Week 13: A Week of Change

Whelp, today was transfers for The Oregon Eugene Mission so I am not able to write a whole ton but I am excited to announce that I am staying in Sutherlin for at least one more transfer. And my new companion is Elder Tonini from, you guessed it Minot, North Dakota! Of and also I learned that people on Oregon can not drive. 

It took us about 30 minutes to go 2 miles so we were almost late to get elder Scott to transfers. Oh well live and let learn. Well until next week, love you all. Keep on keepin on!

Week 14: A Week of Highs and Lows

First off let me start by saying that I am absolutely exhausted.... I have never worked as hard as I have this week while on the mission. Alright where to start.... Well I have a new companion, His Name is Elder Jacob Romney Tonini, he likes long walks on the beach, and; no I'm just kidding... He is from "Texas, but my parents live in North Dakota". Fun Fact His Dad actually stood in the circle to set me apart as a Misterary (Missionary) Ummm, what else.... Oh! He has been on his Mission for 18 Months, and is very good at the missionary stuff or whatever it is we do for two years. Ok well you probs want to know what else is going on in my life... We too bad it's classified, lol jk 😋

Alrighty, well to start off on Tuesday we went finding and just went ham on clearing out the Area Book of former investigators... Which is fun, alot of them just don't want to have anything to do with us because missionaries in the past would just stop visiting with them; basically they dropped the investigator with out telling the investigator... Got to love telestial missionaries. Then went to a couple lessons and Elder Tonini said that he has never seen a Missionary as young as me take such a large role in lessons, so what I have learned is that my trials of being the only missionary teaching lessons in Sutherlin has helped jump start me. Unfortunately Elder Tonini has told me that I lack some of the basics like planning and reporting on lessons correctly, so I'm gonna have to work on that,it's ok I'm a fast learner 😉. 

Wednesday it was the same old, same old... Volunteering at the Food Pantry and at the Soup Kitchen, but the cool part is that we found a new investigator and got a referral... The referral actually came from someone that works for the Church in Utah; he was referring his Aunt, who, we volunteer with at the soup kitchen. Apparently she has read the Book of Mormon and knows that it is true, but doesn't want to change this late in life (she is like 87).

Thursday was full of Finding.. We went Tracting, Former Finding, and Part-Member Hunting. let's just say I'm beat.

Friday was meetings followed by meetings followed by meetings, then we went out to do... You guessed it missionary work. We taught a couple lessons, gave a blessing (I said it). That is my Second One I have given. Then we went finding again. Let's just say I thought I knew what it meant to go finding, but I was dead wrong. It is a lot of work to stay perky and upbeat after facing rejection, and that brings up another thing, I am shocked by how many "Christians" are just crass, rude, and completely don't act like Christians. Oh well, all we really can do is bring the choice to them, we can't force them to listen.

On the Great Saturday we went and shared #ASaviorisBorn with Members and asked for referrals, it worked fairly well, can't complain. It was the first time that I had done it, so it was kinda strange. Then Elder Tonini thought that it would be a great idea to get sick :( and so we had to go home for the rest of the evening 😷. 

All in All my week was pretty Great... We also set a record for number of lessons taught in a week in Sutherlin in the last 6 Months, so that was pretty awesome. Guys, this missionary stuff isn't too bad... lol. Well remember that God loves you and that I pray for y'all daily. Love you, have a Great Week and don't lose the Faith

Week 12: I Love to See The Temple

Monday Nov 23, 2015

First off, I love the Temple, it is so positively beaming with the spirit it is not even funny. Every time I go, I have a reconfirmation that this Church is true and has the power and authority to act in God's name. I would strongly encourage all who have not had to chance, or have been putting it off for whatever the reason, make it your number one priority to make it to the temple, and to those who have gone, make a strong effort to go as often as possible, you don't know how much you miss something until you don't have access to it, so take advantage of your access and Go to the Temple!
 
Okay, now to that other stuff which is kinda Kool but not as Kool as the temple. I'm not gonna lie to you... This week has been hard, it has tried my faith and I have spent many hours and days praying and fasting for it to get better. It it seemed to just drag on until I went to the amazing House of The Lord, and was able to feel the spirit and have a reinvigorating experience that gave me the boost to get through the week. So, I know that it might be a little bit of a downer to talk about depressing sides of life so...
 I thought I would show you this wonderful face. Elder Carter was absolutely beaming after going to the temple and he just couldn't express himself.
 














 Meanwhile...

Elder Kroll could barely go two hours without an apple ;)



















But, all in all, we had a good time, we had two zones worth of Missionaries in the Medford Temple and that caused us to have 58 people in a 47 person occupancy room, but it is ok, because the Temple President was the Fire Marshal and he didn't say anything.
Well transfers are in a week and I am positively enthused to see what is going to happen, I have heard rumors that President Russell is completely redoing the entire mission, so no one is safe lol. Plus I'm done with training this week. So, something was gonna happen to me anyway.
  
Oh I got a package this week...

It was from my Brother Austin, his wife Danielle, and their kids... Glad it wasn't actually Carrots though.

Well I guess that is all I have for this week, I love you all and you are always in my prayers. Until next time .

Week 11: A Long Time Coming

Monday, Nov 16, 2015
So the main event of this week has been something that has been about two years in the making.... After two years of investigating, a daughter of God has chosen to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized.

This is a Ward missionary, her, me, and Elder Scott.

 She is a wonderful girl and I know that she will go far in the church... I have been teaching her since I got here and missionaries for eons before that, but she agreed to be baptized and I couldn't be more proud... Her Grandma is pretty proud too.

So I guess what we can pull from this is that no effort is wasted, any effort put forth to help someone receive the gospel is effort well spent.
The week was pretty uneventful (beside the baptism) but I do have some interesting pictures of Elder Martin, who
was not amused that he got locked out in the rain....

 So....

He threatened me with a pen.

Let's just say I was scared!

We had our zone Christmas photo this last Friday, we have Sister(s) Frandsen, Wood, Hokanson, Giesler, Vance, and Newsome, and Elder(s) Lucas, Carter, Jensen, Sutton, Watson, Finlinson, Martin, Kroll, Wells, Holman, Scott, Earl, Eckman, and Fleming. I've got to say I am excited for Christmas just because I have seen the new Christmas initiative and it is awesome! Well I hope you have a great week and keep the faith, until then farewell!

Week 10: A week of Anticipation

This week we were blessed to be visited by a wonderful leader in the Church of Jesus Christ... Elder Marcus B. Nash of the Seventy came to our mission and gave us a wonderful talk. He really stressed the fact that we are representatives of Jesus Christ, and how our words are His words, our actions are His actions, we are who He would be. So, we need to talk that and express that to everyone we talk to... So, that is what we have been doing just that. I'm also very excited to start the "A Savior is Born" campaign for this Christmas. It is so awesome! We as missionaries were blessed to see it early and I absolutely loved it! Basically to describe how I'm doing right now, is a "Spiritual High." My week has been great and I loved to build up of working towards Elder Nash's arrival. You have a great week and remember that you have taken Christ's name upon you in baptism covenants. I will talk to you next week.

Week 9: No Effort is Wasted

Being a missionary can be fun and exciting and everything can work out perfectly where you are teaching lessons and meeting goals set by your Mission President for every companionship to strive towards, or it can be a week where all your investigators want to do is talk, "hang out," and basically do everything other than learning the gospel. Well, as a missionary that can be kind of discouraging. Luckily, Preach My Gospel has a section just for that in Chapter 9 called, (you guessed it) "No Efforts Wasted." And it is true. If you are bringing the spirit to those people and doing all you can to help them succeed then truly no effort is wasted. You may not be able to see the fruits of your labor, but it is a cultivation for the ground for that sapling to be planted and grow into a wonderful Oak Tree.
So, what I want to give to you about this , is don't be discouraged. Whether it be in school, sports, work or church, no effort is wasted because it allows us to get better. If you take this and put it in the context of reading scriptures, you can see that even if you read a single verse a day, you will gain knowledge and answers from your Heavenly Father and eventually you will not only want to read more, but it will be easier to read more. So, always remember that NO effort is wasted.
So, I guess you may want to hear about my week. Well, here it goes: This week was kind of strange for a lot of reasons. On Tuesday, we ended up sleeping through our alarms and didn't wake up until 8:30... don't tell President! After which, we had Service helping out the Second Counselor in the Stake Presidency, upon which he fed us lunch and then we proceeded to go home and shower. While Elder Scott was showering, I decided that I better get a head start on some talks that I have to have prepared for when Elder Marcus B. Nash comes next week. So I started on those, and actually learned a lot in the process, which is where I got the No effort is wasted. Wednesday, was fairly interesting... Elder Scott was acting very depressed all day and kind of secretive, so much so that when we got back from an appointment, he said he was going to call President. So I had to give him space. When he finished, he walked up, handed me the phone and said he was leaving and gave me the keys. I was kinda shocked, then a few minutes later, he said he was joking and told me that President said to have me drive. So I am now the driver and loving every minute of it! Thursday, Elder Scott got sick so we stayed in the apartment and I again worked on my talks and finished 2/3 of them. Friday was fun... We had new missionary training followed by District Meeting and a new thing called "Power Hour" where the missionaries from your district go and tract some streets in someone's area to boost the finding in that area. After that, I went on exchanges with Elder Earl down in Roseburg! It was really fun, we dug up trees, had Chicken Alfredo Lasagna, and I learned some good do's and don'ts from a Correlation meeting with the Ward Missions Leader in Roseburg... Saturday was great. We did some fun tracking up some very steep hills and got a good calf workout in. We switched back just in time for us to be locked in the apartment for Halloween. Yes, thats right, missionaries under house arrest. Sunday was good. We had a great time during sacrament. The spirit was so strong that I was about in tears... don't laugh! Then we did a lot of tracking because most of our plans went bunk!
Well, that is all that is happening in my life. Remember that no effort is wasted and to always try your best at something, and you will succeed. Love you all. Until next week!

Week 8: Who Am I?

This seems to have been the topic of this week and I have done a lot of searching and have come up with a magnificent answer, that I have made a point to read often so that I may know just "Who Am I?" Here is what I have come up with:

I am the son of Elohim, the only Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent being in the universe. The brother to the only Perfect Being to ever walk this Earth, and the recipient of His most wonderful and gracious atoning sacrifice. I am a Valiant Soldier in the army of Michael the Archangel, to fight for the glory of God and all that he stands for. I am the son of Wade Wayne Fleming and Brenda Irene Cram, two goodly parents that have chosen to follow the teachings of Christ in these last days and on this darkened earth. I have chosen to serve my Lord, Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the one and only Jehovah to bring others to the same realization that through Him all thing are possible. I am a Child of God!

So now I ask you. Who are you? I know and can promise you that as you come to truly understand who you are, you will feel the love that our Savior and our Father in Heaven has for us. Now to the juicy details of the week...
First, let me start off by saying that having faith in God and His power is a powerful tool that not only missionaries  have access to. It is something that every Child of God can use to help others, as well as themselves. Ok, so after many diligent hours of finding over the past few weeks has finally paid off because we have found two new investigators this week. One is the 9 year old son of a recent convert, and the other, who actually our neighbor, who we found through Search and Destroy on our area book. He was marked as not interested, but he wants to learn more now, which is AWESOME!
Now I want to recap a story that happened on this last Sunday. We had a lesson with the siblings that are on date, and we had to drive ourselves (no members could go with us), as we got on the road we discovered that we would not have enough gad to make the almost 50 mile round trip visit to their home. As we continued anyway, we said a prayer that we would be blessed to be able to make this visit with enough gad to make it there, back and to the gas station the next day. What is awesome is that miraculously we not only had enough gas for that but according to the car, we ended with enough gas to go five more miles, so we had more than enough to reach a gas station and fill up the next day. I just wanted to share that story and bear my testimony that not only does the Lord bless those who serve him and do his work, but he blesses those that keep his Sabbath day holy.
I also want to take some time to congratulate my sister-in-law, Hope, for getting baptized this last Saturday. I am sorry I could't be there for it, and that I won't be able to be there when you guys are able to go through the temple and get sealed, but I just want to say that I love you and am proud of your decision to be baptized and to take the first steps towards returning to live with your Heavenly Father. I know that He is proud of you too and loves you more deeply than I can even express in words. Also, I want to say that I am very proud of my brother Corban for turning his heart toward the Lord once more and the wonderful husband he is/ is becoming for his wife and what an awesome brother he is.
Lastly, I want to say to all my Willistonian friends that I love you and am/will truly miss you. As some of you know, my parents are moving to Nebraska, so I will not be in Williston when I return in just 22 brief months (that is right it has been two months), so I just want to say that I appreciate all of you and the experiences that you have allowed me to have so that I have been able to grow into the wonderful man I am today, but don't worry, I will come back and visit for sure... I have got to give my homecoming talk in the ward I left, other wards it just wouldn't be right.
Well, that is all I really have for this week. I love you all and know that Jesus Christ lives and loves you too. Have an awesome week and I hope that you will receive many blessings from our Heavenly Father.