defining success (week 53)

We had ourselves a great week here in SunnySide. We finally decided to drive over to Yakima for p-day last week. Not that great since the drive there is a bit long. We had some meetings and got to talk to a bunch of different people. 

On Tuesday we had our Zone Training Meeting. The meeting was focused on involving the members in missionary work. We are going to be trying to get the members more involved by making visits to the families in our units. I shared a little story in the postcard I am sending this week. We also touched on the topic of becoming consecrated missionaries. That topic has become something I have decided to study more this past week. I have been using the talk "The Fourth Missionary". Here are some insights I have pulled out of my studies this past week;

• Sacrifice - Doing one thing at the expense of another thing that has equal, or greater, appeal.
• Consecration - Giving of one's self to the Lord. Nothing of greater appeal than to do his will.
• "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it ; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (Matt 16:25,26)
• "Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God." (Helaman 3:35) 

Also while studying that talk I have looked at the idea of success. Sometimes it can be hard to measure if we have been successful, especially as a missionary. We are successful when we can say the following;

• "I am doing my best. I have a lot of weaknesses and a lot to learn. But I am withholding nothing from the Lord. I am serving with all of my might, mind, heart and strength. I am faithful and giving it all I have to give." 
• "I have no regrets; I did my best."

Sometimes we feel that we are not successful because the world likes to measure our success by comparison. But the Lord doesn't use comparison to view our success. It comes down to our desires and if we gave it the 100 percent. Those two quotes got me thinking of a quote from a talk given by Neal A. Maxwell. "Actually, everything depends - initially and finally - on our desires. These shape our thought patterns. Our desires thus precede our deeds and lie at the very cores of our souls, tilting us towards or away from God." (Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father”

Neal A. Maxwell) That then leads back to what it means to be consecrated. Which is to be dedicated to the will of the Lord and have our desires show that dedication. Just some thoughts I thought I would share. 

We have been working in our area to find some new people. It seems like all the people we have been working with recently don't have time for us. So we are looking for those that are willing to make time to talk to us. The sisters (Hermanas) actually found us this really great guy who is actually on what he calls a really long vacation. He shares a lot of beliefs with us and seems to be really prepared to receive the gospel. We haven't invited him to church yet (probably should have done that when we meet him) ,but that will be one of the things we try to do this upcoming week. We also have another great investigator, also found by the sisters. He has told us of how he wants to draw himself closer to God again. He told us that he has fallen away from doing the things he know he should and he has noticed something has been missing. We testified to him that drawing himself closer to God again was going to bring happiness and is the thing he has been missing. When we first stopped by to meet him we left him with a copy of the Book of Mormon and when we came back to teach him he had already read to 3rd Nephi. He is just another person that the Lord has been preparing to receive the gospel. 

The bikes are tons of fun when we do get to ride them. We have a huge hill in our area and it is a blast ridding down it. Although it does take a bit of work to bike up it. I don't have any crazy stories with our bike riding. Sorry about that. Right now the bikes are out of commission with the chain being broken on one. Hopefully we can get that fixed soon. 

We are looking forward to another great week here in Sunnyside. I hope all is well back home and continues to be so. Espero que disfruten su semana y aprenden mas cosas. 

With love,

Elder Boren

                                                Elder Steadman and I at Zone Training Meeting. 

                      The people we talk to here like to give us food. I got a 9 o' clock snack out of it.

Figuring out this piano thing. Not as hard as I though. Just have to figure out how to play flats and sharps here soon. (Sorry it's blurry)

Good week in Sunnyside (week 52)

This is the only one I took. It probably isn't super interesting although I thought the car looked a bit amusing. Maybe this can be the car the boys drive to school. 

 

So we have had a pretty good week here in Sunnyside. Nothing too exciting has happened b,but the missionary work is continuing forward. 

So last Monday was a little different with it being the fourth of July and all. During the three hours of proselyting we had three lessons with less-actives/recent-converts. It was really cool being able to use that time effectively and teach the gospel. We also got to spend some more time getting to know one of the recent convert families in our area. They are such an awesome family. 

Tuesday we had our district language study. It was a little hard for us to stay on topic since we had transfers the next day and a few of the Elders in our district got transferred. We were able to spend some time working on the subjunctive tense. Since we have taken some time to study it I have now been able to notice it more in conversations and now I better understand what people are saying. Hopefully I can keep getting better at this whole Spanish thing. 

Wednesday was transfers and I took some time during lunch to clean up the apartment. It was a bit messy and needed some vacuuming. It still needs some more work but it is getting there. Sometime during the day the English Elders moved in. We were out on bikes all day while they used our car for the transfer. Then we met up with them at the apartment for dinner and ate with some members in the branch. Since there is a set of sisters and elders for both the ward and the branch one week the branch feeds the elders and the other it feeds the sisters, and vice versa with the ward. It's fun taking the English elders to dinner at homes of members in the branch because we get to translate the things they don't understand. It's also fun being able to hold conversations between our companionship and them not understand all of what we are saying. Should be a fun transfer living with these two great missionaries, Elder Dodson and Elder Flamm.  

We have decided to do more tracting even though we would rather do other things. There is a point during our day where knocking doors happens to be the most effective use of time although we would rather not be doing it. Luckily using that time to tract means that we find people who would be willing to have us stop by and teach them at that time. We are also lucky that we aren't in an area as spread out as Royal Slope. Here it's a whole lot easier to go out an tract. We are going to see how tracting this week turns out. 

I hope everyone has a great week. Keep having fun!

With love,

Elder Boren

Staying in Sunnyside (week 51)

Transfer week! Elder Steadman and I are going to be together for another transfer here in Sunnyside. Elder Baker and Elder Buchanan (the elders we share the apartment with) are getting doubled out. They are going to Toppenish and Yakima. They are going to be replaced by sisters and the english elders are going to be moving in with us. Some other news I got from transfer calls is that Elder Sanchez is going to be district leader. Although I don't know what area he is in yet. I hope to find out soon. 

We have had ourselves a pretty good week. We had district council last Tuesday and worked on asking questions and listening. Asking questions is a really big part because if we don't ask questions our lesson turns into a lecture and we leave the investigator confused. When we do ask questions we can see where they stand in their understanding and it makes it more comfortable for them to ask questions as well. Then on Wednesday we had district language study and started wrapping up on the subjunctive verb tense. Doing a weekly study of the verb tense has helped out a bunch and now it's a whole lot more comfortable using it in conversation with people. I still have more Spanish to learn though. 

Biking on Wednesday after Dls was rough. The tempature is getting hotter, or was last week, and has been sitting around 110. It makes it less than enjoyable being out side. Means we have to be in the shade more and try not to get sun burns. It also mean drinking more water during the day. But the bike riding is a good work out even though it leaves me a little worn out the next day. Tomorrow morning we are planning on riding a bike route in town for our morning work out. On Friday morning we had a good 2.5 mile run to Wal-mart and back. Some times we make effort to get up and do a little more for out morning workout. 

Not to much has happened this last week or at least nothing really comes to mind. We are looking forward to a really great week with some small changes coming this way. Hopefully we can make the most out of this week and find those that have been prepared to hear the gospel. 

I hope all is well back home and everyone is having a great week. Happy 4th of July! 

With love,

Elder Boren

                                           Apartment picture before we go our ways for transfers.
 Elder Baker's promo picture for Pepsi.

Really great week (week 50)

We had a really great time this past week. We are keeping busy and finding those that have been prepared to receive the gospel. Looks like it's starting to get warm again ,but at least it's not that humid. 

The recent convert family the Acostas is doing really well. We had family home evening with them on Monday and talked about the plan of salvation. We were able to answer questions and help them understand things they hadn't grasped yet. It's a lot of fun teaching them because they ask questions and give input. It helps learning how to involve people into the discussion. That's why it's so important to teach people and not lessons. When we teach lessons it's almost impossible to get people involved. 

On Tuesday I went o exchanges with Elder Allsop here in Sunnyside. It was a bunch of fun and we got to teach 4 lessons. We got to teach on of our investigators who has been trying to find out if he should be baptized. He has been coming to church and really enjoys it. We have been working with him to answer his questions and help him in his search for the truth. We have been talking about the Holy Ghost and how it helps us find our answers and the many other roles it can play in our lives. We were also blessed when on Sunday the two speakers both spoke on the Holy Ghost. It shows how much Heavenly father loves each of his children and wants to answer the questions they have. He does a lot to make sure we know the truth. We get to see his again tomorrow and help him answer more of him questions. 

The is so much that has been going on that it's hard to remember all of it. We are on the last fully week of the transfer and it is a little hard to imagine. Doesn't feel like I've been in Sunnyside for that long. We'll see what transfers see this Saturday.  It sounds like everyone has been having a great summer so far. Hopefully the rest of the summer is just as great if not better.

Love you,

Elder Boren

                 The Super Trucker Burger from bob's burgers here in SunnySide. Three layers of good burger.

                         We went to a really good Mexican chicken place. This is the painting on the side.

 Elder Buchanan had his birthday this last Friday. We went to a fancy restaurant thanks to our awesome branch mission leader.

My desk as it is now. That's a mint plant sitting in the middle.

Riding Dinosaurs (week 49)

We had such a great week here in Sunnyside. It seems like it was just the other day that I was writing an email home and now here I am again. Not too much happened this past week but what we got to do was a bunch of fun.

We have been teaching an investigator named Eric and we have been trying to get him to see the importance of him getting baptized even though he just got baptized last year into another church. We asked to him come to church on Sunday praying to find the answer to whether he should be baptized or not. He cam yesterday and told us that he enjoyed it. We are going to see him again this Tuesday to talk to him a bit more that the little conversation we had at church. I'll keep you updated. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Johnson this last week and it was a blast. We had the bike since it was Wednesday, but we didn't really ride much. His is a very bold missionary and gave me an example of how to be bold yet show love to those we meet and teach. We got to talk to some great people while out knocking doors. I figured out that being bold is the best way to find those that have been prepared (red tomatoes). I think it would help out a lot knowing who is prepared and not in our area so I'm gonna work on the showing love with boldness thing. 

I think I'm starting to better understand this whole Spanish thing. I've known how to speak it and I defiantly know what people are saying but I think I'm finally getting a really good grasp on the whole grammar and structure part. I've gotten better with studying grammar and now I can easily notice when certain verb tenses are being used and some other grammar structures. I still have a bunch to go and I still have to put it into practice but its getting better. 

We have ourselves a great week a head and hopefully not a hot one. I hope all is well back home and everyone is having a fun summer.

Con Amor,

Elder Boren

                                                        There are lots of cool dino statues.

                                                             Pretty sweet huh?

                                                       Ridding our velociraptors to victory

Gotta go fast