Hard week, but uplifting ( week 28)

This past week has been a bit tougher trying to find people to teach. We have been able to find a few that are willing to listen when we first talk to them but just disappear when we try to come back for a return appointment. We just keep trying and make sure we don't give up on the people here. They all need to receive the good news of the gospel and it is our job to share it with them. If we don't bring the gospel to people how are they supposed to progress and use their agency to return to live with Heavenly Father? This work is amazing and a great opportunity to be the lords messengers. 

We had an awesome opportunity to view the Mission Broadcast they had this past Wednesday. we got to hear some some members of the Quorum of the 12 and some of the others members of the missionary council. It was a great broadcast. The focus of it was Teach Repentance, Baptize Converts. It helps us see that our true purpose isn't just baptizing people and racking up a bunch of numbers but rather teaching people about repentance and the atonement of Jesus Christ. That's the good news. The gospel is centered around the atonement and Christ. With out him the plan wouldn't be possible. At church this past Sunday we talked a little more about that and the three pillars of the gospel. Those three pillars are; The Creation; The Fall; The Atonement. All of them being things that needed to happen for us to be able to progress in this life and in the eternities. We have an important charge to bring this news and this knowledge that we can progress and return to live with our Heavenly Father. We can help people see that they can be forgiven of all their sins and that they can start a new life a new slate. And in this process we can also work on our own progression. We can improve and learn as we help others. Elder Bednar talked on the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion and what we need to do. He talked on how we need to bring the gospel unto the hearts of those we teach and the spirit is the one that will help bring it into their hearts. We can't do it all and we defiantly need the help of the Spirit. There are so many blessings that come from having the companionship of the Holy Ghost in this work. If we didn't have the Holy Ghost people wouldn't be truly converted. They would just be converted by our words and our knowledge. The Holy Ghost will help them receive the light of Christ and help them grow their seed of faith. 

After the Mission Broadcast we got to have our District Council and be joined by President Lewis. We had some good discussion on how we can best work with our members. It seems like it is something they are trying to focus on a little more as it was also something that was covered during the broadcast. When we involve the members people feel more comfortable coming to church and having more discussions with us. Most people don't want to go to church if they don't know any one. People tend to stay away from things that make them uncomfortable. When we have members inviting friends to church they will be more likely to go because their are familiar faces there.  Then after our District Council we had interviews with President and then President and sister Lewis stopped by our apartment to take a look. That means we got some pictures of us put up on the mission blog by Sister Lewis. Good thing we took some time to clean up the apartment and make sure it looked nice. 

When it comes to self reliance there is probably a lot of different ways to view it. I think the best reason to be self reliant is so that we can help other people. If we are not self reliant we are needing to lean on others for help and usually puts us in a tight spot. But we have the ability to work. We were given bodies and minds. We have been given many gifts and talents that we need to use in this life. Part of self reliance is developing those talents. If we don't develop them we lose them. But when we do what we can to build them and strengthen what we have we can use that to bless the lives of others. As a missionary it is very important. I don't know if I would exactly call it self reliance as we have to lean on the lord for guidance and help. But as missionary we have to do all we can to gain knowledge so we can then share it with others. If I didn't read in the Book of Mormon and sturdy my scriptures how would I be able to help others answer their questions. We also have to put in the work for it. I think back to the Stake conference where President Jones spoke on work. I can't recall to much of what he said but it is such an important thing. Work brings a sense of accomplishment which we can't get from freebies. We also tend to take better care of the things we have worked for. Thinking about it we can apply that to the gospel as well. If we were just granted all the knowledge and didn't have to study to gain it we would give it no worth. But when we take time and really study and ponder the scriptures they become a great treasure and a great tool to us in this life. The Book of Mormon has become so much more than a book to me. It is a fountain of knowledge and a trove of treasures. If I never studied and never worked to understand and learn it the scriptures would mean nothing to me. I don't have too much  experience with work and self reliance as I haven't had many experiences to pull on. I hope the little insight I have shared will help. 

We have a fun week planned ahead with Zone Conference and some exchanges. The Spanish is going along a bit better since mostly all I speak during the day is Spanish. Awesome being able to have Elder Sanchez as my companion. He is a great elder and has a great desire to serve and also to learn the English language. All is well here in the Great Northwest and I hope all is well at home.

With Love,

Elder Boren

Prosperity picture

This is going to be an awesome Transfer (week 27)

This is going to be an awesome transfer. As you know transfers were this last week. It was a hectic process but it all worked out. So Elder Colunga and I were told to meet in Brewster (about an hour drive) by 4:00 on transfer day. We got there at about 3:20 and then found out that there was a delay in the transfer and those that were going to meet us there wouldn't be there until about 6:00. So we meet with the elders in Brewster and took care of some things. Then returned to the church and had our transfer. I got to see Elder Turley again since he and Elder Tanner brought up elder Sanchez and some other stuff that was needed. Elder Sanchez is awesome by the way. He is from Mexico and speaks fluent Spanish. He is still learning English but he has studied it for 10 years. Looks like we will be bettering our language skills together. Although most of our communication is in Spanish to make it easier. Oh and Elder Turley took a prosperity picture so I think you should be able to get a hold of that somehow. So we got back to the new apartment. Don't remember if I mentioned that we also moved into a new much better apartment last Monday. Such a needed upgrade. Don't have any picture of it this week but next week I will get some pictures for you. We got to take some time and do a little planning to see how we are going to work the Spanish and English work here in Omak. Took some time to help Elder Jeffs and Elder Flamm know who their investigators are and some of their potentials. Then we got to work. 

Since Elder Sanchez and I started looking through our area book at those former Spanish investigators. We started stopping by them and seeing if we could teach them. Looks of them seem open to learning more again and letting us teach them. In the process of trying to contact former investigators we have also taken some time to find some new people to teach. Yesterday we went to Mallot to stop by a potential we are trying to teach. She wasn't there so we decided to try by a former that lived there in Mallot. We started walking down the road and realized that walking was going to take too long so we turned back to get the car and drive there. As we started walking back there was a lady shoveling snow off her driveway and we stopped to ask if she needed help. She declined the help but we took the chance to ask if she possibly knew who we were looking for and she said she did and knew exactly where she lived. We also took the opportunity to talk to her and she said she had a wayward son and wanted us to teach him. So she invited us in and we had a short lesson with her and her son. The son has great questions and wants to better his life and is getting lots of support from his mom. We are going to be returning to see them thing Thursday. As we were leaving the mom offered to guide us to the former investigators house. So we got in our car and followed her there. It was such a great miracle that came from opening our mouths and offering something as simple as shoveling a drive way.

Elder Sanchez is the best though. We have had a few lessons already and he is great. It helps as well that he was in a temporary mission in Mexico waiting for his visa. He is going to be a great missionary and I'm glad I get to be his companion and trainer. We are going to have a blast of a transfer together working with the Spanish speakers here in Omak. As we continue to do the lords work he will continue to bless us and we will see miracles in this work. Our part is so important and we need to make sure we are worthy do do the work. We have an awesome week ahead of us. We have trainer/trainee tomorrow and also the missionary broadcast Wednesday. President Lewis will be joining us here in Omak to watch it. We will then have our district council after the broadcast and then we will have interviews with President Lewis. Lots of great meetings and lots of opportunities to learn. 

To answer moms questions. I have witnessed quite a few. The one I wrote about to day was amazing. I don't really know what my hardest challenge has been so far. Sometimes its just hard to go out and look for people. But as long as we do it we are able to find those that have been prepared. I can't decide which area has been my favorite. Othello was awesome and the members were great, but this new challenge and the opportunity to work only in Spanish here is going to be fun. It's a tie for now. 

Another cool fact is that Elder Sanchez knows my MTC companion Elder Grange. He was his ward mission leader back in Mexico. So cool.

Hope all is well back home. Keep it up and keep being awesome.

With Love,

Elder Boren

                                                     Elder Sanchez

                                                       Room mates

Being made a Trainer ( week 26)

Transfers are upon us once again. This time they are bringing me somewhat of a whirlwind of change. To get straight to the new Elder Colunga is going to be transferred to Brewster. Only 30 minutes south of Omak. Since he is going to be leaving that means I'll be getting a new companion. I'm sure you'd want to know who it is but I can't tell you that. Only because I don't know his name yet since he is going to be coming straight out of the MTC. I'm going to be a Father! It's crazy to think that I'm going to be training already. I've only been out for four and a half month. Although it doesn't fell like it. Also with this transfer we are going to be moving into a new apartment. We are going to be doing most of the moving today. Hopefully we can get it all done. This new apartment is going to be a whole lot better than the one we are currently in. More news is that there is going to be another companionship here in Omak. The other two elders are going to be English speaking and my companion and I are going to be Spanish speaking only. It's going to be a change and take some work but it is going to be a great experience. Lots of the members in the ward were surprised to hear that there is going to be another companionship added. That's going to make for a total of three companionships. (English, Spanish, Senior Couple)

This past week has been pretty great. The weather has jumped up to a nice 35 degrees. It's a lot better than the zero degree weather. It actually feels nice being able to go out and walk around. I had exchanges with Elder Coy, the district leader, this past Wednesday. It was pretty fun. We went around doing some tracting around Omak and then in the evening went to see one of our investigators. It was hard for Elder Coy since they only speak Spanish and he doesn't. I was able to translate for him though and the lesson went well. Then we went that nigh back up to disatuel to end transfers. This week was also had our Zone Training Meeting. The focus was on how we can make our meeting more productive and more like a council. We talked about how a council should have input from everyone and as we work to have it that was we can more easily receive revelation for the things we need. We also need to come to meeting looking to learn something. If we don't take something away that we can apply we are just wasting our time. We also had a good training on love and how we need to have Christlike love and make sure it is unconditional love. Also talked about the difference between childlike and childish. The best way to view it is this: Childlike = Christlike and Childish = Selfish. Helps to see what it means when Christ asks us to be like the children. 

This past Sunday we also got to have one family there at church. They really enjoyed it even though it was in English. Elder Colunga translated for the first two hours and I translated for priesthood. Not too much else going on this past week. Or at least nothing more that I can remember. This is going to be an awesome next week and an awesome next transfer.

Hope all is well back home.

With love,

Elder Boren

Elder Coy contemplating 

                                                        Goofing around with his camera settings

Thrift store find only $13

So much snow, week 25

Lots and lots of snow. It just never seems to stop for us. Elder Colunga says it is because he is here. He told me how when he was back home and getting ready for his mission two church leaders both told him that he was going to serve in the north and that his first winter would have a lot of snow. Seems like those leaders were right because the snow just doesn't seem to stop. I think we got about 6 inches this past night. Oddly too is it seems to mainly come Sundays and Mondays. It's weird. 

                                                 Had to shovel snow out to go anywhere

                                                   My favorite view

We had a pretty good week. We had our district council on Wednesday and were able to be joined by the zone leaders as well. We had a little discussion on faith and what we need to do to develop it and strengthen it. We then talked about how we can develop the missionary culture in each of our areas. It is so important to build up the confidence and trust of the members and just as important to get the trust of the non-members. When we are able to get their trust we can see more progress and people will be more willing to listen and help us in this work. It's not fun to hear that members have lost trust in the missionaries because some in the past were not as obedient. We made it a goal to build up this culture and help others see our true purpose as missionaries and the lord's servants. After district council we went and did some tracting and then were able to have a quick two hour exchange with the zone leaders. I went out with Elder Woodward and we did a bit of tracting around the apartment. He is an awesome Elder and a great example. we talked a bit about consecration and how we can become better missionaries. I always loved the idea of how if we are able to consecrate ourselves to the lords service we will improve ourselves as well as the lives of others. Then we talked a bit about showing love and charity. Those two are so important and are some the the most important characteristics to have. Most of the other ones are based of those and when we have true charity we are able to do so much more and are easily lead by the spirit. 

We had a good New Years Eve and New Years Day. we were in most of the two days due to the restrictions on what we could and couldn't do. We weren't able to tract so we were only able to visit members and investigators. We didn't really have anyone that was able to have us over so most of the day was more studying and then relaxing as we had to be in by 6 because of the holiday. Then on Friday (New Years Day) we had weekly planning so we were in all day again. But we were able to go to a wedding which was cool. We were walking out to go pick up dinner and we heard someone call down to us from the balcony above our apartment. It was Garret who is a less active recent convert. We asked how he was doing and he told us he was getting married that day. He then invited us to the wedding and we went. The Chandlers were there as well since they go and visit with him. Hopefully he will become more active and his wife can be baptized and then they can work towards an eternal marriage.

Saturday and Sunday were pretty enjoyable as well. We had a great fast and testimony meeting. We didn't have any investigators there because it was so cold and they couldn't start their cars. Brother Hassing of the bishopric shared his testimony and related life to being a boat with sails. For a boat with sails to progress it needs wind, but with wind comes waves and other problems. He told us that to progress we need to have that wind and with it comes experiences we may not want but they will help us grow. I also like the two talks in this recent General conference covering a similar topic. 

I hope all is well back home. Looking forward to a great week. 

With love,

Elder Boren