Happy 4th of July Weekend!!

HElLo Everyone!!! how was everyones fourth of july weekend? cool story we got to stay out and watch fireworks till 10:30 and talk to people as we watched them! it was the best!! that day we also had a zone BBQ at the apartment  complex we all live at.  here are some pictures: and don't make fun of how much heavier I've gotten





hey sorry I didn't have time to write ya'll but here is what I wrote to our Mission President

the good thing is that it was only 100 degress outside

hey President

this week has been rough. I am not as happy because people keep letting us down. We have been doing our best to bring members out with us to confirmed appointments and we show up and people aren't home. WE had this referral that we contacted and she had a baby who died after being a month old and so we thought of the Canales family who is going through a very difficult trial, their 12 year old daughter has cancer and so we thought they would be the perfect family for them. but they weren't home. and so it has happened a few times this week with different members and potentials. WE have been talking to everyone and even teaching on the spot if they aren't to busy, but when we go back they aren't home. We honestly feel like we are working so hard and yet we aren't seeing any fruits. I know love plus patience will bring about miracles, I don't mean to be a downer President but I just don't want you to think we aren't working as hard because of what our numbers show. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of me and my efforts and I pray that he can let me know what more I can do in his vineyard, I just need a bit more faith and trust in the lords promises. We've also been doing facebook finding, I wish you can be there for some of those getting our members to do it is so hard and we literally have to ask the same question about if we can look at their page several times in less than a minute. Because before they even look at their page they automatically say they don't know anyone, and all you know all the classic excuses. But we are being persistent.

Other than that we had a miracle happen my recent convert Rey Dominguez is being the best member missionary I have met. He has been sharing the gospel with all his friends and acquaintances, he even took us to a family that said would like to learn more and he set up the appointment for us, and he was present for the lesson and bore a sincere humble testimony on how the gospel has changed his perspective on life and is now a much more positive person, and treat others with more kindness and patience especially his own family, he also talks about how The Book of Mormon helps him get nearer to God. They looked fascinated by his testimony. We told you that we fell in love with them. then the elders called us and apparently changed their mind and asked us if they can teach them. I did express my feelings in how I felt that we had put in the work by teaching the importance of sharing the gospel, even though it was natural for him, and how I wanted to be a part of his missionary efforts. and how we felt it was a blessing for us for all the work we've done, to be able to teach this family. But my companion and I talked about it, and since he really wanted to teach them we decided it was better to let them, since all we really do care about is that this family progresses in the gospel and find the joy therein. We know the Lord will bless us for it and continue to help the other members do the same.

Thank you so much for all you both do for all of us! we love you!

 

Church News!

President Sweeney:

this makes me angry, which means I wont be able to use an I-pad  as a missionary. it would've been so much easier. everything else makes me happy tho :)

SALT LAKE CITY — Though the record number of LDS missionaries serving around the world will peak in the fall and then recede somewhat, convert baptisms are increasing and more missionaries soon will be using digital devices to help with their work.

A pilot program has shown that use of iPad Minis by missionaries improved their work and study, and the devices will be used in all missions in North America, Japan and western Europe beginning this fall, the executive director of the LDS Missionary Department said Wednesday in a wide-ranging, videotaped interview released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Elder David F. Evans, also a member of the faith's First Quorum of the Seventy, said the devices will be used by about 32,000 Mormon missionaries in 162 of the church's 405 missions.

The church will ask missionaries in those areas to pay for their iPads, which will be their property during and after their missions, at a cost of $400 apiece.

Evans said the church, as of Wednesday, had 85,593 missionaries serving, up from the previously publicized record of 85,039 in April.

He said the missionary department anticipates the number to rise to 88,000 this fall before starting to decrease.

LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson precipitated the dramatic two-year surge in missionary numbers when in October 2012 he lowered the age requirement from 19 to 18 years old for male missionaries and from 21 to 19 for women

Elder Evans, who called the surge "one of the greatest faith-inspiring things I've ever seen," said the church expects the number of missionaries will eventually settle somewhere in the high 70,000s, well above the 58,000 serving at the time of President Monson's announcement.

"We don't believe we're ever going back to the 50,000s," Elder Evans said.

About 64 percent of the church's full-time missionaries are young adult men, 28 percent are women and 8 percent are senior missionaries.

"We believe the young people of this church will continue to say yes to missionary service, and they'll continue to choose to become young disciples of Christ," Elder Evans said. "For them it's an absolute free-will offering to the Lord and to their fellow man."

He also spoke about convert baptisms and missionary safety.

"Every month, if you compare month over month, the baptisms are up," Elder Evans said. "Right now for this year, there's about an overall 15 percent increase in the number of convert baptisms this year compared to a comparable period last year."

Elder Evans said missionaries now are being asked to have a "safety moment" at the beginning of each day, an effort to increase their sensitivity to safety issues after several injuries and deaths among missionaries made news, particularly last year.

Those incidents remain few compared to the general U.S. population of 18- to 21-year-olds.

"It is by far the safest place for any young single adult to be that I'm aware of," Elder Evans said. "I've read statistics that suggest being on a mission may be as many as 20 times safer than being generally out in the population."

A pilot program put iPad Minis in the hands of about 6,500 missionaries in 30 missions in the United States and Japan, as well as with sister missionaries in most LDS visitors centers. Elder Evans described four lessons learned by church leaders.

First, missionaries were very comfortable and capable using the devices. Second, the devices increased the reading and studying done by the missionaries. Third, they were effective planning tools. Fourth, they helped missionaries communicate better with local church leaders, mission leaders and investigators. 

June 29, 2014

     Track is over at Brigham Young University - Idaho. Again it is disappointing. The disappointment came by rain and thunderstorms, for the championship meet was canceled. Another disappointment that had to do the BYUI competitive long distance running program was that I was not offered the position to coordinate cross country in the Fall semester of 2014. I explained to the interviewer many of my ideas to make the program thrive, hoping to create a culture of fitness throughout the school.

A couple career exploration assignments have been making my life stressful the past couple weeks. I don't believe that career exploration assignments should be curriculum in a class because people are always doing that. When I realized this, the assignment was simple. I did not have to research careers because it is a natural activity. I have researched many careers in my life already, so I just wrote about the careers that I have explored in my life. Many people may not have the time to explore careers because there are many obligations that distract people from pondering the career paths possible. These two assignments were stressful because they were side projects, and they were both forgotten and procrastinated. The assignment was for my Business 101 class.

     A classmate in my Business 101 class has come to really enjoy my sense of humor. People; who observe me such as peers, instructors, and family; has noticed that I have a unique sense of humor. My favorite high school physics teacher pointed out to my special education teacher that I had a good sense of humor. I laugh at many of the teacher’s jokes and things that are not even jokes but humorous things. My classmate even recommended that I be a professional laugher this past week. Occasionally people ask me why are you laughing, and I don't know how to explain it.

     A minuscule way that I do missionary work is I run a Mormon YSA Blog Spot, sharing the blog articles of many single adult bloggers on several social media sites. I got to meet one of the bloggers that I found this week. I would say that it is a date. The way that I found her was interesting. It was inspired a BYU Idaho devotional. The speaker is on the leading edge of education. His name is Chris Wilson, and he invited us to create a community in his speech by discovering or making a way out of the world by using the hashtag BYUIExodus on Twitter. For those in the future or present that don't know what hashtags are on internet social networks, you can join a global audience, when you click or post a hashtag, seeing all the posts with that hashtag. Brother Chris Wilson invited us to write two chapter titles of our personal Book of Exodus out of the world and traditions of man. My chapter titles were ‘Growing toward Fatherly Leadership’ and ‘Family Life.’ I would also say that another good chapter title is ‘Claiming my Agency.’ The girl that I went out with favorited my chapter titles tweet, and I saw that she was a blogger. I asked her, if I could share her articles on my blog spot, and she gave me permission. I asked her if she knows other YSA bloggers, and she did. Since she was local, I decided that I might as well ask her out. She had not published an article in about half a year, so I asked if she will publish an article soon. She published one as we conversed on Twitter, saying that she has been working on a couple recently. We casually went out for frozen yogurt. She seems amazing, but our personalities expression was limited because I believe that we were not comfortable. The conversation was very slow. I plan to ask her out again.

     Yesterday was an unnecessarily busy day. I have an important deadline tomorrow for my Building Information Modeling class. I signed up for a 10K, and my friends went to go shooting in the evening. The 10K was interesting because it was organized by a very small group of students. The participation was small, and only a few runners came. The majority of the participants were the organizers. It was a fourth of July theme. We all had flags, and we ran with them around town. Some people may have felt awkward because they were walking or running alone with the flag, but I felt that if I lead the run with person that invited me to join the event. It would be a signal to people that is not just one weird person, running around with flags. The leader has a broad agenda in this act. I don't really understand if he had a specific reason for his activism. He said that the politics in America are a mess, and we need to become a more united society. He encouraged an national movement of service in the community with a hashtag and twitter of OldGlory. Running with the United States flag for about 6 miles, I felt that I was participating in a uniting cause. The leader was not impressed by the turnout or the reaction of the community, but I feel that people saw the broad message that he hoped. I saw a construction worker pause to watch us, and people ponder and react.

In the evening I went shooting with Jesse and a few of his married friend couples. This is the first time that I had shot shotguns and pistols, so my actions were a little rookie. The sister's husband of Jesse's friend's wife was good to be patient, instructing on proper etiquette; although, my actions were dangerous. His urgency was good. I shot a clay pidgin in my first round of five, and I shot two in a row on my second round. Shooting with a shotgun is easy compared to pistols and the other guns that they had. Afterward we had a bonfire, and the wives made a couple peach cobblers in a Dutch oven. I basically had two 4th of Julys.

     Today is now the 6th of July. This past week was somewhat stressful with due dates and tests. I didn't do very well on them because I had many assignments to do, and I was not able to put enough time into them. If I had one superpower, I would wish that it was controlling time. I would mainly slow down time. I only ran twice this week because my load is so demanding. I am putting my time in preparing some resubmittals, practicing my building plan document skills. One of my final assignments for my Building Information Technology class is to prepare a cover sheet. This requires a rendered image of my modeled building. Rendering takes a long time. A rendering is the program producing an image from virtual light. I have not completely done a real one. I prematurely tried to load one, and it takes a hours. That is what I heard. I want to post my first rendering on this journal entry. I designed my first coffered ceiling. It is not an average coffered ceiling. Coffered ceilings are usually just recessed panel in a ceiling in a square pattern. My ceiling has a curved edge on it, so I had some interesting angles and curves in my coffers. The image is thirteen percent done with twelve minutes. My perspective of rendering is that it takes a lot of skill. As you can see my first two renderings are very lousy. The van and truck look so bad. I found seamless tiles images for the brick, but it still looks fake. I look forward to making my buildings look real. My teacher always rags on us because we are not amazed by the graphics, but this is like Nintendo 64 graphics. Our video games are way better. Some renderings look impressive, and some look like old video game graphics.

A couple other things that happened that I don't feel like writing about is Jesse's birthday and a 4th of July. We just went exploring in the hills of Rexburg for Jesse's birthday, enjoying the Hickory restaurant, and we went to Idaho Falls for the 4th of July. 

     During sacrament meeting today I had a sacred experience that I wanted to relate to you. Praying to feel the spirit can be a witness that God loves us, and the plan of salvation is true. The knowledge of the Plan of Salvation comes from many different witnesses of the spirit in each aspect. A meditation on it can bring a witness of it too. The Plan of Salvation are 'things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come.' In this testimony meeting, my testimony that I felt like communicating would make sense, but I felt that the simplicity of the precept that it needs explanation. The explanation is personal. Before I get into the explanation, I will review the topic. It is to pray to feel the spirit.

     Before my mission I don't recall feeling the spirit as taught in the word of God, a burning in the bosom. I never stressed it too much because the spirit can be felt in other ways. I knew that the fullness of the Gospel is only in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When my second mission president took reins, he came with a powerful belief that God gives revelation according to the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 9:8. "But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right." I was out on my mission about eighteen months, and my mission president expected us to confirm every plan with God by these instructions. My mission president was named President Graff. Since I never felt burning in my bosom, I needed to call my mission president, since he was enforcing the new policy. He had me pray to feel the Holy Ghost by this burning sensation in my bosom, and I prayed for more than an hour with no result. President Graff also had a powerful testimony of gifts of the spirit by the laying on of hands. President Graff served a mission just previously since becoming a mission president. On his mission, he worked on learning Spanish for many months, but he couldn't. His mission president was counseling him on learning the language, and he decided to give him the gift of tongues by the laying on of hands. Ever since that blessing President Graff was able to speak Spanish. He blessed me similarly, but he had my companion bless me to feel the spirit as a burning in my bosom. Ever since that blessing, I have been able to feel the Holy Ghost as a burning in my bosom.

     The sensation comes rarely as I am use to. I felt it powerfully during sacrament meeting today, and it came because I was prompted to pray to feel the spirit in my morning prayer. I encourage you to pray to feel the spirit of God. The request for this broad revelation is complex though. One can pray to feel the comforter, but it will rarely visit you without a purpose. It mainly visits people to testify of Jesus Christ as the Savior of all men, and it may also abide within us to let us be a witness of Christ. Praying to feel the spirit without a purpose can be tricky because the purpose of his presence is uncertain. I felt that the spirit testified of the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement, and the Godhead today, but how can the Holy Ghost strengthen our testimony of our knowledge without having a knowledge of the fullness of the Gospel. It can testify of each aspect of the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement, and the Godhead as the individual knows it; although, it may not be whole yet. Many people testified of the relationship of the Holy Spirit with man in today's fast and testimony sacrament meeting. Prayer without a specific meaning rarely works. Praying to know the truth is so broad that one's relationship with God and his guidance would have to be very deep to have sequential revelations. A knowledge of the fullness of the Gospel is hard to come by without reading the word of God. The Book of Mormon is essential to obtaining the knowledge of the fullness of the Gospel, since it contains the fullness of the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. This book is unique for its ability to be a witness of the truth. The truth has many names such as the fullness of the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation. The Plan of Salvation are 'things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come' as I said before. The Book of Mormon is unique because the words therein were directed to be written by God by prophets. It was abridged by Mormon and translated by Joseph Smith by the direct guidance of God. Praying to know whether this book is true without a complete know of the content therein is realistic because these unique characteristics that it has. Knowledge of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is designed by God to also be a witness that the all the prophets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are true because Joseph Smith is the founding prophet of this church, and he translated the book only by the gift and power of God.

     Writing my testimony in this journal entry is not an excuse for not telling my testimony in fast and testimony meeting, and I had a trust issue in the guidance of the spirit that these complex relationships can be related well with my words, teaching my simple concept that a singular prayer can testify of all truth. The sensation of the burning in my bosom enlivened my intelligence, reminding me of the truthfulness of the Gospel. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is the uniting means of learning, communicating to everyone's souls. I should have gone up to teach my revelation in fast and testimony session because I can be the conduit of the God, speaking the words prompted to say to relate the concept that I was led to feel and teach because the Holy Ghost is the universal means of learning and revelation.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Post

"You can't win Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

-Ben Kenobi (Who is actually Obi-Wan Kenobi, but you're not supposed to know that)

Big Ben.

"That title is rather misleading." Or is it? "Yeah, this isn't your 4th Star Wars post. I mean, technically, the first one you did hardly had a central message so I'm hard pressed to even count it." Oh... Well, let me tell you about a little story about our Savior and big brother, Jesus Christ and his disciples. 

So what do Ben Kenobi and Jesus Christ have in common? "Ooo... I don't want to go there... I feel like we might be bordering on the blasphemous or at the very least, sacrilegious." Just hear me out. Now both were teachers. Christ prepared for His mortal ministry way before He started it, we know this for a fact. Everything He did from before He was born to as he was growing up was done to prepare Him for the lifesaving work He was sent here to do. 

I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world.

-Mosiah 4:7

So in Episode 4, we find Ben Kenobi who, if you haven't seen the prequels, shame on you is Obi-Wan from said movies. Now he went through this whole series of trials and stuffs like the birth of the empire, which was kind of a bummer for the Jedi Order. The extermination of the Jedi Order, which was more of a bummer for the Jedi Order, and the transformation of his not blood brother from a warrior of light, to a dark villain... (Curse you Satan...) All this, prepared him for what he had to do next, which was train Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader's son (Spoiler Alert Da-duh-duh!) to become the Jedi, not that the world deserved, but the one it needed. (That one was a Batman reference.) Things went rather rough for Luke at first, he just couldn't get the whole Force and Jedi thing down, but he endured, and with the help of his mentor, Ben, nothing could possibly stop them from saving the galaxy right?!

Ohh...

So yeah, there we find Ben being decimated by a lightsaber and all hope is lost right? WRONG! Cause the title of the movie is 'a NEW Hope', not 'a well, that sucks... There goes the universe... Hope.' So with the death of his mentor, Luke Skywalker is all alone with no one to teach him how to Jedi. Using the skills he was taught by Ben, even though at that point they made little sense, Luke continued on with the memory of his beloved friend. 

Alright, let's switch stories for a sec.

So before they became Apostles for the Lord Jesus Christ, most of them had nothing to do with religion. Some were fishermen, one was a publican (or a tax collector, and yes, they hated them at that time too.) and the others came from all facets of life. None of them fully knowing the marvelous work that was about to come forth among the children of men. They all left every worldly thing to follow Christ, and even though they had the GREATEST of all teachers, they found themselves not quite understanding the simple complexities of Christ's church. They were even given The Force- Er... Priesthood power as it says right here.

Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases

-Luke 9:1

Now although these apostles of Christ were with Him the entire time, they had little understanding of what was REALLY going on. They still had little faith and couldn't understand who Christ really was. There are many instances where Christ had to tell the apostles that they had little faith and that with Him, all things were possible, but they were still new at it so there's that. Even with all the miracles that Jesus did with the apostles, still they doubted. But they were in the presence of the Son of God so nothing really bad could happen right? I mean, as long as they had Christ, they were fine right?

Double Oh...

Both Luke and the apostles of Jesus Christ found themselves alone when their mentors passed this mortal coil. Alone, they had to find for themselves how to take on the world from the evil that was infesting it. But luckily for them, they each had gifts from their mentors to better face the cold and treacherous world. For Luke, it was a basic understanding of the Force, which if you're a Jedi, is pretty important to have. Well, so I've heard... It was through the force that Luke was able to communicate with his old mentor and how he was able to make his way to the rank of Jedi Master. 

For the apostles, they received the gift of the Holy Ghost which allowed them to always have the company of Christ to work miracles. They received the comforting spirit which meant that no matter what, they were never alone. Luckily, for them, before Christ made His atoning sacrifice, He gave them the same authority to act in His name so that they too could not only preach the gospel, but to bestow upon these people those same mighty miracles like healing the sick and making the lame walk. 

Lightsabers make A LOT of things epic.

Both of these stories have a common link. When they were in the presence of the master, they lacked faith and struggled in belief, but it was only when that mentor was taken that they could tap into their full potential and bring to pass salvation. In Star Wars, it was Luke being able to face his father and bringing him back to the light. (Spoiler alert)

But then again, Christ could flick a lightaber and it would
probably poke you in the eye. 

With the apostles of Christ, it was them being able to fully realize the joyful burden of discipleship and accepting death rather than bringing their head down and shame and denying Christ. They spread the gospel throughout all the known world, building the kingdom of Heaven with all their heart, might, mind and strength because they knew that Christ died for them, just like how He died for you and for me which is why we have to 'get up off of our thangs' and go do as the Lord commands! "Were you trying to make that rhyme?" Did it work? "No, but it was a decent try. 

first week of the new Transfer

hello everyone. well we've had a pretty good week we have two new investigators. the first is Pola she is from Mexico, she lives with a member and she took her to church one day and she liked the classes more than sacrament meeting, well because that day was fast and testimony meeting and she didn't enjoy it because she affirms the same conviction for her church being true. It didn't make much sense to her in that manner. Anyway she only goes to church when she is in Mexico, she is of some branch of Christianity. We think since we are Christian too she should come to our church because it is closer. However, she likes to go visit her family on the weekends since she works all day 5 times a week as a maid for the member., even though it means that she is slowly distancing herself from God. We taught her the restoration and it was great except she went off on a lot of tangents, but we didn't want to interrupt her, and tried the best we could to relate it to what we wanted her to understand like Joseph smith being a Prophet and how much God loves us that he will give us a guide in these days as in the days of old and asked her to meditate on that that knowledge can mean to her in her life. Since we know that reading and gaining a testimony of the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon to be the word of God is essential in knowing if everything else about the church is also true, we tried to have her know what it is and how it can help her in her life. She doesn't want to read anything else but the bible, and believes we "praise" Joseph Smith even after we explained that he was only an instrument in the lords hands to bring His  complete church back on earth. We decided that our next lesson would be to show her how the Bible and The Book of Mormon work together, and also answer her list of questions so we can research them together. It'll be fun we are excited :D They are both really sweet ladies they even gave us fresh eggs from their chickens and offered to show us how to cook tamales and homemade flour tortillas!!! yum

we also did service for the Muniz family wow they are splendid!! her here are some pictures

we taught a women named Beatriz she is a sweet sweet lady about late fifties. we went over to visit her and she told  us to come in so we came in and she told us to wait, so we were in the living room waiting awkwardly while she was being shown a presentation from a Cutco Rep in her kitchen. I took a peek to see who she was talking to. at first I didn't know it was for kitchen knives I thought she was buying a  weapon and planning a savage murder attack, so I thought this lady is probable a psycho and what have we gotten ourselves into?! but then after waiting and waiting some more I asked my companion if we should leave, she told me perhaps so I asked sister how long will you take, would you like us to come back a different day? she said yes I will probably be done in about 45minutes,so yes come back a different day please. weird right? if I didn't ask her she would've just had us waiting, haha people are so funny. so we went back a different day and did a get to know you /how to begin teaching. She loves Mormons because one time she was invited to go to a baptism and everybody went out of their way to introduce themselves to her and we so friendly, she said that that is the way we all need to love one another. She lost a 24 year old son and so we told her how this message will fill her with hope. she seems happier when we left, she said she will get baptized only if she gets a confirmation that it is true. Hurrah for Israel!! 

then we got feed a feast for break fast conchas( Mexican sweet bread) and pizza and tortas aka big Mexican grilled sandwhiches,,, so yum!

Happy 4th of July Week!!!

Heya Love! 

How was your week? How's your family? How are YOU!?

This week I have been doing a lot of reflecting. One night we went to try and visit some investigators and when we got there we sang for them and in return their Son Eli started playing the guitar and singing for us. Oh Man he sang Bob Marley's "Is this Love?" song and it was so good!!!! Oh I was so amazed at his talent but at the same time I caught myself not being as worried about the fact that we weren't suppose to be listening to worldly music like that. Oh it was sooo hard. I was really surprised at how hard that was for me. Even after we got home I kept thinking about it and how easy it was for me to get carried away with that song and completely lose focus on why I'm here.That was such a scary experience for me. Even though I was praying so hard to not think about that song it seemed like nothing was helping and it was hard because part of me wanted to entertain that song in my mind. I shared this with my companion and she kind of helped. During this whole experience I realized one thing. I realized my need for a continual spiritual nourishment to help me have the strength to continue on and not give in. I thought about a less active family we are trying to help get to the Temple. Their Dad Brother Tuiaana really wants his family to be there and so he's been trying to quit smoking and prepare to enter the Temple. He's been doing so good cutting down; but he mentioned how weak he feels when he's not smoking because his body still wants it.This experience helped me to realize how hard it was for him to not give in. I fasted to be able to overcome this weakness and something I've learnt is really to pray always. I realized that I couldn't do it on my own and I needed my Savior. I know that he lives and his love is real. I have come to rely on him so much. I've come to learn that  I really just gotta give my all to him and trust him and follow him. I definitely want to share this with Brother Tuiaana and his family.

Besides all of that news this week has been great. We found a couple of new investigators this week. Some of them live in a half way house (a house where the state helps to pay for people recovering from addictions to live in) we are teaching a lady named Debra who lives there and on Saturday we went by to teach her and found out that she had gone to the ER the night before and no ones' heard from her. We spoke with one of the room mates who helps run the place his name is Robert. While talking with Robert we learnt that he too was a recovering addict and is trying to change his life and find peace. We shared about the Atonement with him and he was willing to learn more and have us come back to teach him!!! (that was Miracle #1) We invited him to church and organized a member ride for him. The next day we went by to see if he was still up for church  but we came by and he wasn't home. His Roomies told us he had gone down the alley. We decided to go see and while walking back we met him with a friend walking back home ( Miracle #2) Robert said something else came up so he couldn't come so we decided to ask his friend if he wanted to come? His Friend Sammy said he was looking for some peace in his life so he said yes he'd come!!!! ( Miracle#3) Our member came to pick Sammy up and when we got to church we learnt that Sammy had brought another Roommate with him- Nicky!!! (Miracle#4) They stayed for all of church and loved it!!! This week has been filled with so many great miracles. I know that Heavenly Father truly has hastened his work!

Lots of Love!!!

Nadi

The Parable of the Feast!

*This parable was not of my own thinking, perhaps one day you will hear one of my parables, but today is not that day.

I'm trying to teach as Christ did.

Hey Reader, so not a lot of time today and I felt guilty for being late twice so I wanted to leave you with a quick parable that a member once told me that I thought was funny, clever, and well... Just read it. 

A certain man traveled far and fasted for many days and many nights in a far away land to better serve the Lord. At the end of his mighty fast, he found himself famished, and he, being in the wilderness, headed back to his home.

Along the way and being close to home, he met with a certain woman and he being hungered, asked the woman of her bread and water. She gave him of her own and the man, being filled, went along his way. As he arrived to his home, the man discovered the town had prepared a great feast for him in his honor, but he, being filled of bread and water, could not partake.

"You're gonna make me do this biblically aren't you...?" Please...? "Sigh... What meaneth these things which you speak...?"

Well, my beloved reader, it means to never settle with what first comes our way, especially if it's not as good as we would like it. In life, we will have to wait for many a day and night and we will be eager to partake of the first thing that comes our way. But, we being faithful, have much better things waiting for us than a simple meal of bread and water. If we do what is right, and wait the full amount of time, we will find that our feast will be waiting for us where we are supposed to be. 

Beware of Pricing: The Decoy Strategy

The Decoy Price Strategy is presenting in an advertisement three options, and two are the same price; however, one of the two similarly priced products is inferior. The product that is inferior and has an equal price is the decoy. Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist, did a study on an advertisement by the economist newspaper. They offered selling subscriptions for its online website for fifty-nine dollars; however, the other two options were 125 dollars for both online article access and the printed newspaper, or the printed newspaper alone. Dan found in his sample survey that sixteen percent would choose the online subscription, and the rest would choose the online and printed subscription. The decoy can be seen as the printed newspaper, since no one chose that option. Dan did the survey a second time without the decoy, finding that the online subscription would be prefered sixty-eight percent of the time. The decoy pricing strategy is clearly more profitable because the majority chose the more costly subscription price. The third option lets people ponder a more informed decision; however, the effect can be skewed to the hope of the corporation. I am pondering, showing the Apple website and their prices of the iPhone in our in class presentation. They showed three products, and I am surprised that they do not display the iPhone 5 with the iPhone 5s and 5c. Apple chose to show the iPhone 4s instead of the iPhone. There were many options for the comparison of the three products, but the pricing tells us what offer is the decoy, and what product that they are trying to sell. The two products that were the same price hinted me at that. The simplest option for the 5s had only 16 gigabytes of memory and a price of 199 dollars. I could tell that the 32G iPhone 5c is the decoy because it cost the same, and it looked a lot worse than the 5s. Appearance is important to the decoy pricing strategy. I was also surprised that they had a buy now button that did not indicate any specific one of the three, which can reveal the product that they plan to sell the most, and my suspicion was right. The 16G iPhone 5s was displayed first on the buy now link. This is one of many pricing strategies.

Postamorphosis

"I'm a beautiful butterfly!!!"

-Heimlich, you know, from 'A Bug's Life'

Take a good long look dear reader... That... was me about a year and a half ago... "Gross... Mustaches aren't really your thing huh?" Well, once upon a time I thought so...

Enjoy this gem while it lasts...

I guess in retrospect or hindsight or whatever you wish to call it, it was a bad idea, but hey, I thought I looked good. At least the mustache. I looked fantastic with beautiful long black locks but that's a story for another day. "Do I even want to know...?" Yeah, probably not. Well, there's a lot you can tell from the pictur- focus, keep reading... Okay, NOW look at it. There's a lot you can tell from the picture like- "That you can't grow facial hair to save your life?" Okay... I get it... It was bad... "Was it Halloween cause it looks like you're wearing those skeleton sleeve things." No, I'm actually that skinny, but that's neither here nor there.  

"So I don't get it. A while back, you told me you were a missionary or whatnot, but that's not what I imagined a missionary would look like. In fact, if someone who looked like that knocked on my door, I would probably laugh at his pathetic facial hair and then close the door." That was uncalled for...  But that's exactly right, I mean, if I saw someone who looked like that, and I did look like that so I know how it looks, I would be kind of freaked too, but that's where the whole change thing comes in play.

Everything I described in one neat picture!

So in the story of A Bug's Life, we have Heimlich whose quote is right up there, and who's likeness I share in no way, shape or form. It's mostly the fact that he's a caterpillar and I'm not. Kind of like in Lion King when Raffiki's all like, "It mean's you're a baboon, and I'm not." "Neither here nor there?" No it's sort of here, but not quite there... So Heimlich as previously stated, is a caterpillar who just can't wait to become a "beautiful butterfly." He's also German for some reason, oh and he eats a lot but if there's one thing I learned from the book, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar,' It's that they eat a lot. "So where does the whole change thing come into play?" Oh right, so much like every other caterpillar, Heimlich can't wait to become a butterfly cause, well, It beats being a caterpillar and then, at the very end, after being in his cocoon for an indiscernible amount of time, he emerges. Of course it's a kid's movie so he looks pretty much the same but with tiny wings but he's happy so that's important right? "Ehh..." Well, much like in the movie, in real life, becoming a butterfly is important to a caterpillar's life. It's the end goal, but it's not easy, it requires for it to completely change everything about it and there's no going back but it's for the best and therefore, it undergoes a metamorphosis. 

So where does that mind-numbing picture of me come in? "That's a great question, but let me guess, it's neither here nor there?" Actually it's up there. C'mon reader, keep up! "Sigh..." So, rewind a year and half ago and we meet Elder Lopez, pre-Elder, but because I haven't heard my first name in awhile and it sounds weird to me now, we'll refer to me as, Elder Lopez. So year and a half ago I worked at Subway doing tons of Awesome! things with Awesome! people which included, dressing up as a giant sub and dancing in a street corner to attract customers, and no, that's not an expression. Maybe one day you'll see the spectacle that was, Subman, but not today. So there I was being Awesome! looking gnarly and working with not very much desire to go on a mission. As you could tell, I already didn't look the part and I was on my way to Assistant Manager which was a pretty big deal for me cause not only did I have a job, but I was good at it and was climbing up the ladder. But, one day, I received an answer that I should go on a mission which kinda shook my world, so I had to take the necessary steps in order to make that monumental leap.

Now Pause.

So here I am, doing my own thing with the freedom I wanted, and I had to give it all up. Sure i didn't have A LOT, but what I DID have, I valued. "So why'd you give it all up?" Well, dear reader, short answer is that I love God more than I loved anything I had. Yeah, it was a major sacrifice, and yeah I miss some of it but there is never a day that passes that I regret making that decision cause I know that not only was my decision the right one, but it was the decision that God needed me to make. So much like in the scene from 'V for Vendetta', I shaved my head, (and yes, much like Natalie Portman in that movie I wept for the loss of my long beautiful hair) brought a razor to that awful sliver of hair I called my mustache, figured I'd shower for once (that one's a joke, I always shower...) and donned a suit and before you know it, this was how I ended up. Look how happy I look!

What can I say? I clean up well.
Okay... You can stop looking...

In the end, much like Heimlich, well I guess unlike Heimlich, I changed everything to fulfill such a sacred call and like a beautiful butterfly, it ended for the best, but my story isn't an unusual one, it's an Awesome! one, but not an unusual one. For a similar story, click here!
You're still looking at the first picture aren't you...? "I just can't keep my eyes off it... Can I put it in my wallet?" No... 

Transfer News and Some Fun in the Sun!

 You will never guess what President called me to do! I just got training a missionary for three months, now Sister Baros is off to train herself and becoming a sister training leader, oh I'm so proud of my baby! that same day she also had a heat flash and was so thirsty but she only had to go to the bathroom tons of times and still l couldn't quench her thirst, then I had her lay down and put some peppermint on her and another sister put her wrists in ice cold water, then we asked her if she was ok but she started crying, haha I remember that feeling you just sort of get a bit delusional and have emotional waves, but don't worry this happened a bit before she got her new assignments. then president told me that I would be training a new missionary as well, crazy. Im excited tho, although I wanted to be with an experienced missionary but I also see the benefits from training, especially to continue to put into extra practice all the awesome stuff ive learned with my last with a fresh new moldable companion. Plus I know this is a sacred trust from the Lord, he knew that I would do my best and that I will help her become a powerful missionary, which then will be beneficial to the whole mission because we all influence on each other and learn from one another, I know that as I do my best just as I did with Hermana baros they will become great leaders and be great examples of humility and love for others. The lord has so much in mind for me, I cant wait to see the trails that await us these next few transfers, because although they are hard and at times not pleasing they are learned from and we are more converted as we rely on the saviors teachings.

hello my friends these are some pictures of the last sisterhood night with all my house mates, the really gorgeous one is sister Garrett, I also trained her.

Hello Beautiful!

Can you believe it's the almost the last week of June already?!?! AH! Time is flying so fast!!!! How are you holding up? 

This week was a good week it was long but I am slowly but surely improving (I think) on being more open with my companion. It's definitely getting better. I am learning so much about working together and relying on each other. I've come to realize that I love being independent and not having to rely on other people. I was fasting this week so that Heavenly Father would help me to know how I can help our companionship grow closer together and become more successful. I learnt alot during and after my fast. As I was reading through our Missionary handbook I desired to become a more Christlike companion I guess I never really looked at being a senior companion as a leader but as I reread the handbook and pondered upon it. I learnt this: 
"Successful missionary work and appropriate missionary conduct begin in the companionship under the leadership of the senior companion.The assignment to serve as a leader is a sacred trust from the Lord through the mission president, and both the president and the Lord will receive an accounting ofthis responsibility"
I realized that I had a responsibility to be a good example and influence on my companion. The Lord and President Weidman trust me to be her companion. I guess I never really considered being a senior companion being much of a leader. I'm glad I was led and guided to learn this. I then was reading an ensign article and came across an Article titled "Christlike Leadership" WOW! I was in awe at how well Heavenly Father knows me and is eager to help me. I love all that I am learning. One thing I loved was how the Savior allowed his disciples the opportunity to grow as they were learning. He never just did the work for them but he allowed them to learn for themselves. He was totally selfless. I want to be like that.

Last week we also fasted with our Investigator Thomas. He and his wife (who he's not married to yet) are having some problems and so we offered to fast with them. We really didn't know how else we could've helped them but I am so glad to know that this is the Lord's work and we don't have to figure it all out on our own. Thomas has such great desires to come closer to God and change and it just makes him so sad that Victoria (he's wife to be) is not quite on the same page yet. For Father's day their kids were drinking and he was so sad and angry too that his wife allowed them to do that! Oh please pray for them. After we fasted we were so amazed at how Thomas was dedicated to reading his Book of Mormon. We shared scriptures with and it just blew my mind to see how the spirit was able to help him apply the scriptures to his life. I love the Book of Mormon!!!! What a great Miracle. On Sunday we texted them and didn't really get a response. Then while we were sitting in church Thomas, and Victoria and their grand baby walked in.They came to church!!!! That was such a great Blessing!!! We didn't even need to ask them. I love the Spirit:)

We recently just had a training and President Weidman promised that if we applied all that we had just learnt we would be able to find more people to teach and reach our 20 conversations goal. We have been doing our best to apply that and last Saturday we went out of our apartment and in my heart I remembered Elder Ballard's talk that we as missionaries should go out with the Faith in our hearts that we will find people to teach and help them on their way back to their Heavenly Father. I loved that promise. That Day we worked really hard and I could so tell that the both of us were doing all we can to make sure we worthy of the Spirit's companionship. We found 4 new investigators that day. That was a Miracle and a blessing!!! We were both so grateful. 

Have a great one, Friends! 

I love you!!!
Sister Koroitamana

June 22, 2014

     This week was mellow. We did not do anything this weekend. The Track and Field finals is next week, and I finally took control of my training, running about thirty miles. I only ran four days of the week because I have been a workaholic the past couple days. I never been a workaholic. I am going to have to learn a time balancing act of the never-ending work of an artist and the people in our lives. I would work diligently as I was hanging out with my friends, watching the world cup or playing video games. After writing about track and my workaholic experience, I will write about interest group efforts of this past week.

     Track has been disappointing. I went to the meet yesterday, preparing to run the 5K, and they were setting up for the steeplechase again. I thought that they would be alternating each week the 5K and steeplechase. I did not even stay around to watch my teammates run. They didn't offer the two mile race that I was aiming to accomplish goals in, and they don't even race the event that I have compromised my goals to be. I am pondering not running during the final meet. My competition has been weak all semester, usually having only one runner chasing me.

     I would like to share pictures of the tenant improvement that I designed. My teacher and teacher's aide were disregarding this assignment as one just to learn the program of REVIT, but learning design skills are important for architects. I am going to work proudly on my first official design project in BYUI, not letting my instructors to limit my effort on it. A tenant improvement is a temporary interior development for business owners to work in a building that is not completely constructed. It is also known as a TI. I originally planned to have the glass second half of the interior partition wall to be curved inward at the top, making the executive and the staff office like a dome. I was hoping that the parabolic shape of the glass would trap in more natural like from the outside in the building. The teacher aide said that task is too advanced for me at this time with all the due dates. It's not time now to learn it. I did make the glass curve with my curved walls, but I don't think that the glass is actually curved. It is just straight glass aligned with the curved walls according to angles. I don't have any lights in it yet because the reflected ceiling plan is due Wednesday, and I need to submit the floor plan, TI call out, and a door schedule on Monday. Those chairs are stretched because of the view. They are not actually benches. When I visited the Big D Signature office, they boasted a very open office, so the associates in the building can relate more easily. I made the walls completely glass framed with mullion between the executive office and conference room; and the staff office and the general office. Big D found transparency beneficial. I could have the mullion walls be completely retractable instead of permanent, but I have not figured that out yet. It would give the executive more room in his office. This is the view to the conference room from the executive office. The executive office is packed with two bookshelves, a credenza, a settee, two side chairs, a desk and executive chair. I am having the couch and chairs face each other as well as a monitor mounted on the wall for a display of visual aid tools and development. Space is so cramped that the executive has a student desk. I imagine that he will have the latest technology, so his desk is optional. He can use a tablet or wireless keyboard to access the monitor. When I was looking up monitors or TVs, I was surprised to find a forty-thousand dollar TV with a 85" screen from Samsung. I never imagined such a product before. 

     Group efforts has been interesting this week. My week ended bad because a due date surprised us. We needed to come up with 40 resources for a career research project. We failed at that, and we rushed an assignment, getting a bad grade in our lab. The lab for my Construction 120 class went well though. We had to construct a small set of stairs. Efficiency was a goal, and we did it intelligently. I took some pictures. There were candid photographs, so they are not taken well. I even stood on the stairs. Another experience that I had in a group setting that was interesting is an activity from FHE. It was part of a school assignment for the FHE group leader. We had two decks of cards, and one was set in a pattern on a table in the next room by the group leader. We had to work as a team to duplicate the pattern in another room. The group leader gave each person one of two roles. One was a team member, and the other was saboteur. Each person had about a minute to go to the table to memorize the pattern, and they would guide the group to organizing the cards when they returned. People in the group were able to vote members of the team out for being saboteur. During the activity, each member went up, and I could detect that no one had ill-motives. Members on the team insisted that a saboteur existed among us; although, we did realize that it is possible that no one may be a saboteur. A roommate decided that he could not trust anyone. The slightest odd behavior rose suspicion. Since I am not a normal person, odd teamwork skills brought me under damnation; although, I was not a saboteur. I was voted out so fast that I did not even realize it until they skipped over my turn to lead the crew with what I saw. Two other girls voted out a guy, but it was for fun. They conspired against him before we even were given roles. I thought that my roommate could be a saboteur because he was breeding distrust and leading the crew, but I realized that he would have to be an amazing actor. Unless ill-motives were obvious in people's actions, I was not going to judge anyone as a saboteur. It ended up that no one was a saboteur. I feel that this can be applied to people with trust issues and inferiority complexes. I had an inferiority complex when I returned from my mission. I felt like no one was really my friend, and they were either good friends or trying to avoid me and get me out of their lives. This illustrates that people can act in ways that may confuse a person, but that individual should not assume anything; unless, he is blatantly, trying to misuse you or some other ill-motive. I also learned that my input may not be presented in a way that people understand is good. When we were building the stairs, I repeatedly suggested that we need to subtract the header board width from the stair length by asking "Aren't we supposed to cut the header board width from the top stair?" They disregarded it though until the teacher instructed us to cut out that width. My suggestions in the saboteur card game were not understood/respected. I expect that it is because I have learning disabilities, and I don't work the same as normal people.