Having a lot of fun with the Book of Mormon (week 72)

This week has been pretty good. We had a great Thanksgiving and had ourselves two dinners. Thankfully we didn't have more than that. We did have three different times where we had dessert. It was so much fun being able to be with different families as we expressed gratitude for the things we have in life.

This week we had a really good zone conference and we got to learn about the Christmas initiative. The one thing that stood out from the conference was the importance of learning about the prophecies of Christ in the Book of Mormon. There is so much to learn and understand from the things that are told of Christ. In our conference we made a quick list of lots of different prophecies that speak of Christ. When we read in the Book of Mormon we need to focus on what it was written to do. That is be a testimony of Jesus Christ. 

This is our list of scriptures prophesying of Christ in the Book of Mormon. There are defiantly a lot more than that. 

We have been having a lot of fun with the Book of Mormon. We played a game where one person opens up randomly in the Book of Mormon and shares a scripture from that page. Then the next person finds a scripture to relate to to that one and they expound on the relationship between the two and what the scripture says. Then it goes in a cycle with each person relating another scripture to the one previously shared. It was so much fun as we are able to learn from the scriptures together and see as the scriptures are brought to our remembrance. 

Speaking of that I found a chapter that I really love. It is Alma chapter 21. In this chapter it talks about the trials that Aaron and his other brethren went though as they shared the gospel with the Laminates. Aaron found himself faced with some people that wanted to question his beliefs. He stood firm in his faith and testified and shared scriptures with the people. Even with his testimony and the prophets that came before him the people were still hard of heart and rejected him. They got thrown in prison and suffered many afflictions. Once they were freed from their afflictions they kept strong to their faith and were diligent in following the spirit. Because of it they found many blessings and were able to bring many to a knowledge of the truth. It applies so much to us as missionaries and shows that as long as we are diligent we will find blessings because of it. 

I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the beginning of the Christmas season. 

Love Y'all

Elder Boren

                                 Elder Enderton and one of the assistants to the president (Elder Cannon).

                              Elder Aguirre and Elder Miles tag teamed cutting elder Enderton's hair.

                        We put the lights up in our room and they are great. Christmas time already.

Great Conference weekend (week 71)

This weekend we had some great stake conference sessions. The adult session on Saturday was filled with the spirit and there was so much to learn. The theme of the meeting was facing trials. They shared a great video called Mountains to Climb. It is a clip from President Eyring's talk in the April 2012 general conference. I loved the focus on how we need never give up and always trust in the Lord for support. One speaker said "Slowing down on the path is not a problem, leaving the path is. We also have the opportunity to help others through their trials and make sure they don't leave that path. We need to help others and offer words of encouragement. 

Sunday the conference session was just as great. There was an under toned theme of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Stake presidency spoke on hope & faith, repentance, and the importance of covenants. After the main session we had a lunch provided by the Spanish ward and then a baptism. After the baptism we had a Spanish session of stake conference. It was a great weekend with lots of things to learn. 

This week we have been doing really well. We have been working on asking everyone for referrals and it has been helping a lot. We have seen the blessings from doing so and we are finding that we are being lead to the people that need the gospel. Most of the time the people we ask aren't the ones giving us the referrals, but rather we see that other missionaries are finding people that live in our area and are referring them over to us.It is a lot of fun being able to look for those people that others have told us to go and see. 

We are looking forward to another great week and one full of gratitude. We are going to have our zone conference tomorrow and then Thanksgiving is this Thursday so we are going to have plenty of fun. I hope everyone else has an enjoyable week. 

With love,

Elder Boren

                                Elder Enderton making himself comfortable as we do weekly planning

             A cultural activity we had at the church with food from lots of different south american countries. 

A little about my new companion (week 70)

Sorry if my email this week is a lot shorter. I have no idea what to write. I guess I'll start off with telling y'all about my new companion. His name is Elder Enderton. He is from Salt Lake city Utah. He has three older sisters and one of them even lives in Yakima. That is pretty crazy. In high school he did a lot of theater and choir. He said he didn't really like theater that much though. So far we have been having a great time. This is going to be a great transfer. If I didn't mention it before, this transfer is going to be a five week transfer. They have a flight blackout in December and they are going to make this transfer a five week transfer and the next transfer is going to be seven weeks. It is going to be interesting. This transfer is also going to be jam packed with lots of meetings. This week we have trainer/trainee and district council. This upcoming Sunday is stake conference and then next week we have zone conference. Later in the transfer we will also be having our christmas gathering. That is going to be a lot of fun seeing all the missionaries we haven't seen for a while. Elder Enderton might be a little lost though. He doesn't know very missionaries yet, I guess that's how it was when I first got to the mission field. 

So this week I found out that one of the return missionaires in the Wenatchee YSA got back from serving in the Mexico Monterrey West mission not too long ago. We got to talk for a little bit about the people we knew and things that had happened back in Monterrey. He sent a picture of the two of us together to Elder Torralez, my companion in Mexico. I haven't heard if Elder Torralez sent anything back. It was cool to find that out. The RM is Stefano Sola. 

We have had a great week and we are looking forward to another great week. Lots of meetings to look forward to. I hope everyone back home has a great week as well.

"elser chanchez es guapo" - Elder Sanchez 

Love you all!

Elder Boren

                                                 My new companion, Elder Enderton, and I

                                                        I found some Harry Potter looking glasses

                            Elder Enderton and Elder Miles. We have a fun apartment this transfer. 

picture overload and transfers (week 69)

Part 1
Transfer time! So I'm going to send this email first so everyone can know what the transfer is. Then I will send my normal email after. So Elder Adams is going to be transferred to Othello 2nd and 4th wards. He is going to be companions with Elder Steadman. I am going to be training and receiving a missionary from the MTC. I am so excited for another opportunity to work with a missionary straight out of the MTC. It is a great learning experience. Elder call, current zone leader, is going home today and Elder Aguirre is going to be receiving Elder Miles. Elder Sanchez is going to be the other spanish district leader in the zone. I am super excited for him to be here. And Elder Bergman is going to be in Elder Sanchez's district. I am also excited for that. It is going to be a family reunion! It is going to be a great transfer. 

Part 2

A large chunk of this email is going to be based of questions from my brother Riley. Here it goes. 

What is the best way to spend your p-day? 

So on p-day we have a normal schedule up to the point that after companionship study we begin our preparation. We usually grab a bunch of things that we need and head to the stake center to write. We do that from 10:30 to 12:00. After we do that we go and do shopping. We go to a grocery outlet her in town and sometimes to Wal-mart. That is our time to stock up on food for the week. I tend to buy a bunch of bags of pasta and I keep stocked on rice. We usually all work together on food so we have plenty. After we do our shopping we go back to our apartment o eat something quick and clean up the apartment. Then the rest of the time is up to what we feel like doing. We like to play a bunch of soccer as a zone (Not all the zone likes soccer, but we can get a big enough group for it). I'm hoping that we can think of some more fun things to do. We are going to be planning a carne asada (Mexican Barbecue) some time this transfer. We will hopefully have some other fun activities soon. 

What is your favorite thing to do as a missionary?

My favorite thing to do as a missionary would probably have to be talking to new people. I love being able to meet people I've never met before and then share the gospel with them. Its fun as we are able to invite them to draw closer to Christ and feel the joys that we have seen in our own lives. Of course I love all the other things we get to do. 

What is the hardest thing you've had to do? 

I think the hardest thing I've had to do as a missionary is to stop teaching someone because they don't want to listen any more or aren't progressing (Known as dropping an investigator). Its hard because we want them to experience the blessings, but sometimes they aren't ready. It is good to know that our imprints on them will eventually lead them to searching the truth later on. 

What is the most important thing to be prepared for before going on your mission?

The most important thing for preparing for a mission is gaining a testimony of the things that we as missionaries teach. Start studying the scriptures. Take time to Study them and not just read through. You gain so much more that way. Read in preach my gospel and be a missionary before you get your call to serve. I wish I had more experiences with the missionaries back home. Don't be afraid to invite your friends to hear the gospel. There are a lot of things I could suggest for preparing for a mission, but I would say the most important is gaining a testimony. 

What is your most embarrassing experience and funniest?

Off the top of my head I can't think of any embarrassing experiences. I'll have to think of some and get back with a story next week. I think the funniest ones are when we say the wrong word in Spanish. We all get to have a laugh and it lightens up the mood. One example is as we were talking to some people they asked if we were the mormons and Elder Adams said that that was just a pollo (A chicken) when he was meaning  to say apodo (Nickname).

What is your favorite thing about your area?

I think my favorite thing is that it is a walking area. I do enjoy having a car in the area, but walking means that I have more opportunities to talk to everyone. Although it does get a little rough as it gets colder. Thankfully our area isn't huge. 

I hope those were good enough answers. If there are any other questions go ahead and ask whenever. 

We have two investigators that are pretty solid. One is Raphael. He has a very large understanding of religion and the bible. When we taught him the apostasy and the restoration he testified that it would be true and then went on to explain how the catholic church has lost its authority and how the bible was changed by people. He has tons of great questions and we can tell that he is truly searching for the truth. The other is Jessie and she has some great questions as well. She is looking for the true church and is willing to work to find it. 

We have had a great week and we are looking forward to another full of some changes and time to serve the lord. I hope everyone enjoys their week. 

With love,

Elder Boren

now for all the pictures

                                                          District council in the van

                                               Another of us digging under the house.

                                                      District lunch at Applebees

                                                               Our Zone at the temple. 

                                         We had district council in the mini van. It was a great time. 

                                  A cool mayan mural painted into the side of a guys terrace garden. 

                                                               A circle of our name tags. 

                                                      The Columbia River Temple. So pretty!

                                 A group of us that were in Othello a year ago. Good memories. 

                                    A picture with my companion Elder Adams. He is awesome. 

 We did some digging under a non-members home for some service. I was very dirty by the end of it

                                                     Elder Aguirre, one of our zone leaders.

This is the group of us after the service. This is a picture from a previous time where we didn't get as dirty.