November 24, 2014

This week started off very tiring when and cold when i went on an exchange with the bike elders of my district. It was they coldest day of the fall thus far and i choose to do an exchange on this day. Smart right? So we headed out all bundled up in our coats and sweaters, gloves, hats and he had a face mask thing he wore. But the biggest thing i learned is how out of shape i am! Between the really cold air and never biking I was dyeing. It was seriously ridiculous how out of shape i was trying to bike my butt around the area. Im so grateful to be a Spanish missionary, no bike for me! 

Also i just remembered the lesson we taught with our investigators this last Monday. It went super well. It was really good at getting everyone involved in the lesson and keep there interest. It was really at the end that i think was the best part. Everyone started sharing their testimony's and the spirit was there super strong. At the end we asked the Mom what she learned and how it was. She said everything was very clear and made sense. Not just the way we presented it, but the plan as a whole. That the points and things it held made sense. Then last night we had a lesson with them at the Branch Presidents house. They have gotten so much support fro the branch. I love seeing how this branch has just taken them in. But she said she has been thinking of baptism, but still wants to learn more. So we are excited for that and all that will come for them. because they will so be sealed in the temple a year after they are baptized, no doubt in my mind. I have come to love this family so much and I am sadden that i wont be able to be next to them through out the years as they come closer to one another and to their Savior through his teachings. But like the scripture says in D&C "how great will your joy be with them in the kingdom of your Father" 

This area I am in has been so blessed over these last several months and I have come to love the members and the investigators and the work like i have not found in another area before. I am very happen to spend another 6 months here. Because i know with out a doubt that there is plenty left to do. I am also very grateful to have all the time left that i do. I hope it does not go to fast

Con Mucho Amor

Elder Lamb   

November 17, 2014

Hey did Sarah ever get married? Right after you told me she was engaged i
never again got an Email from her, so what happened? Im glad to hear your
trip went well, i know that was important.

This past week has been a little slower for us, not sure if its was because
it was really cold or if we lacked, or the people just really had a good
sermon on Sunday so they were good or what. But it was a slower one for the
work for us. But the blessing were still present, So ulisis and his family
are still doing super good! I dont know what it is about this family but
the branch has been helping us with them so much! Its been awesome! So this
last Friday the Lupercio family invited ulisis and his fam to come to their
house and have a little family home evening. So we went as well and it was
awesome! We had dinner together and shared lots of laughs and good times,
then to end the night we shared the Restoration DVD, the spirit was there
like always and it was great to see it. Then on Sunday they came to church
and  we finally got the littlest daughter named sulchy ( she is such a
little cutie! shes six and really shy) to go to her primary class and she
enjoyed it. Then after church one of our members invited them to come over
tonight and do another FHC, we will be there as well. We are going to teach
the Plan of Salvation, we spent both personal and comp study this morning
preparing this lesson, we made a bunch of cut out things and have a giant
white board we are going to use. And we are going to make a hide and seek
thing out of it. Ill let you know how it goes next week and ill take photos
:)

Also yesterday we went our to do visits with the branch and we had to ride
with one of our members because we are running out of miles, but anyway he
has a really small Toyota ranger, which is also a manual. thats important
because we would all have to squeeze in this thing, and us all being big it
was not going to work. So i ended up having to ride in the bed of the truck
in about 30 degree weather going about 45, needless to say it was cold, but
hey sacrifices need to be made in the work of the lord!

I had an experience this week with the spirit. So we know that when we are
baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, we have the promise that
he will always be with us and we can always feel his presence. But everyone
always wonders what does that really mean, does it mean we will feel that
warmth all the time? or will we always have those guiding moments in our
lives? It is true that living worthy we have free access to those blessings
when we call on them. But what i think we dont always realize is the
regular way we feel. While being on my mission I have truly been
transformed in not only the way my mind works and my heart, but also the
way i function completely. When I come upon those moments or situations
that the spirit is not there, i dont just feel an emptiness, but i feel
physically sick as well. The spirit has not just become the fuel for my own
spirit, but also my physical body. Its very weird to think about and to
explain, but i now see how completely reliant I am on the spirit to even
function. It gives me that extra desire to search out the spirit in all I
do, be cause the other option is not one I like. I have been changed by
this mission already and in ways I never even thought about. What i look
for has changed, what i want has changed, how i love has changed, how i
work has changed, how i see the future has changed. And it has been that
constant companionship of the spirit that has made that change in me. The
spirit is such an amazing gift we have been given, let us always ask
ourselves " Im i using the gift i have been given, or have set it on the
shelf?" If your answer is "Yes, i am using it" Great! now ask what is the
next step? And if it is sitting on the shelf all I have to say is, take it
down and use it! Ask,"what must i do or change to use this gift correctly?"
The spirit is real, he does testify to us and he does guide us if we let
him, I love his company. I never feel alone when he is with me, and that
means the world to me.

Con Mucho Amor
Elder Lamb
P.s. this is my selfy while we were going down the road, i have a video but
it wont let me attach it.

November 10, 2014

Sorry if you get this letter late, we had a hard time emailing.

Thank you for making those sacrifices to take care of my pet snake. I know yall dont want to but it means allot. Its also really cool that yall are getting you business up and running finally. Ill keep yall in my prayers. 

The work in our area is still going well, i was worried to come over to this part of the area because i knew they did not have many people going on over here. But the Lord showed many tender mercy's over here to us this week. So i dont know if you remember but about three weeks ago i said that a random guy showed up to church. Well we were finally able to go teach him and his family this week. The first time was on Thursday, we went with one of our members family to go teach them. We shared most of lesson one with them and the accepted it well. But to things came from that lesson. First, the daughter of the member and the daughter of the investigator  became really good friends like over night. On Saturday they spent the whole day together and went to the mall and the movies and everything. Really good to see that support. Then we also found out that he was baptized in the church when he was 19. So he is a member but his daughter and wife are not. They all came to church this Sunday, marking the second time for the daughter and the first for the mother. They both really liked it. then we went and taught them again last night and shared the story of Joseph Smith. after we shared it and we all shared our testimony's we invited them to be baptized on the 29 of this month. She said she would do it but she want to know more before them, so we reassured her that we would be there every step of the way. so we now have 2 people on date for this month. We also have another lady we are teaching named Olivia, we have taught her 3 times. She has so things that we have been able to address to help her out.she also came to church this week with her son, her daughter said she would come this next week if her mom liked it. The mom had to leave after first hour though, because she has shingles and said it was causing her pain. So understandable. Im excited to still be here in this area, the apartment i am is is WAY better than my last one. Except the water pressure, the water pressure at my old apartment was like that of a fire hose. But other than that i upgraded on everything. 

We are going to have Zone Training this week so i dont have to plan a district meeting. But lately district meeting has been really awesome. Last week for one of the training's i decided to do a 10 min personal study on "recognizing the impressions of the spirit" then after a 10 min comp study with someone then a role play on what was learned. It was really cool and a good way to build district unity when its so hard to do so. Being a district leader has been fun and challenging.       

Well this sums up my week...

Hasta Luego

Elder Lamb

November 3, 2014-

That website looks really good. I like it allot. Thanks for taking care of Zeke for me, you wont have to do it for to much longer, but still a while. The people we are working with are doing well. I dont know last names yet but when I do I will tell you so you can use them.

Finally...

the only word I have to describe the baptisms we had this past week. It has taken almost a year and several sets of missionary's to do it but the Ramirez family finally got baptized, well most of them. The father, mother and oldest son did. The rest will be baptized in December when the youngest comes of age. The thing that i have come to learn from baptisms that I have had is that it is not the end or a closure for anyone involved. If anything it opens more challenges and hardships. Because then the enemy really wants to stop them, he knows what promises they have made and wants them to become unworthy. If anything i think it is mach harder after one is baptized. But that is why God gives us the gift of the holy ghost to be our constant companion, to help us stay true to the path we have started to walk, to keep us worthy of that which we have done. Baptism is not closure, it is the beginning. But it was very special to see them enter those waters, especially for the Mother for she has waited a long time for this. A member reminded me the other day that when I go to this area to right down in my journal that i would be the missionary to baptize their family, And with the transfer coming to an end I did not think it would happen, but it did. And i stayed in the area to be here to see it. It was special to see it happen.

Also we are making good strides in this area. This part of the area did not have much going on. So it is up to me and my comp (elder Roberts) to build this part back up and get the work moving like it should be. We are excited for the challenge that it will be and are ready to find those the Lord has prepared for us. Like just right now I got a call from a random lady that wants to come to English class this week. What luck huh? 

This concludes the email for the week but for the last thing i want to say I got called to be an STL!!! no lie its true, a Spanish Team Leader. Some new thing president is trying out but i just thought it was funny cause it has the same abbreviation as Sister Training Leader. Its nothing super special right now, because its brand new. But maybe in the future it will be something. 

Con Mucho Amor

Elder Lamb

October 27, 2014- TRANSFERS

Transfers...

So today we did receive transfer calls this morning. I will be moving from the Riverside 2 area to the Riverside 1 area. So basically Im not going anywhere, just moving apartments and companions. So i will be starting my 4th transfer here in the branch. Which i am excited because the work is just going so good right now!! Not going to lie I was looking forward to going to a new area, but Im excited to stay as well. I am still going to be the district leader so i will keep going forward trying to build the district.

So the reason I am excited to stay here is because we have had very cool miracles happening lately. So the first miracle is that we now have a family on date for this Saturday, they finally decided this week to get baptized finally. So on Friday we are going over to just teach all the lessons over again. it has been almost over a year since they started coming to church, and they are finaly choosing to do this. Also the elder who will be my companion was the elder who found them and he will be back for the baptism because he will be here. It is very exciting. Also this last Sunday we had another miracle. So right before church started some random guy showed up for church. nobody knew him or meet him before. We went and talked to him and he told us that he had looked up the closed LDS church building to his house because he wanted to come. He has family in Mexico that are members and he has wanted to come to church for about 5 years and finally decided to do something about it.So he came not knowing when we started and happened to get here right on time. He also has a wife and two children. We are going over there this week to teach them and are we going to put them on baptism date for the 29th of November or sooner. The Lord has truly blessed this area in ways I cant even count. 

I truly love doing the mission work, there is nothing more tiring and more rewarding as it. I love being able to see the lives of people change. It has been such an amazing experience thus far and im so excited i get to serve for another 10 months. I dont want it to end but i know it will. I will just work every moment i can until that moment I get released.

Con Mucho Amor

Elder Lamb     

October 20, 2014-Baptirm

Baptism....

As that little introduction states we had a baptism!! yes Sister Martinez got baptized this last Friday and confirmed yesterday. My son Elder Farr got to go into the font and do the actual ordinance of baptism, but then i got to confirm her. Which in my opinion is the better of the two anyway. But it was very exciting for us, we prayed very hard in every prayer we have said since the beginning of September that we would be able to find someone who was ready for the gospel and would get baptized this month. It is a strong testimony to me that God really does answer prayers especially if it is for a worthy cause. It also helped me to see that I am able to lead an area and see success. All the other Baptisms in which i have participated, I was always the Junior companion. Not leading the area or the lesson plans or anything. But it has been very cool to see that I can lead an area  and we can still have success, because i have learned what to do and can just do it. We will have transfers next week and I am excited to see what happens, because i have learned i am ready to just go out and do it because i know how to lead and how to work. So if i do end up going to a new area I will be completely ready for it.

Other than that this week was just full of follow up appointment and trying to find new people in which to teach. I am really excited for this area, good things are really starting to happen. Yesterday we found a lady (who is white) who speaks Spanish ( she married a Hispanic) and is a less active. She invited us to come over and share a message with her and her family some day this week. So we hope both a reactivation and baptisms from this and also a random Hispanic called us and asked if he could help us teach English class and then he said he is looking for a new church and wants to come early to the class so we can give him a tour of the church. So we are hoping great things out of this as well.

This sums up the week nicely, till next time

Siga adelante

Elder Lamb

October 13, 2014

Thats a cool experience to be able to go to that, cool to meet the leaders of the state. I wish you the best of luck with soccer. You couched basketball well, so i bet youll be fine with soccer. also happy birthday grandpa Lamb!! Sorry thats late but cant change Pday. A better letter will be there eventually, but i need the address. Also i need all your health card info and your social security stuff. So i dont know if you just want to call sister residori and get the number from her and set it up so you dont have to send all that sensitive stuff. Any time after this Friday would work for us. I heard yall are going to have allot of snow this year, im bummed i wont be there so go snowboarding so it better be good next year.  

the work moving forward...

These last several weeks especially this last have been some of the best and most stressful i have had. On the great hand Sister Martinez is so ready for baptism. When we taught the word of wisdom she was drinking coffee, but as soon as we told her she said she would stop. Then when we taught her last night she told us she had been very tempted several times but she knew the lord would help her, so she still has not drank coffee and she told us how she throw away all the coffee they had so she would not have any temptations in her home. She also told us how somebody tried to get her to stop listening with some anti stuff, but she said she knows what we are teaching is good and it does not matter what they say. She even stopped being friends with one of those people because of it. It is so amazing how the Lord truly prepares people to hear this message and then protects them. With faith all things are possible. 

On the other hand the stressful part has been trying to find new people to teach. With transfers coming up and being pretty sure im leaving I am doing all that i can to try to find new investigators and people for my son (the missionary im training) and who ever comes in to teach, so they dont just have to knock doors all day. Im just giving it my all because i remember when i was in Gainesville with no one to teach. And i dont want anyone to go through that.  So me and my son are knocking, following up and getting referrals like we are just starting in the area. We need the help of the Lord in order to leave this place in the standing that we want it to be. we keep seeing small miracles come forth from the Lord to find people to at lest listen, and we know with time we will find those prepared to accept. Im not to sure if I will just get switched to the other area here in this branch or go to a different part of the mission, all i know is i am not staying in this apartment with my same companion. But before I go I want to leave this area how I would want to find it. My experiences have really helped me to want to make things better for others so they do not have to go through what I have. Hopefully Im developing Christ like love :)

Con Mucho Amor

Elder Lamb