Back In The Islands...Sort Of

 What's going on everybody! 

Pro Tip: When walking in the project's make sure to dress like a missionary because everyone respects you haha.

Here's the update of "quarantine" status:

We are no longer consider quarantined anymore which is super nice. Things are pretty opened up for us right now. We are allowed to do everything in person right now except eat with people still (soon to change). We are allowed to knock on people's doors but only if the persons door we are knocking has been taught previously by missionaries. But hey we get outside a whole lot which I'm happy about. 

We finally got some in person exchanges going on again and wow they are nice. On Saturday my Tongan brotha Elder Olevao came up from Jersey to do a little exchange with us and it was super nice having a Poly comp again, it made it feel like I was back in the island's. Even though it was only a day, we sure made the most of it and went to work. 

We are teaching a lot of super sweet people right now and they all are progressing pretty well. We are finally starting to see the results of the work we have out in because the area is starting to pick up pace which is super nice because when I got here the area was pretty slow. But that's not anything a little work can't change.

There is a talk given by Elder Uchtdorf from October 2012 called, "Of Regrets and Resolutions." I encourage you all to go and read it but I just wanted to share a part of it with y'all,

"One day we will take that unavoidable step and cross from this mortal sphere into the next estate. One day we will look back at our lives and wonder if we could have been better, made better decisions, or used our time more wisely.

We definitely have all already looked back from where we are right now and have thought of things we could have done better, or things we did great. He invites us to take for advantage of every single day so we will not miss an opportunity that will never come back. But go and read it because he tells it much better than me!

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2012/10/of-regrets-and-resolutions?lang=eng

I hope you all have a great week and remember to keep on Smiling!

Tangiringkami ni kabane 

Tia boo moa

Elda Jeppson

Howdy folks

Elder Glauser and Elder Olevao

Elder Olevao, Roundy, Glauser, Kelsey and I 

How To Get Out Of A Ticket...Guaranteed

 How's it going everybody! This past week was a good one and very busy which was awesome. The work is starting to pick up pace over here which is making things a little more interesting and a little more awesome! But let's just jump right into it;

I guess we can start off with how to get out of a ticket 101. So here's how it all started. We dropped off some Elders at their apartment and maybe made it 100 yards out of their complex when I got pulled over. Not even 2 hours earlier I was telling my companions that I have never been pulled over in my life so I guess that was karma haha. Anyways, the officer came and knocked on the window asked for my license and what not and asked if I knew what I did. I told him I did not but I said that we are missionaries for our church and we are on the phone saying a prayer with a friend who is going through some hard times. He handed back my license and told us to have a good night. Moral of the story is, when you get pulled over hurry and call someone and start saying a prayer with them haha.

We recently found this super awesome family and they just absolutely love the gospel. They call us their "Church People" whenever they see us and they love hearing about our message. So we are stoked about that. 

Here's a little quote that I came across this past week from Joseph Smith giving advice to Elder George A. Smith, "He told me I should never get discouraged, whatever difficulties might surround me. If I was sunk in the lowest pit of Nova Scotia and all the Rocky Mountains piled on top of me, I ought not to be discouraged but hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage and I should come out on the top of the heap at last.”

Pretty cool aye?! No matter what our life challenges are we are always able to get through them as we rely on Christ!

Well that's about all, Remember to keep on smiling and make sure to keep it real!

Tangiringkami ni kabane 

Tia boo moa

Elda Jeppson

Pray fun!


Massive Bday Cookie! 

Elder Maluenda, Roundy and I 

The making of a video 

Checking Off Boxes...

 What is going on everybody🤙🏽 This past week was a busy one filled with yard work, lessons  and the coming of a new month (the best month ha) But really, this past week was nice because I guess you can say that we are officially out of quarantine! I can finally check off that box on my bucket list that says, "sit inside for 11 months" haha. It's honestly quite the accomplishment if I must say haha jokes.

There is this lady that we have been talking to on the phone for about a month now and we were finally able to meet her in person. She wanted to meet us at a diner because it was next door to her work. Now a little background, we as missionaries still can't eat with people just because of covid restrictions. We pulled up to the diner, called her to let her know we were there, and then she said "come inside we are here with your dessert." On our way to the door I started thinking of "excuses" I could say that would allow me to not eat any of the desserts. We sat down and talked with her and her husband and they are the sweetest couple. They are in the 60's about and are really interested in finding a new church. We had a nice conversation with them about what we as missionaries do, and what our beliefs are. Then the moment came we were hoping wouldn't come. They asked us to go look at the dessert counter and grab one. Long story short, I told them I was gluten free (got me out of it no problemo haha) unfortunately Elder Glauser couldn't get out of it so he had to eat a dessert Haha.

Two of our friends came to church and it was awesome! One of them wants to get baptized here in the next couple weeks which is exciting and our other friend is close to baptism. The work in our area is picking up pace. We have a solid teaching pool filled with some awesome people. 

Another highlight was getting to do some good ol' yard work on a Saturday morning. I never thought I would say this but it was nice being able to mow a lawn and wack some weeds haha. -Pro tip: never buy a plug in lawn mower or weed wacker.- We got in contact with this lady because she saw one of our service ads that we out out on facebook. She has some health problems that constricts her from doing lots of things like yard work. Before we got started on the yard it looked like it hadn't been touched in a years. Everything was over grown and there was stuff everywhere. But no need to worry because we got that yard lookin nice and perdy. It always brings joy into my life being able to help people out like that and seeing the joy that comes into their lives from it. 

Here's a little Scripture:

Isaiah 40:31

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Trust in the Lord Y'all!

Well that's the week. Pretty darn awesome one aye!? Remember to keep on smiling and make it a good week

Tangiringkami ni kabane 

Tia boo moa

Elda Jeppson

#Blessed

Elder Jorgensen and I 

Classic Walmart Shenanigans 

Birthday Dinner at Hudson Taco

20!! 

Downtown Newburg 

He Still Loves Us

 Mauri Everyone! This week was an all around pretty wholesome week if I might say. There were some good laughs shared and some awesome spirit filled lessons. Let's just jump right into the week:

We are slowly opening more and more out here in the good ol state of New York (as missionaries at least). We just got allowed to be able to go stop by people's house that we haven't been able to get in contact with without having an existing appointment set up. That has been pretty fun. You've got to love the good ol' door slam haha. I haven't had to many door slammed on me in my mission so far because my last mission didn't really have doors to knock on haha and we have been inside for the other majority of my time here so far. There's just something about someone closing the door on you that just gets you laughing haha or maybe that's just me. But we were able to stop by this less active part member families house on Friday night and they are the coolest people. 

We haven't been able to get in contact with them since I have been in this area so it was a huge blessing that we got opened up enough to be able to go stop by their house. The wife is a member but her husband and her daughter are not. Her daughter is 11 and wants to get baptized and her husband is super supportive of everything she wants to do in the church. We got to know the wife pretty well because her husband wasn't home from work yet and her daughter was elsewhere as well. We had a nice hour long conversation with her and she told us that we need to come back again which was awesome to hear. Definitely a little miracle right there.

Here is an awesome Scripture that I was studying this week. Moroni 7: 29, "...My beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men."

I have met so many people who believe that the heavens are sealed and revelation and miracles have stopped in our day. I have never understood why that is a belief because those people also believe that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Well if the heavens are closed but God is unchangeable, that would make God not a God because he would be changing. If God is unchangeable that would mean that Revelation continues, that there are still living prophets on this earth and that he still Loves us! It definitely super comforting to know that he is still continuing to guide us!

That was the week folks! Remember to keep on smiling!

Tangiringkami ni kabane

Tia boo moa

Elda Jeppson

The other District 

Elder Young, Delancey and I 

Some Nice Ribs 

One down, one to go 

Our Great Adventure

 What is going on everyone! Twas a pretty good week this last one was. Spring has come, trees are blooming, the Sun is shining, and the Hudson Valley is starting to live up to its reputation. We had the opportunity to have a general authority come to our mission (virtually still) and give us trainings throughout the week and it was so awesome, but I'll get to that in a second so let's jump in:

Where do I begin hmmm... oh I know! Monday night we had an fun lesson with this older couple at there house. A little background on them, they aren't members but absolutely love the missionaries. They have been having them over for a couple of years now and treat us like we are there kids which is always nice. We did a little Bible study with them on the Beatitudes and they loved it.

Mission Tour:

 Elder Bennett who is the area President came and gave trainings to our mission through this past week. That involved three 2 hour long zoom calls with one 4 hour long one. But that didn't really phase me at all because he gave such amazing trainings. How we do missionary work and what missionary work is is taking a big ol' shift. I wouldn't say its changing per say, but adapting to how the world is changing. And the 6 short days it has been in play has brought some amazing miracles. I'll share one short miracle with you all. Elder Bennett invited us after the first day to pray more times in a day then we ever have before so we took his invitation. We set a goal to say a prayer before and after every contact we made, after we planned what message we were going to share with a person to see if that's what we should still share and for whatever else we were doing. As we did that we noticed that people were answering off the charts, it was amazing! 

There is a video that the church put out a couple months ago about a guy training to run a 100 mile race in the desert. He talks about how everyone thought he was crazy and how they laughed at him for trying to do this seemingly impossible task. I'm going to pause right here for a second and tell you to think back on President Nelson's talk about how we can move mountains in our lives. Did you do that? Good, let's move on. This guy continues to train and for the first couple weeks of running early mornings in the desert he felt amazing. Then he started running later in the day and he said, "I felt something I have never felt before. The desert does unimaginable things." Thirsty, hot and sweaty as can be he felt as if he was not capable of accomplishing this. He turned to God in prayer and asked for strength and realized that he was looking at this all the wrong way. He said, "Our Great Adventure (life) isn't a sprint, but a marathon. Here I was expecting a flat easy course but it's not that way whatsoever. But as we turn to God (have faith, refer to President Nelson's talk) all things are possible.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/inspirational-messages/2021-01-0010-your-great-adventure-overcoming-lifes-obstacles-1080p?lang=eng

I hope you all have a great week and Remember to keep Smiling!

Tangiringkami ni kabane ao Tia boo moa!

Elda Jeppson

Elder Glausser, Me, Elder Roundy 

Funny Picture

The Stoplight Bible Handoff...

 Hello Everyone! I hope y'all had a great week filled with smiles and fun times. This week was a pretty good one for sure so let's just jump right in:

We have this couple we are teaching right and they just absolutely love missionaries. I can't remember if I have already told you about them but, a little background is they are super nice people and super devoted to their religion. This last Monday we had a super awesome lesson with them that was started to get the wheels turning inside their heads. A couple weeks ago they mentioned they had a lot of questions about our church but would save them for another time, so our plan for last Monday was to sit and answer all of their questions. To their surprise we answered all of them so simply that there was no more confusion. The whole time we were answering their questions/teaching them about the gospel, I could see both of them really pondering what we were saying. The wheels started turning and things started to make more and more sense to them, but, they didn't want to accept that just yet haha. It is so awesome to see how the spirit works on people and how only the Spirit can change someone's heart.

I forgot to mention this part last week. We have this little poster taped to the inside of our back window in our car that says, "Free Bibles" just as another way to come in contact with more people. Well we were waiting at stoplight about to turn into Walmart when this man pulled up beside us and asked if we had any bibles left? We told him we did and we jumped out into the intersection to give him one haha. He was super excited and thanked us a couple times.  Definitely one of those awesome little experiences that makes everything worth it for sure.

Here is an awesome Scripture that I came across this past week,

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." -John 16:33

Isn't that just an amazing scripture?? 

Remember to keep on smiling everyone and I hope you all have a great one!

Tangiringkami ni kabane!

Tia boo moa

Elda Jeppson

Our Pday 

Elder Johnson and I reunited once again 

Elder Roundy, Elder Freeman, Me, Elder Kockevar, Elder Glauser and Elder Brown 

Farm Shenanigans 

Conference, Easter, April...Oh My!

 Mauri Mauri ingkami and Happy Easter! Can you believe that another general conference has come and gone? I sure can't, but I can say that it was a great one. Let just jump right into the week:

Man wasn't General Conference just amazing!? Every talk seemed to answer every question I had which went to show me that there was some divine play in all that. It was cool to see how the Atonement, Resurrection, and being Charitable to other people was brought up by pretty much every person. One of my favorite quotes comes from Elder David A. Bednar and it says,

"Gospel Principles are for me and you what a helm is to a ship. Correct principles enable us to find our way and to stand firm, steadfast  and immovable so we do not lose our balance and fall in the raging latter-day storms of darkness and confusion."

That's pretty powerful!!  I invite you all to think about that and evaluate your life to see how you can better implement gospel principles into your lives.

One of the big highlights of the week is that we just got allowed to do as many in person lesson a day as we want! We can't street contact, or start conversations with people yet, but hey as long as we can do in person lessons I'm not complaining. We also got fed pretty much every day this week which is always a plus.

That's pretty much the week, Easter, General Conference, and it becoming April (which still is crazy to me how fast time is flying by) Remember to keep on smiling and make it a great week!

Tangiringkami ni Kabane 

Tia boo moa!

Elda Jeppson

Me, Elder Roundy, Elder Glausser in front of a funky house 

Looking over West Point military academy 

One of our Districts