¡Hola Fonzfam!
It finally rained for the first time in over a month! It was only for 5 minutes, but it felt soooo good! It's just been so hot and dry that the green color of Oregon has quickly faded away. A little relief was welcomed by everyone. But it looks like it's going to get near 100°F by tomorrow. The California smoke has made the sun really red and orange in the evenings, but nothing compared to last year when it was snowing ash from the local fires. We'll keep praying for all of those affected and for those fighting for their houses and belongings. On a more positive note haha we had a crazy awesome week and so today was very anticipated.
One of the young women in our ward invited her friend to an Family Home Evening this last week where we were able to share a message about the Plan of Salvation. This friend of hers has been going through some hard trials recently with the declining health of her cancer ridden dad. After explaining the Plan of Salvation we had each person tell their favorite part about it, then it was her turn. This 15-year-old told us how she loved the part where we can reunite with our families after we pass from this life. We could tell that the Spirit was working deep within her. The next day we got a text from the young woman who hosted the Family Home Evening and she said that her friend later told how much she loved that message and how excited she was to read from the Book of Mormon that we gave her. God is really preparing His children through their trials to receive the gospel into their lives as we have so far seen with this friend.
We were heading to contact a former when we stopped to OYM a TSA guy named Chris who was getting his mail. (Btw, he said that he saw all our friends at the airport going home this last July:) Anyways, he said he was actually wanting to check out the Book of Mormon sometime but just didn't have one. After we gave him one and did the whole shpill, he flipped through it and said that he was definitely going to "annotate the crap out of it." Then he went on and said that he would love to invite us over for dinner and to have a conversation about the gospel with his wife. Our jaws dropped.
Miracles have not ceased. Although there are many miracles, we still have our hard times. We stopped teaching a couple of our main people because they told us how they simply don't have a belief a God and they don't feel that they need to. It makes me sad but I know our time wasn't wasted because we helped them learn more about Christ's gospel and Atonement. And whether they recognized it or not, they had the Spirit testifying to them every time. Soon down the road they'll be more ready and willing to accept the gospel as God manifests Himself in His mysterious ways.
Our mission is moving to the next level, especially after the spiritual feast we had this last week Elder Pearson of the 70 who came to tour the mission. He lead the training of our zone conference and he helped all of us leaders understand our roles as the beginning of the mission culture. I'm hoping every missionary will answer the call that not only he made to us to rise up, but the call that Heavenly Father has made to each of us. We learned what it truly means to be Christ's disciple. We learned how much of a difference that giving 10% more would make in our lives. We learned how faith starts with a desire then moves on to a hope, a belief, an assurance, and then to complete trust in the Lord. There was so much we learned that now we get to spend the next month or two digesting and applying all of it.
Wow. I just went over 3 Nephi 11 in my reading of the Book of Mormon and it must be the spirit of the mission because this section of the BoM has never hit me like it has before. This is my 6th time reading the BoM and with the new perspectives that I've gained on my mission I feel a more personal connection to those Nephites as they are hearing the voice of the Savior after experiencing some horrific trials. As Christ speaks the noise turns to silence, the fear turns to peace, the confusion turns to calmness, and the uncertainty turns to hope. This illustrates how I can turn to Christ in order to receive that silence from the world, peace, calmness, and hope too. I love the Book of Mormon, I really do:) I also love all of you so much! Have a great rest of your summer and do all you can to make the best memories!
Love,
Elder Fonnesbeck
It finally rained for the first time in over a month! It was only for 5 minutes, but it felt soooo good! It's just been so hot and dry that the green color of Oregon has quickly faded away. A little relief was welcomed by everyone. But it looks like it's going to get near 100°F by tomorrow. The California smoke has made the sun really red and orange in the evenings, but nothing compared to last year when it was snowing ash from the local fires. We'll keep praying for all of those affected and for those fighting for their houses and belongings. On a more positive note haha we had a crazy awesome week and so today was very anticipated.
One of the young women in our ward invited her friend to an Family Home Evening this last week where we were able to share a message about the Plan of Salvation. This friend of hers has been going through some hard trials recently with the declining health of her cancer ridden dad. After explaining the Plan of Salvation we had each person tell their favorite part about it, then it was her turn. This 15-year-old told us how she loved the part where we can reunite with our families after we pass from this life. We could tell that the Spirit was working deep within her. The next day we got a text from the young woman who hosted the Family Home Evening and she said that her friend later told how much she loved that message and how excited she was to read from the Book of Mormon that we gave her. God is really preparing His children through their trials to receive the gospel into their lives as we have so far seen with this friend.
We were heading to contact a former when we stopped to OYM a TSA guy named Chris who was getting his mail. (Btw, he said that he saw all our friends at the airport going home this last July:) Anyways, he said he was actually wanting to check out the Book of Mormon sometime but just didn't have one. After we gave him one and did the whole shpill, he flipped through it and said that he was definitely going to "annotate the crap out of it." Then he went on and said that he would love to invite us over for dinner and to have a conversation about the gospel with his wife. Our jaws dropped.
Miracles have not ceased. Although there are many miracles, we still have our hard times. We stopped teaching a couple of our main people because they told us how they simply don't have a belief a God and they don't feel that they need to. It makes me sad but I know our time wasn't wasted because we helped them learn more about Christ's gospel and Atonement. And whether they recognized it or not, they had the Spirit testifying to them every time. Soon down the road they'll be more ready and willing to accept the gospel as God manifests Himself in His mysterious ways.
Our mission is moving to the next level, especially after the spiritual feast we had this last week Elder Pearson of the 70 who came to tour the mission. He lead the training of our zone conference and he helped all of us leaders understand our roles as the beginning of the mission culture. I'm hoping every missionary will answer the call that not only he made to us to rise up, but the call that Heavenly Father has made to each of us. We learned what it truly means to be Christ's disciple. We learned how much of a difference that giving 10% more would make in our lives. We learned how faith starts with a desire then moves on to a hope, a belief, an assurance, and then to complete trust in the Lord. There was so much we learned that now we get to spend the next month or two digesting and applying all of it.
Wow. I just went over 3 Nephi 11 in my reading of the Book of Mormon and it must be the spirit of the mission because this section of the BoM has never hit me like it has before. This is my 6th time reading the BoM and with the new perspectives that I've gained on my mission I feel a more personal connection to those Nephites as they are hearing the voice of the Savior after experiencing some horrific trials. As Christ speaks the noise turns to silence, the fear turns to peace, the confusion turns to calmness, and the uncertainty turns to hope. This illustrates how I can turn to Christ in order to receive that silence from the world, peace, calmness, and hope too. I love the Book of Mormon, I really do:) I also love all of you so much! Have a great rest of your summer and do all you can to make the best memories!
Love,
Elder Fonnesbeck
Elder Pearson and Elder Bangerter of the 70 joined us for Zone Conference and MLC.
Saw this white board and had to take advantage of the opportunity;)
We got a new car so we needed to install a hitch for our bike rack. Elder Clements threw a t-shirt over his white one and got under with one of the people we're teaching who helped us out.
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