Training meeting pictures

Elder Boren and his companion Elder Mercado 

Transfer week (week 15)

Transfers have happened and now I am no longer with my father. I now live with my step-dad and he is teaching me his ways. We live right around the corner from my dad so all is well. My new companion is from Amarillo Texas which is awesome. He is an awesome Elder and I can't wait for all the things I will be able to learn from him. We have a good transfer ahead of us and maybe even more. It is going to be a great transfer because we have both Halloween and Thanksgiving in these six weeks. We already have thanksgiving diner scheduled with one of the families here in Othello. And we are going to go the ward trunk-or-treat before we have to go in for the night at 6. As a zone we are also going to have a pumpkin carving contest. Elder Mercado and I are going to win. We plan on carving the temple into our pumpkin as to win over the judges. Our judges are going to be the stake presidency here in the Othello Stake. I think Elder Turley and Elder Tanner are going to do spider-man or some other super hero. 

Not much has happened this past week. Transfers and a slight area change have made things different. I am still in Othello 3rd ward but I am not in the same Spanish area. The zone leaders changed my Spanish area so that it is the same boundaries as the 3rd ward. I don't know any of the people in this new area so Elder Mercado and I get to know the area together. Good thing Elder Tanner is still here and can answer any questions we have about the area. 

The investigators we have in English are going great. They are progressing and we can see some changes occurring in their lives. Our investigator Linda has been coming to church the past two Sundays and is enjoying it. A lot of the gospel doctrine is stuff that she had already known some of and she is not afraid to express her thoughts or ask questions in gospel doctrines class. She is still getting used to us and isn't comfortable enough to pray out loud with us yet. We have another lesson with her this week and hopefully we can get her on-date. 

Lots of our less actives in the 3rd ward are making progress and are coming to church more often. Not all of them made it to church this past Sunday but we can continue to work with them. I love being able to work close with the bishops here. They are both great guys and are really in tune with the spirit. The bishop in the Spanish ward is also really good on the barbecue. (Gonna have to step it up dad) The wards are making some changes top try and really reach out to those that are less active and get them to church. They are going to focus all their home teaching efforts on the less actives and only giving one family for each companionship to visit. Its going to help them focus on who they visit and really teach them to their needs.

My ponderize scripture for this week is going to be 1 John 2:10 

"He that Loveth his brother abideth in light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him."

I really like this scripture and it shows that if we are able to love other we will find ourselves less likely to stumble when trials come. I found it when I was reading through the hymns and looked at "Brightly Beams out Fathers Mercy".

It hasn't gotten too cold here yet but it is starting to get there. There really isn't a big store anywhere near so I'll have to get something at Walmart to get me by until I can get something better. We are riding bikes right now but we are high on the list to get a car here soon. Hopefully it comes before we start freezing while we are riding. Not really any new foods yet. Most of the food is stuff I've had before. Elder Turley liked the chili. I want to try cooking more foods so sending some recipes would be great. 

Con Amor,

Elder Boren

The Lord's hand (week 14)

Things are going well here in Othello. We are seeing the lord's hand in the work and see that he is really blessing us. Just this past week we had 13 member present lessons, which is amazing. Our goal was only 8. When we went to tally up our actually we were surprised to see that we had 13. We are not sure how we got to that many this week as opposed to others, but we know it is a blessing from the lord. Our zone has been improving and this week our zone average for lessons taught was 21. When we are able to really trust in the lord we see success and things start to change. We are going to keep working and continue to work as a zone to reach the goals we have set for ourselves. 

The Goddard family that we thought was going to be golden dropped us because sister Goddard told us she wasn't ready to have more lessons. She told us that we should try back with her at the end of the month and we may be able to continue teaching her. We are going to make sure that the members here continue to reach out to her and make sure the family feels welcomed. We also decided to drop the youth pastor because all he was wanting to do was ask questions and find holes in the gospel. If only he would read and pray with an open heart and not be so stubborn. We are however, teaching his roommate who seems pretty open to the lessons and the gospel. I haven't meet him yet due to exchanges but, Elder Turley tells me he has potential.

One of the investigators we have been teaching in our spanish area is on-date for the 21st of Novemberr. We had a church tour with him last monday and he was hesitant at first but he accepted our invitation to be baptised. We still have to keep working with him and make sure he is progressing but, this is going to be a great step for him. Now we just have to get him to church and make sure he is keeping up with his commitments. 

There is this other awesome lady in our spanish area named Blanca. Elder Turley meet her while on exchanges and we have started teaching her. We have had two lessons with her so far and see is looking like a golden investigator. She has read some in the Book of Mormon and we are inviting her to pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true. Our next lesson with her is next Saturdayeand maybe we can get her to commit to a baptismal date. 

Transfers are this upcoming Wednesday and it is going to be bringing a bit of change. I was thinking that I was going to be with Elder Turley for another transfer and he would finish training me but that is not how the lord will it. I am going to be staying in my area and Elder Turley is going to be moving to the other Spanish Othello area so he can be with Elder Tanner as a zone leader companionship. I am going to have a new companion, Elder Mercado, who is then going to be serving as the district leader for the Othello district. I am going to be moving to the other apartment right around the corner so Elder Tanner and Elder Turley can have the bigger apartment. It works for me because the one I am moving into has the washer and dryer and I won't have to carry my cloths back and forth anymore. This upcoming transfer is going to be a change for me because I will have to take over the area and take the lead since Elder Mercado is not going to know any of the members or investigators at first. 

It is starting to get a little colder and the lows are going to be in the high 30's this week. Shouldn't be too bad. I haven't needed much more than my fleece as it gets closer to 8. As the sun starts get set earlier it also starts to get colder earlier. Luckily I have been in a car for the past transfer. This next transfer is going to be a mix of biking and driving since we will have to share the car.

The thing that really stuck out for me this week was that we need to show gratitude for all the things we have, good or bad. There was a talk given by President Jones just this past weekswhere he said gratitude and depression can not coexist. It may be hard to work on but I think its worth it finding the good in all things. The lord wants us to be thankful in all things and I think it is a great thing to focus on as we get closer to the thanksgiving season. 

Love,

Elder Boren

P.S. So is the music going to be on a flash drive or a C.D? It would be a whole lot easier for me if it was on a flash drive so I can hold a lot more and easily put other things on it. My old oil holder broke and it's not able to hold any so a new one would be nice since there isn't really any place to get one here.

He made pumpkin spice cookies

                                                   His version of chili but with pasta in it

Planning time

Learning what makes a missionary. week 13

Nothing very different has happened this week. Just teaching people and helping to come to a knowledge of their Heavenly Father's love for them.

We had a great Zone Training Meeting this past week and learned from our zone leaders what we need to do to become the 4th missionary. Since you probably are unsure what the 4th missionary is I explain it. The 1st missionary is someone who goes on their mission and ends up going home. He doesn't benefit from it and regrets his decision. The second missionary is similar to the first. He isn't obedient and would be rather be doing his own thing.. The third is obedient and does what he is supposed to but isn't changed by the mission. The fourth missionary is successful and is changed. We listed in our meeting some of the characteristics of the fourth missionary. Obedient & worthy, Sees own weakness, Sees own potential, Fearless, Truly happy, changed, and compelled by desire. That's what we need to be. We need to be willing to lose ourselves in the will of the lord. It is only by losing ourselves in the will of the lord that we are able to find our true potential. I forgot which talk that's from but it is so applicable and is so true. We also did some role plays on how to adjust our teaching to our investigators needs. We shouldn't be teaching lessons, but teaching people instead. When we show people that we care about them they will be more willing to make those changes in their lives.

I went on exchanges again this week. This time it was with Elder Etter. He is from colorado and a bit of a quiet elder. But when it comes down to sharing the gospel and teaching people he is not afraid to talk about the gospel and tell them what he know to be true. We didn't get in to teach anyone but we were able to talk with plenty of people and hopefully they will be able to teach them more as time goes on. I like exchanges but sometimes it becomes too much when I go on exchanges so often. They are a great learning experience and help us notice what we could be doing better. I'm going to have another exchange this week with Elder Call the district leader. For once I am going to be in my own area so it won't be so weird. 

This past Sunday we had a lot of the less actives we have been working with at church. It is great to see them all there. I think we had a total of four less actives come to sacrament. We are just going to have to keep working with them and help the see the blessings that come with weekly church attendance. I hope we will be able to get them all there again this next week and hopefully more of the less actives we have been working with. Even better if we can get some of our investigators to church. It has been such a struggle getting them there with harvest right now. It should be ending in the next week or two so we should start seeing some more success when the people have more time that we can come teach them and that they can attend church meetings.

We meet with the youth pastor on Thursday but he had forgotten that he had set the appointment with us. We still got to sit down and talk with him before he had to jet. We really got to know him and he is a really great guy. He said he isn't trying to convert us and just wants us to feel welcomed in Othello. He served in the Army and he knows what it like to be away from home and family for so long. He also said that if he got a confirmation by the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet that he would sign on the dotted line and get baptised in a hurry. He is reading the Book of Mormon so we are going to keep meeting with him every Thursday and help him feel the spirit. I hope we can help him gain that testimony.

The end of the transfer is coming up and it is crazy to think that I've almost been out six weeks. Time seems to fly and it seems like we are having weekly planning every other day even though it is only every Friday.

I was able to get the Halloween package and Thank you. Elder Turley also says thank you. I will probably be best if you send the christmas one to the mission office. Make sure you send it early so they can forward it.

Love,

Elder Boren 

Meeting new challenges (week 12)

It has been a bit of a crazy week. On Tuesday we started our nice long exchanges and didn't exchange back until Friday morning. It was so different not being with my actual companion or working in my actual area. I was with Elder Baker and we worked in his area which is an all Spanish area and includes those people who speak Mixteco. We didn't talk to anyone who spoke Mixteco which I'm glad because I have no idea what those people are saying. I don't think Elder Baker knows much of what they say either. Elder Baker's area is a biking area and we used bikes Wednesday but that same night some goat heads got in the front tires of both of our bike so we had to walk all Thursday. Wasn't to bad especially since the weather has been perfect as of recently. Looks like its going to be getting colder soon. Not looking forward to that. It was a good long exchange and I was able to learn more about patience with Elder Baker.

This past weekend has been where most of the excitement for the week has occurred. General conference being the main reason it was so awesome. So many great talks and so much to learn. I really liked Devin Durrant's talk and his suggestion to ponderize a scripture weekly. My scripture this week is D&C 12:8 "And no one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care". Its a great scripture and taking time to ponder it daily will really etch it into my mind. I love the scriptures everyone else has picked. Hopefully the boys are going to be ponderizing a scripture as well. I think it would be a great way for them to really learn more scriptures. So many other amazing talks and so much I can learn from all of them. I can't wait until the next ensign gets here and I can take some more time to study the talks some more. 

This past weekend Elder Turley and I ran into the youth priest for the Nazarene church while we were trying to contact a referral. He was a really nice guys and let us into his house. We started talking about religious views and what we believe. When Elder Turley and I said that we believe that we need to do works to be saved and we can't just rely on faith the guy started to preach at us. It got really uncomfortable since we were sitting at his house and there wasn't very much we could do. He was telling us that we didn't have to do anything to be clean of our sins. All we could do was wait for him to finish and testify of what we know to be true. We left him with a Book of Mormon and he said he is going to read it in 6 weeks and wants to meet with us each of those weeks. He also left us with some scriptures to read and told us to be ready when we come back to his house this Thursday to talk to him. If he just tries to preach at us and doesn't read and pray with a sincere heart we are just going to have to drop him. I could tell the spirit didn't want me to be there and that there was no way he was going to feel the spirit. We just have to see how things work out on Thursday. He said he was going to make us food which is nice though. 

Yesterday morning after we got out of the morning session we came out to find on of the back tires on our car flat. One of the members helped us put on the spare and we got the tire fixed this morning. One of the members said a lot of the tread looked low but when we went to the tire place they said all the tires were good so I hope we don't get another flat anytime soon. Yesterday we talked to this kid who told the bishop that he wanted to change his life. We meet him at the church and talked to him. Right now all his motives are messed up; such as thinking being a member will bring him money and girls. Hopefully talking with him and having him read the scriptures will change that for him.

This week we are meeting with the Goddard family again and are going to have dinner with them. We are thinking the plan of salvation is going to be something that will really apply to them and give them the urge to learn more. 

Hopefully everything is going well back home. Make sure the boys aren't slaking off. I hope they watched all of conference. If they didn't they should defiantly take some time to read or listen to them this week. Love you mom. Really loved Elder Hollands talk on mothers.

If you are still going to put together the flash drive with music would you mind throwing some of my pictures on there so I can use them for planner covers. Thanks a ton.

Love,

Elder Boren

Dylan and Elder Baker