The highlight of this week was the baptism (week 44)

The highlight of this past week would have to be Marino's baptism. We were also able to have some great meetings during the week. 

So we are going to start out with some of the cool miracles that we got to see this week. One that stood out to me was something that happened after we tried by some potentials in Royal camp and decided to try one last door. As we walked over to the house we watched as they piled into the car and left the house. So seeing as there was no one home we decided to know the house next door since we had never talked to them. We knocked on the door and it turns out to be a really prepared former investigator. She invited us to come over later the week and when we did she told us of how she wanted to get baptised but has problems that stand in her way. We are looking to work with her and the man she lives with. We have been able to see how the Lord works in leading us to those who have been prepared and it has been a great experience. Oh and another cool thing is that Marino and his dad happen to know the lady we found. We are going to use this as an opportunity to help strengthen Marino's testimony as well as support this next investigator. 

Last Wednesday we had interviews with President Lewis. It is always great being able to sit down with him and Sister Lewis. This time sister Lewis taught us about the importance of keeping a journal and how it plays a key role in turning the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children. So that she said that I liked is how we can relate to the knowledge we collect to a library. When we die all that knowledge is lost and a library burns down. The only way to preserve that knowledge and those experiences is by writing them down. It's also important to write down the true feelings that we have and even include little details that we think are insignificant. We also had a really good district council on Thursday. We talked about teaching towards commitments and how they play a role in us becoming better teachers. If we teach to commitments they become committed to themselves and more committed to the Lord. We need to have the commitment as the lesson and the doctrines and principles as the way to teach that commitment. 

So on Saturday Marino got baptised. It was a great time although we were worried when the time came around for his baptism and no one was showing up. But everyone ended up being their and it was great. He was able to have his dad baptise him which was great for the two of them. Then on Sunday he was confirmed and also received the priesthood so he can go to a youth temple trip this Saturday. Yesterday we went with him and some other members of the branch to the stake priesthood meeting. He enjoyed it and told us that there were lots of pearls to take out of the talks. We spent most of our time translating the talks for the members of the branch that don't understand English. 

Something else that happened this weekend is that we were able to attend a funeral. It was for a family member of non-members who the branch president offered to hold a memorial service for. I was asked to sing for the musical number and lead the music while Elder Sanchez played the piano. I didn't have much time to prepare since we were told about it the night before. I think it went well nonetheless. 

A scripture that stood out to me this week was 4th Nephi 1:15-16 

   "15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.

   "16 And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God."

I like this scripture because it talks of how because of their love of God there ceased to be contention and they became some of the happiest people. We need to have that same love of God as well as avoid the things listed as causing contention. 

We have another great week ahead of us and the last full week of the transfer. Hopefully we are able to find more people that are being prepared and bring them into the fold. I hope all is well back home.

With love,

Elder Boren

Marino's Baptism! His dad was able to baptise him.

Baptism this Saturday (week 43)

We had ourselves a pretty good past week. We got to see one of the youth open up their call, we had an awesome Zone Training Meeting, and we had a great Sabbath day.

To begin the Spanish branch is going to be sending off their first missionary. It is a pretty big thing for them. He is going to be serving in the Portugal Lisbon mission. He is pretty excited although he was hoping to be called somewhere in the states. He has been asking us a bunch of questions making sure he knows everything about missionary work. We are hoping to have some more chances to take him out with us so he can experience missionary work for himself.  

Our Zone Training Meeting was this past Saturday. The meeting was focused on becoming better disciples of Christ and how we can prepare to teach in a way that others understand. In the mission there has been a bit of focus on us filling our wells with knowledge so the spirit can draw on it. Something that I though of during the training was what is the point of filling the well if we don't maintain that well. We can strengthen our well and make it easier for the spirit to draw on the wealth of knowledge their by practicing what we learn and making the application in our lives. If we don't maintain the well it become hard and sometimes nearly impossible for the spirit to draw on the knowledge we have their. So part of becoming better teachers is practicing and strengthening our well. When we do that we can be better tools in the hands of the Lord and the spirit can work better through us. 

 We have been working with the investigator that is going to be baptized this Saturday and trying to make as much contact with him as possible. He is an amazing young man and love to learn about the gospel. Finding him and being able to teach him has been one of the many miracles we have been blessed with. We have some more things to teach him and make sure he is understanding it all. Anastacio who got baptized a few weeks ago just got the priesthood and is hopefully going to be able to go with the branch to do baptisms for the dead this Friday. 

We have ourselves another great week ahead of us and more people to teach and help find the blessings the gospel brings. I hope all is well back home.

Love you all,

Elder Boren

Short letter to me (Mom)

Mother,

It was great being able to see and talk to you as well. I am having a great time here on my mission. I didn't expect the time to be going by so fast though. The harvest is really cool. Last fall when the apple harvest was winding to a close everyone we talked to offered us a bag of apples. And I'm guessing that It might be something similar with all the different things they harvest here.  Many of the members here tell me of how they have heard of Texas being a big agriculture place but just like you all I've seen grown is corn. 

We are really looking forward to the baptism. It's going to be great. We did a bit of tracting but not as much as we did last week. We get most referrals if any from the members. There are a couple members in the branch that want us to talk to everyone they know. We just have to find the ones that are prepared. The investigators we have really seen progressing are those that are from the members and member involvement. 

They had brunch during church? Did the boys do well on their cooking? 

The weather has been pretty good. It's dry so it's easy to get away from the heat. We get wind a bunch. I'm still wearing long sleeves because it tends to drop in temperature and get windier at night. 

Love you,

Elder Boren

                                             Want some asparagus? Yes it is very tall asparagus.

                                                     Sadly we got a flat tire on our car

                                         Elder Sanchez had to take a selfie before fixing the tire.

                                                 Zone picture as we gather around the fire.

                                     Listening to the scriptures as they are read to us by sister McArthur

We made sopes for dinner one night. They are the home made tortilla like things.

The importance of prayer (week 42)

We had a really great past week. Lots of new stuff I was able to learn and study. We were also able to go to the Temple which was a great trip filled with the spirit. The past week went by so fast. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was at the Temple. 

Recently as part of our Daily planning at night Elder Sanchez and I have been writing down the miracles we see during the day. It has helped a lot in seeing the hand of the lord in the work. Sometime it can be a little hard to notice those little thing we are blessed with. When we do we are more grateful and the lord is more willing to bless us with greater things. One of those miracles was one we experienced on the way to a lesson with an investigator. We had wanted to bring our neighbor who is a member to the lesson but he wasn't home. So we decided to just head to the investigators house and have the lesson any way. When we got their the same member we wanted to bring was already there and we were able to have the lesson as we originally planned with the two of them. It shows how the lord works through the spirit to help his work along. 

Thursday we had our district council and this time we discussed the importance of making sure the investigator knows what we are talking about. One reason this is so important is because no one if going to believe the restoration or the gospel if the don't understand it for themselves first. We can help them gain that understanding by teaching simply and asking inspired questions. We then got to do some role-plays on teaching in a way to help an investigator understand. The one thing that stuck out to me during the role-plays was that we need to ask questions so we can see if they are understanding and if they aren't we need to adjust so they can understand. Thursday I also went on exchanges with Elder Walimaa. It was great as we focused on teaching the restoration simply during OYMs. We have to give everyone the opportunity to hear the message of the restoration and we need to do that by teaching the restoration very simply to everyone we meet. 

We have been able to find some really great people that are prepared to receive the gospel and we have been able to talk to even more people who are still in that preparation. I'm looking forward to the opportunities we are going to have this upcoming week to teach those people. The Lord is going to continue to bless us as we continue to diligently search for those that are prepared even though it feels like we have knocked every door in our area. We have been working to follow up with all our potentials and knocking every door that hasn't opened up to us yet. 

This past week I have been looking more at the importance of prayer and more ways to look at the restoration. I like an article for the ensign that talks about the pattern of prayer. It gives examples from the scriptures on how an effective prayer should include five things. Those things are; Finding a private place, Kneeling to pray, Offering a vocal prayer, Expressing your gratitude, and Praying for others. As I try to implement those things into my prayers I have found that it makes my prayers a whole lot better and more effective. I am able to better focus my thoughts and I don't get side tracked by other thoughts. My favorite examples on the pattern of prayer is of Enos when he cries unto the lord and in Alma 34:17-28 when Amulek is teaching. Also with some more study on the restoration I have begun to notice how the church of Christ has been restored many times and we are taking part in the final restoration of the gospel. The people were given prophets and then then would reject those prophets and fall into a period of apostasy. Then Heavenly Father would again reveal his gospel through a prophets and this cycle continued and Heavenly Father sent his own son to establish the church an again restore the gospel. But we know that he too was rejected and again people fell into apostasy. We know that Heavenly Father has again called a prophet to lead and guide the church and his gospel has been restored to it's fullness. The restoration is amazing and there is so much we can learn from it. I am looking forward to another great week and an amazing month. The gospel is amazing!

We are looking forward to another great week. We have Zone Training meeting this Saturday and the Mothers day follows that Sunday. Another fun this is that Elder Sanchez and I have been asked to speak in sacrament meeting in the Branch. We get to speak on the importance of the Sabbath day. This is going to be a great month here! I hope all continues to be well back home.

Love you all!

Elder Boren

Exciting how the lord works (week 41)

Tomorrow we get to go to the Temple! Being able to go is always fun. That means that tomorrow is going to be our p-day for the week. Going to kick off a great week for us here in Royal Camp. 

We had a really good week and we were able to see the lords hand a bunch in his work. I could easily see the Lord leading us to those he has prepared to receive the restored gospel. Some of them being him leading us to those people and even some of him leading those people straight to us. This really is his work and he has his ways of bringing it to pass. 

So on the Sunday we had Anastacio's baptism one of the members in the ward brought his non-member son, who just moved back from Mexico. He was also there that Sunday and we have been able to start teaching him. He is really open to learning more and wants to know how he can experience the joy and blessings he has seen in his father's life. He has a great desire to learn and has taken every opportunity to learn we have given him. e have taught him the restoration and the plan of salvation and has been able to understand it all. He accepted a baptismal date for the 14th of May. He is excited for it and so are we. This work is amazing and I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve. 

We meet this guy this week from mexico that is working on a contract for an orchard. We decided to tract in that area and this one guy called to us from a workshop and asked if we were looking for someone. We introduced ourselves and he told us he couldn't talk now because he was working but told us to try at the worker house behind the workshop. We knocked the door and they let us in (which tends to be normal for the worker houses here a large number of people live). We sat down and talked to the group and they slowly disappeared until there was just one greatly prepared person talking to us. As we finished teaching him the restoration he told us of how he has been waiting to have an opportunity to talk to missionaries. He told us that in Mexico he would see missionaries but never talk to them and he had always wanted to learn more. Heavenly Father pointed the way for us to answer his prayers and bring the gospel to one of his many children. This is another of those great experiences where the lord has pointed the way for us to find those that have been prepared. 

One last thing that really stuck out in relation to the lord blessing us with people to teach was at church yesterday. The sisters in Royal City gave us a referral for someone that lives in the area but the directions the got to his house were not very useful and we weren't able to contact them. After sacrament meeting the sisters told us that that referral there and pointed us to them. They had come to church since their sisters are both members and one of them was peaking. They told us they really enjoyed church and are planning on continuing to come. Heavenly Father makes it possible for each of his children to receive the gospel and it is humbling to see the many ways that he is able to accomplish that. 

A day in the life of a missionary - Well we get up at 6:30 and then have time to work out. We then great ready for the day and eat some breakfast. Then we have and hour of personal study, an hour of companionship study, and an hour of language study. Afterwords we have lunch. Then we normally take a few hours after lunch to do some finding so we can save the evenings for those we ant to visit. We usually are finding until dinner unless we have someone we are able to meet with before then. Normally we have dinner at 5 with one of the member families. Then after dinner we go and visit our investigators and help them in their eternal progression. Then we come home between 9 and 9:30 and plan. Then we relax and go to bed at 10:30.  

We are looking forward to another great week and many opportunities to work with more of these amazing people. Hope all is well back home and that the floods haven't been too much of a problem. 

Jesus dijo hola!

With love,

Elder Boren 

                                          We went to the highest point in our area for the first time.

                                                     Farms for as far as the eye can see.

I doubted the label on this soup saying it was spicy. Turns out to be really spicy. Elder Sanchez thought it was a bit too spicy.

Wonderful baptism this Saturday. (week 40)

We had an amazing week. And it all ended with the blessing of seeing Anastacio get baptized. We also spent plenty of time walking down unfamiliar streets and meeting new people. The things that have happened this past week are going to open doors for plenty of miracles in this area in the near future.

Anastacio is just amazing. He was so excited for his baptism. His example is going to bring lots of blessings to his family. We were talking to his son who was the branch president here and he told us he imagined seeing the whole chapel filled with the majority being his family. Anastacio's decision to change and make this commitment will help soften the hearts of his other children and other members of his family that live in the area. We are looking forward to working with more of his family and seeing continued blessings because of Anastacio's example. Being a missionary and being able witness these changes in peoples lives is a blessing on it's own. The baptism was great although it ended up lasting over an hour and a half. We didn't realize the font took over an hour to fill so we started filling it only an half an hour before the service was to start. It may have been a lot longer than normal but it was still a great spiritual event. 

I can't think of very much to write this week since everything was focused around the baptism. We are still meeting awesome people as we continue looking for those the lord has prepared for us. It may take a little work but it is worth it. We play an important part in the lord's work "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." ( Moses 1:39 ) With out missionaries and people actively sharing the gospel lots of people would  be lost and without the opportunity to receive the gospel. I am so grateful for my ability to aid in this work and see the lord's hand do miracles in the lives of others. 

I hope everyone back home is doing well. Keep being awesome! And if anyone has any questions for me feel free to ask. I don't always know what to write in my emails. 

Love you all!

Elder Boren

                                                     Anastacio's Baptism! Such a great day.

                                              I wasn't too happy with the circle getting our car wet.

One of many apple orchards. 

Transfer week and a upcoming baptism (week 39)

So I bet everyone is wondering what transfer calls has brought us this time. Elder Sanchez and I are going to be staying together here in Royal Camp for another six weeks. It wasn't something I was expecting but it is most defiantly welcomed. Elder Sanchez is an amazing elder and we are going to have a great time as we continue to work with the great people in this area. I really love this area and I am glad I have the opportunity to be here for more time. It's no fun being in an area for just one transfer and I'm thankful I don't have to experience that.

We have been having a great week here in Royal. We have been working a lot with an investigator and he is on-date for this Saturday. It is so exciting. So to give some background when we got into the area he wasn't ready to start progressing. He has been investigating for more than twenty years and his wife and one of his sons are members now. After we met with him a few times at the beginning of the transfer we decided that we would met with him later in the transfer to see if he had changed. As the weeks went by his daughter-in-law kept pestering us on if we had gone to visit him. After about the third time of her asking us we decided we would go and visit him. When we did we found a different person. Things had happened in the weeks since we had seen him and he had developed a desire to change and receive the blessings that he saw in the lives of those around him. Since then we have been meeting with him about four times a week to prepare him for baptism. Now his is ready and will be baptized this Saturday! It truly is a miracle. I love being able to work with such amazing people and see the changes that happen in their life. It's also cool to see that he has used the power of the atonement to overcome his addiction to smoking. The atonement can truly heal any ailment and help us in any point in our lives. 

This week we got to meet with an investigator that just moved here from Pasco. She was investigating when she lived there and was even on-date to be baptized. We are going to start meeting with her and help her learn more of the gospel. The lord blesses us with great people to teach when we trust in him and his timing. 

This past week we also had our zone training meeting. It was great as we focused on teaching the doctrines and becoming better teachers. We discussed how we need to know what we are talking about. We focused on the importance of knowing the 42 principles. Those would be the purple subtitles in chapter three of preach my gospel. When we have a firm grasp on those we can better teach to peoples needs. When we know all the doctrine and the principles we can answer their questions with those same principles and they will better understand. The zone leaders gave us a talk to read by David A. Bednar called "The Answer is the Doctrine". It is a great talk teaching that the Doctrine is the answer to the questions why and the principles are the answers to the questions of what and the application of that is the answer to the question how. He tells us that we should think of "what doctrines, if understood, would change attitudes and behavior? And how can we then best help them learn those doctrines." When we teach them this way they will teach themselves and be able to solve and overcome their problems for themselves. 

I hope everyone is having a great week back home. 

With love,

Elder Boren

                             The Othello Zone! Such a happy bunch right? I thought you would enjoy this picture.

                                                  A happier picture of this awesome zone. 

Elder Sanchez walking into the sunset.

Coming to a close of another great transfer (week 38)

We have had just another great week here in Royal. The general conference was a great way to end our week. We were able to climb to a spiritual mountain top and learn so many things. What Elder Holland said about not wanting to come down from the mountain is true. I wish I could just listen to talks and the leaders of our church speak forever. There is so much knowledge they share with us that we can benefit from. Now we have the opportunity to study those talks and remember that mountain top experience in our day to day lives. 

It is crazy to think that we are once again coming to the close of another transfer. We have another week before transfer calls and transfer. It's a little crazy because this is a seven week transfer so it's longer than all the other normal transfers. We are going to make the most of this week and work hard with the investigators we have so that they are able to progress. We are also going to be having a zone training meeting this Thursday which is something I am looking forward too. I love the many different opportunities we have here on the mission to learn from one another and receive trainings. 

We had an awesome past week. I went on exchanges here in Royal with Elder Walima and we were able to focus on extending better commitments and helping our investigators keep them and understand their importance. That was also the focus of our district council this past Wednesday. Commitments are such an important part. In preach my gospel its pretty straight forward and tells us if we aren't inviting people to keep commitments we aren't inviting them to repent. If we aren't doing that we aren't fulfilling our purpose to invite others to come unto Christ through faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. It's also important that they are committing to themselves and Heavenly Father and not us. We are working on having better commitments so that our investigators develop the desire to change and become better. Doctrine and Covenants 20:37 helps us see how we can help others prepare to be baptized. 

We have been working really close to one of the investigators we have that has been investigating for about 20 years. His son and his family have been baptized and so has his wife. He has really started to see the changes that have occurred in their lives and wants that same joy in his. He has a strong desire to be baptized and has told us that he made that decision and their is no turning back. He has the desire and determination that D&C 20:37 talks about. The one thing that stands in his way is his addiction to smoking. This is the one thing we have been working with him on. He knows that he needs to give it up for his health and to be baptized but struggles with the idea of actually doing it. We met with him and his family yesterday and set up a plan to help him some. His grandson is going to be with him this week for spring break and is going to help keep him from smoking whenever he has that desire. His son is also going to talk to one of his siblings to make sure he doesn't have opportunities to buy more cigarettes. He is on date for April 16 and we know that he can do it. It's a little hard sometimes when people know they need to do things but they are a little too stubborn to do them. The Lord will help him overcome this obstacle in his life.

General conference was great. So many things to learn. I loved the two talks that were given by President Uchtdorf. In the priesthood session I liked how he talk about how sometimes it takes forever but we need to remember that families last forever. I also liked how in theSunday morning session he talked about building lives from the ashes. Christ has paid for our sins and all we need to do is reach out to him and he will build us up to the divinity within. I hope everyone else got some great insights from conference. 

I hope all is well back home and that the new dog hasn't destroyed everything yet. Take time to return to the talks given and you will defiantly catch something that you didn't hear the first time. 

With love,

Elder Boren

                                                The royal ward. They treat us like royalty. 

                   Only time I think I'll every fit a whole weeks planning into the week seven page of my planner. 

All the trees are starting to blossom. Spring is here!

Message to Mom!!

It really was a great conference weekend. Lots of great speakers. Did you get the ice cream Elder Holland was speaking of afterword? I really like the things the prophet said. I'm also really excited to hear that their is going to be a temple in Quito Ecuador. I'm going to have to visit it someday. 

I never would have thought we would have a dog. Now their are lots of animals at the house. It probably won't be as cute and small by the time I get home to meet her. 

Sounds like everyone is having a great time. 

I hope you have another great week.

Love you,

Elder Boren