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.

Wait! What? Another Halloween. (week 68)

We have had just the most wet week here in Wenatchee. It just does not want to stop raining. Good thing we have umbrellas and rain coats. We are just glad that it hasn't been snow. That would make things all the more messy. We'll see if we end up getting any of that white stuff this year. I'm not sure if I want there to be any or not. It's fun to play it, but it makes it more work to drive and walk everywhere. At least right now we are having a nice sunny day. Hopefully it lasts for a while. 

This week has been pretty good. Monday was a full day of missionary work and we got to talk to some great people. There wasn't anything that really suck out that happened on Monday. We were hoping to have a lesson with one of our investigators at the home of a member, but we weren't able to get that to work out. We have actually been having trouble getting in contact with her lately. We are going to be visiting her again tomorrow night to see if we can help her out some. 

Tuesday was our temple trip and it was a bunch of fun. We got to ride down with one of the members and the zone leaders and the English sisters that cover the same area as us. We had a bunch of fun both down and up from the temple. We got to talk about a bunch of different things and we went through all of Elder Calls pictures. It was cool being able to go to the temple with Elder Call for a third time. We had a good group of five of us that went to the temple together last year this same time. We got to take a picture together. (Sorry I don't have the pictures today. I forgot my SD card converter.) At the temple I was able to ponder the importance of the temple in the work of salvation. I recently read through a talk by Elder David A. Bednar called "Missionary, Family History, and Temple Work". In his talk he associated the purifying of hearts with the work of the temple. He also associated missionary work with the changing of hearts and family history work with the turning of hearts. There is one quote I love fro the talk that summarizes this work of salvation. He says; 

"Preaching the gospel and seeking after our dead are complementary parts of one great work—a labor of love intended to change, turn, and purify the hearts of honest seekers of truth. The artificial boundary line we so often place between missionary work and temple and family history work is being erased; this is one great work of salvation."

I agree in his stating that this is one great work. We shouldn't be separating it into parts. There is so much joy we can find as we participate in the different parts of this work. We can see that this is one great work as we read in the scriptures.

39 "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."  -Moses 1:39

The bringing to pass of the immortality and eternal life of man is accomplished through that work of salvation. That is all being achieved through missionary, family history, and temple work. 

Tuesday night I was able to start exchanges with Elder Call. This was our fourth time going on exchanges together. We had a great time Wednesday being able to meet some really great people. I was over in his are and I was able to meet the people that they have been telling me about. It was  a bit hectic and we didn't have as much time as we wanted, but I feel that it was great and we were able to do the most with our time. A guy we talked to showed us up he terrace garden and then gave us two huge handfuls of habenero peppers. We still haven't figured out what to do with them. Our one plan is to make some good salsa. We also got to meet one of the people they had on date that just this weekend moved to Texas. She has loved getting to know the church and is excited to continue learning when she gets back to Texas. We already sent off her information so the missionaries there can get in contact with her. 

Wednesday we also had our district council. We talked about how we can use family history as a missionary tool and how we can get the members more involved in it. What made district council even cooler was that we had it in the Zone Leader's mini-van. The church was under a bit of renovation and we didn't have anywhere else to go so we parked and had it in the van. It was defiantly a new experience. 

We had a very exciting Saturday night as we were able to find some amazing people that were very interested in talking to us. We invited them all to church, but sadly none of them were able to make it. We are going to continue working with them and help them to progress more. We just have to make sure we keep being persistent with them and keep inviting. 

There was one more insight I wanted to share from my studies. 

"15 And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities; nevertheless the Lord did hear their cries, and began to soften the hearts of the Lamanites that they began to ease their burdens; yet the Lord did not see fit to deliver them out of bondage." -Mosiah 21:15

As I was reading this morning it stuck out to me that the Lord was slow to hear their cries. In an ealier chapter Abinadi prophesies of that happening.

 "23 And it shall come to pass that except this people repent and turn unto the Lord their God, they shall be brought into bondage; and none shall deliver them, except it be the Lord the Almighty God.

 24 Yea, and it shall come to pass that when they shall cry unto me I will be slow to hear their cries; yea, and I will suffer them that they be smitten by their enemies." -Mosiah 11:23-24

I thought about how the Lord loves everyone and will not abandon us in our time of need. The important part is to know that our choices can sometimes affect how the Lord will reply to our prays. In D&C it is explained why he is slow to hear their cries. 

 "7 They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble." -D&C 101:7

The people of King Noah who later became the people of Limhi were slow to hear the voice of the Lord. The were given warnings from a prophet and rejected him and did not repent. Because of their slowness to hear the Lord he was slow to answer their prayers. He still answered, but not immediately. We can apply that in our lives by making sure we are quick to heed the promptings of the spirit and do as the Lord commands. When we do so we will find that the Lord is a lot more ready to bless us with the things we stand in need of. 

I hope that everyone has a great upcoming week. We are going to be making the most of ours here. Have a Happy Halloween!

With love,
Elder Boren

a note to Mom:

The weather has been really wet these past few weeks. It just doesn't want to stop. We joke that we have all of the sudden been moved to Seattle. I hoping that the rain clears up here soon. It makes the cold all the more uncomfortable. It hasn't gotten too cold yet, but it is getting there. The only thing that comes to mind that I would need is some more socks. Specifically grey and black. My gold toe socks are starting to get holes in the bottom. Thank you for sending the package.We will be looking forward to getting it this week. I'm glad you had a great stake conference experience. Sounds like there was a lot to learn. I hope you have another great week.

Love,

Elder Boren

All is well (week 67)

Elder Aguirre passing back some papers. Yes the zone leaders drive a mini-van. Our whole district drives around in it. 

We tried to find the bridge that crosses over the Columbia river but thats going to have to wait for another week. Instead we found a bridge over some railtracks. 

Today I don't have as much time to write. We are going to the temple tomorow

 and we were given a shorter time to write today so we can have plenty of time to go out and work today. It is going to be a great time at the temple and it's cool to look back and see that every time that I've been to the temple Elder Call went too. Too bad that's not going to be possible the next time I get to go to the temple. 

This week has been great. We had a bunch of opportunities to do some service and help some people out. We got to go and widen a horse trail. It was fun tossing dirt around and flattening it out. We also got to help some non-members put up some dry wall. The weeks are so much better when we are able to do some service. 

The investigator that we have on-date is doing well. She wasn't able to make it to church this Sunday, but we are going to do our best to make it possible for her to make it next week. We are going to have a lesson with her tonight over at the home of one of the members here. On Sunday however I was able to do the baptismal interview of an investigator of the hermanas. She is an awesome 10yr old and is super smart. Her baptism is Saturday and it is super exciting. 

We have a really great week ahead of us and I am excited for the opportunities we will have to help some more people out. I hope everyone has an awesome week!

With love,

Elder Boren

Another Baptism date set for November (week 66)

We have had ourselves a pretty good week. It seems like it went by way too fast. So here's a quick run down of our past week her in Wenatchee: 

Monday we had a great evening full of teaching people. We were very close to exceding our goal for lessons that day and thankfully we were able to settle for hitting them. We were also able to have a member couple out with us to teach one of our investigators. It was great as we were able to get some feed back from the husband who returned from his mission not to long ago. 

Tuesday nothing too exciting happened. We got to walk around a bunch and we were able to talk to some really great people.

Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Aguirre. We had an awesome time and he was able to help me out with talking to everyone. Sometimes I justify myself not wanting to talk to certain people. I'm going to work on being better at that. We have to give everyone a chance. We also had our district council and we discussed the importance of faith in missionary work. One thing that stuck out is that we need to pray in faith and have more specific prayers. Because specific prayers get specific answers. 

Thursday we had interviews with President and Sister Lewis. Interviews are always so great since it is an opportunity to learn and discus our improvement. It was a pretty long morning since interview times very frequently run over. It was also a very rainy day. I don't think it stop raining the whole time. It felt like we were in Seattle. 

Friday we were able to do some service for a member. We helped move somethings out and fix up some other things around her house to get it ready for a viewing. She gave us some pizza that week cooked up and had during our weekly planning. (Hence the pizza in the picture) 

Saturday We did some even more walking. Shouldn't be too surprising seeing that we have a walking area. We were able to find this super prepared kid from El Salvador. He let us right in and told us of how his dad had been receiving the missionary lessons back when they were in El Salvador. We taught him the restoration and at the end he asked us when we could come back to talk to him some more. It helped me see that we need to be ready to yield to the prompting of the spirit and when we do so the Lord will yield us to those that are prepared. 

Sunday we had another great member present lesson. We were able to invitee our investigator to baptism and she committed to work towards the 12th of November. It is super exciting seeing people want to progress and wanting to follow the example of Jesus Christ. 

We are hoping for another really good week and hopefully y'all have a great week too. 

Con amor,

Elder Boren

                                                    Our weekly planning this past Friday

                                                    Mountains! Right in our backyard.