help them. This last week was difficult haha. Man we worked hard but no one wanted to hear a thing about what we wanted to say. People that we thought were so prepared to hear the Gospel would text us and say never mind I am not interested. It was so frustrating! This continued on for the entire week until it came to Sunday. I finally just had to ask again and say "Okay Okay I know what they feel like! Please take this away from me!!" I was so done with people just walking by me as if I had not just tried to stop and talk to them. So sick and tired of getting weird looks from people as we talk about God. And as I asked for this to pass Sunday morning, it was lifted. On Sunday we had a great day. An amazing day and we were able to talk and teach a lot of people who want to learn more. 

I know that God really does answer prayers... not in the way we would like but in the way where we will most appreciate them in the end. 

I will close with a really cool miracle that happened this last week. Elder Adriano and I were talking to people on the street and stopped this family who was coming back from school. They were so nice and really were interested and feeling that what we were teaching was important. Right as we were about to set a time to meet again all of a sudden the Mother started running away with her children following her. We were so confused until we saw a bus pass right by us. They were all running to catch the bus! So Elder Adriano and I started running with them and helped them catch their bus. The mother was really surprised at our determination and set a time for this coming week were we will be teaching the family of 4!

Have a wonderful week and have a great Valentines Day!! 

Love,

Elder David

65 Miles Later

So on my birthday I received a birthday package from my family and inside was a sportline step counter! I was really happy to find this inside becuase we walk a lot and it would be interesting to see how much we walk in a week. So above is how much we walked in the last 7 days.... Crazy right!!

As I talked about in my last email, we were having a baptism last sunday of a Mother and Son from Sri Lanka! It went fantastic! After they were baptised, Chaminda (the son), said, "I feel so good and clean. I really do not want to leave the church to go home." There was such a sweet spirit felt that night as he shared his feelings with us. His mother, Margaret, is in her 60's and Chaminda is 33. He has recently gone through some hard trials pertaining to his own family but I find it amazing that God was able to place the gospel in his path when he truly needed it most. God knows us personally. 

Later on in the week they invited us over to have dinner at their home! Sri Lankan style! They had prepared a 5 course meal for us! In their culture, they treat guests like Kings! They will not let you serve yourself, they pull out the chair for you, and bring out the finest cutlery they have. It was so cool to spend a night in Sri Lanka and to partake of the wonderful food that is found in that part of the world. The next night we spent in Jamaica. We are teaching a family from Jamaica Mon! And they are so funny. We go over to their flat and are no longer found in London but in the tropical region of Jamaica Mon. Thick accents everywhere, so thick it is sometimes hard to understand what they are saying that you have to just nod your head and agree. Then last night we spent the night in London with Brother and Sister Steinfield, our Ward Mission Leader. They cooked us pizza and we spent the night listening to their beautiful British accents. We honestly do not hear many British accents while in London. So weird and for that reason I do not believe I will be getting an accent. I teared up while writing that sentence. I will have to get sent out to the country side but that probably won't be happening for the next 3 months. Oh that reminds me! Moves calls were last night and I am staying where I am in Hyde Park as the District leader and with the same companion! No change for me but I am glad because I really am enjoying myself and enjoying the ward that I serve in. This Thursday night we will be spending our night in France with President Jaquire. He is from France and is the Elders Quorum President in the ward and he is introducing us to one of his friends. I will have to practice my French. The only sentence I know is deteste le cocoyage! Which means I hate sea shells. Which isn't even true but it sounds cool when you do it with an accent. 

We live with the Assistants to President and one of them is finishing his mission tonight and is leaving to go back home to Italy tomorrow. It is sad to see all these missionaries leave to go back home but it is cool to see that they did it. Elder Tobia's mum sends him home-made Italian pasta sauce and he gave it all to us because he doesn't want to take it with him because his mum can just make him more next week. I am so excited to have some real Mama Tobia Italian Pasta Sauce! The name has a nice ring to it. 

Yesterday a few missionaries got together and went to China Town for lunch!!! Man I love chinese food but when you go to a buffet that only costs £5, you are not going to leave the restaurant saying that was a good idea. It was the Chinese New Year last week so it was all decorated and the people were so funny and nice!

I am really having a good time and feel so happy lately. Especially after seeing Margaret and Chaminda enter into the waters of baptism. I was filled with so much peace and joy. I really should not be happy doing what I am doing. Talking to angry people who don't believe in God just to have some swear word thrown at me shouldn't put a smile on my face but for some reason it does. I think that is a blessing that the Lord gives us a missionaries. He is with us constantly as we try to do our best. Always uplifting us and encouraging us so we can continue in the work of salvation. I know that God is with us always. He is not the light at the end of the tunnel but rather the light guiding us through the tunnel. Have a wonderful week and I will talk to you allon Monday! 

Love,

Elder David

There are all these buses in London that say,"I heart Mormon!" haha because of the Book of Mormon musical. So funny haha. Also here is Margaret and Chaminda and a Picture of where Les Miserable is shown in London. We play morning basketball for exercise so here is the crew for that. Mr. wu Chinese restaurant. I was not actually sleeping like that on the tube. We like to do crazy things when we are the only ones on the tubes because it never happens!