Lumberjack Ward- Week 17

Hello familia!


Another week down! Christmas week was good! A bit stressful, but so good!


We met with Monica earlier last week! We talked with her on the porch because we couldn't get another man to come with us. But we shared a sweet Mormon Message and had a good talk about trials with her! She seemed to like it. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to meet with her again since, but hopefully this week! 

We also met with Dan and chopped a bunch of wood for him. He is one of the most rednecky people of all the
rednecks I've met so far. He lives in a camper trailer on the side of his mom's house right now because he has some pretty terrible health conditions at the moment. But he's hoping to get back in the woods here soon! We split wood for him all day on Christmas Eve. (he put a wood stove in his camper trailer) #redneck. But it works and keeps him warm, and it's awesome!! Needless to say, my back was pretty sore a little later. 

We were supposed to teach Theresa right after that, but she ended up having to give an old lady a bath. But yesterday came, and we went and taught her last night, because she came to church! Hooray! She loved it, and we got a commitment from her to come next week, and the week after! Yay! We taught her the good ol law of chastity. She had a good time with that... her exact words were "I gave up on that years ago!" 😂😂 hahaha it was pretty awesome. 

So Christmas was really good! I got really teary and emotional, but it was so good! We met as a zone of missionaries in the morning and opened presents, then we went to Will and Linda's to skype home which was awesome, and Will gave us BLUE SUEDE SHOES for Christmas! hahaha so awesome! Later we had dinner at Ben and Windy's which was sooooo good, and we played a game called "munchkins" hahah so fun! and they gave us shaving kits! 

All in all, its been a really good week! Thanks so much for all the love and support from back home. I know not every missionary has that, and I'm so grateeful that I do. The letters and packages were amazing! Thank you so much! We are doing well here. The Savior knows us. We are here to become like the Savior and endure to
the end. Just remember that if we do that, we shall be "exhalted on high" I love this work, and the happiness it brings me and others.


Thanks for everything! i love you all!

Also, it's snowing right now! Hardcore. ❄️

-Elder Samuel LaVar Ward

Dinner at the Steins. Shout out to Sawyer Wilcox!

Will Dilullo and a Christmas omelet

Kerby teaching us how to carve and owl

Christmas at the Taylors

 

Member Email

Samuel's mom received this fun email from a sister in the ward where Elder Ward is serving: 

"We had another fun night with the Elders doing hair cuts and scriptures! Wish we would have thought to do before and after pictures but though this was a fun picture of them teaching our kids!"

-Sister Harmon

In the Sun He Melted- (I'm wearing short sleeves!)- Week 16

Hello people! We had a super good week! We got a few new investigators! So that's cool! We had to drop one for a price though... Ricardo. He's just not been getting back to us and is uninterested it seems now, so that's no fun. 

But we did get a lot of work done! We saw Monica 3 times this week and shared with her the Plan of Salvation! She loved it and hopefully has been reading and praying about it! She's in a really rough patch of life, but realizes she needs to make some changes and she's so pumped! 

We also went on exchanges this week! I went with Elder Burke to his area and it was so fun! We dropped a few people with him but also found a ton of new investigators! So that was fun! Unfortunately I missed going to the
visitors center with Theresa, but she said she had a great time with Elder Kolacz and Ili. So that's good! We are teaching her about temples this week!  Also, we got a ton of referrals this week, from
headquarters and members! 'The Savior is Born' initiative is working awesome! So pumped! We got like 4 new investigators from it, but we will see how promising any of them are before I give a report on them.

So, I was reading the King Follet sermon by Joseph Smith this week and learned a lot. I learned a lot about the nature of God, and how important it is to know about the nature of God. It's important so we know how to approach Him and report to him, as well as ask for things. I've definitely seen a HUGE increase in the sacredness of my prayers and my general relationship with him. He's truly amazing, so much that we can barely comprehend. The things he has revealed to us are by very sacred and amazing power, and it's such an honor to share that with
everyone here in KCK. I love this work so much, it makes me so happy. 

Also, Christmas is going to be awesome! I'm so excited for it! And it's such a huge tool in sharing the gospel. Make sure you use it while you can! I love you all so much! Thanks for the letters and everything! See you soon!

-Elder Samuel LaVar Ward.

Selfie with Elder Burke

We decorated ANOTHER tree. ha!

I am the Wizard of Blizzard!!-Week 15

Hey peeps!

This was a pretty fantastic week! We taught people! We taught our lovely friend Jam! I'm not sure if I've said much about her, but she is the 74 year old lady who is obsessed with David Archuletta! She was in Salt Lake a couple of weeks ago to see him, and she already has another trip planned to go in a couple months. She is awesome possum! We gave her a journal to start with her scripture reading. A

study journal! She has never been very good at reading the scriptures. But she is pretty committed now with this study journal! She has read everyday so far this week! And we get to see her tonight! 

She also came to the ward Christmas party! Which was an interesting experience. When we got there we were told that we "get" to narrate! Luckily it was only a few lines, but they didn't give much time to prepare mentally! It was good though! Funny story, I tripped over the microphone on the way up! It's only funny because it was awful... But anyways, Jan loved it the party! And we got sent home with a ton of ham! 

Also, Ron came to the Christmas party! He seemed to enjoy it! We haven't been able to meet with him for a few weeks, but we are shooting for Thursday! We might give him the drop talk here this week or next. We shall see. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. 

But some other cool stuff happened as well! Last Monday night we went to dinner at this really cool family, the Maughns. Turns out, they had like 5 hoverboards, yes, like from back to the future! Unfortunately they don't actually hover, but close enough! Video below, but they are like little segways with no handle. I'm thinking that we need them for tracting! 

We taught a few recent converts and less actives this week, as well as doing a lot of service! We are focusing on finding some new gators (investigators) this week. Ours are kind of starting to poop

out on us a little. But we shall get some new ones! Teresa is still on solid date for baptism next month! She is super cool and awesome. This week we are going to teach her about the temple! I'm

excited for that! 

Also, the reason we had to change P-day from Monday , to today this week was for a very special reason! It was for something called "red bag" there's a whole story behind it. But what it comes down to is that it's a program designed to give foster kids an awesome Christmas! People will "adopt" a child's Christmas, the child fills out a little wish list of what they would like for Christmas, and then the adopter person goes and gets that! Once it's bought, it's wrapped individually, and then all the stuff that that kid gets is placed in a red bag! Our role was that all these red bags come to our church in a huge semi truck! Our whole zone of missionaries came, we unloaded the truck, organized the bags by area and sent them off in smaller trucks to be dispersed to the kids. It was really cool! There were over 1,400 bags delivered, it took a few hours to unload and sort, then eat pizza, them a few hours to load the bags! It was really special, and I'm glad that I got to be a part of making some kids Christmas awesome!  

Also, last night we had a super cool dinner appointment. It was at this really amazing family, the smiths! They are the bomb! We had an amazing breakfast dinner, and then Sister Smith proceeded to shove me out of the room so she could tell her son Nolan a secret, next thing I know, I'm being pelted in the face with 30 plush snowballs! Since its been literally 60 degrees all month, she had to go buy snowballs! We all had a snowball fight for about half an hour! And it was the perfect house for it! It's a modernized farm house with a whole bunch of nooks and crannies! It was SOOOOO awesome! And the snowballs light up! THEN, next thing I know, Brother Smith comes out with this HUGE nerf gun, and starts shooting me in the face and belly, AHG, they are pros!

It was a stellar week, and I'm getting so pumped for Christmas! Hopefully we can find some new people here and really get things going! We have been sharing the 'Savior is Born' video and 'Why we need a Savior' video like crazy! (CLICK THOSE LINKS TO WATCH!) They are really awesome! Everyone should see them! Thanks for everything! Hope everything is well in Boise land! I love you all! Until next week!

-Elder Samuel LaVar Ward

#SnowballFight #Hoverboards  #ASaviorIsBorn

Me wearing Elder Vehars glasses, and ft. Sis Delgado

RED BAG!!!!

We decorated another tree!

Our incredible present wrapping!

#transfertuesday-Week 14

Hello family and friends! 

This has been a good week! We got a lot done! We went on team ups with a ward missionary in our ward named Patrick. He's pretty awesome! We went to go teach Monica because we had a "solid" appointment with her. Buuuuttt. She wasn't there, haha #MissionaryLife. But we went to go see a few people and got some teaching done! 

We also got to see Theresa! We went over her agenda for her baptism. She was really touched and is so excited for it! She is deciding who she wants to speak and who she wants to baptize her. So that will be fun! We also got to go to mutual this week (Bishop asked us to) we went with the priests quorum. And there was this huge army guy teaching cross fit. It was intense. I died a few times, but he awarded me the honorary missionary cross fit champion award. Also, the first counselor of the ward, Brother Ross, took us to Culvers. HOLY COW. That place is so good! Never have had frozen custard before. Now I feel like it should be an everyday thing. 

Along with the unhealthiness theme this week. We went to dinner at the Romreills. We made corndogs and Mac n cheese, and I experienced a little of Celestial glory, DEEP FRIED OREOS! Who knew?! They are SO GOOD! I would recommend y'all try it. We watched the Christmas devotional at President Hepworths home last night! It was awesome! I loved Uchdorft's

talk about Christmas, and that you can still do the presents and remember the true meaning! 

We taught Cedric and his family this week! As well as Derek, and Ron! It was good! None committed to baptism, but are getting closer and closer! The Lord blesses us all! Even in times

of hardship, all can be well. I see that everyday and know it's true. I love all of you so much! Transfers are this week, so send mail at your own risk, I won't know where I live until Tuesday...thanks for everything! Love you!

-Elder Samuel LaVar Ward.

PS. How terrible of me to forget! We also went to the VC (visitors center) and met Sheryl and her grandkids there! Will and Linda drove us! It was so awesome! The Mormon Choral sang! It was beautiful! We then took Sheryl through Gods plan for families. She was very touched, and said she has a lot of thinking to do! 

Mormon Choral

AT CULVERS! Yum!

The Turkey Emoji -Week 13

Family! Hello! 

This was a really good week! We had a lot happen! We also had a lot of investigators cancelled because of the holidays. :( we did, however, get to teach Jan! She is awesome! I'm not sure if I've said much about Jan but she is kind of one of those "Eternigators" she is a very lovely lady and just LOVES David Archuleta. There is a story behind that but I won't go into it besides the fact that Jan and her LOVED him on American Idol before her husband died. She's a wonderful lady, we committed her to live the Word of wisdom this week and to see how it goes! She said over text that so far so good, and we will get to see her and follow up tomorrow!  

We also got to teach Cedric and his family! He's the one we gave a church tour to a couple weeks ago, he is very nice as well. We taught him lesson 3 The gospel of Jesus Christ. He seemed to like it. His fiancé asked a little bit about the law of chastity regarding living together unmarried. We told them what was up, that you have to be married in order for baptism, they surely didn't commit to moving the date up or anything, but are thinking about it! They have a date set for June, so we will see what happens! 

Also, we taught our mail lady "Tee" she is the coolest mail lady ever. She tells us all the parts of town to never go to (namely across the street) because people get shot all the time! That explains the ambulance every 5 minutes! So needless to say, we don't go over there! 

Also, thanksgiving was awesome! We had a multi-cultural meal. Turkey, fried rice, Mac n cheese, potatoes, enchiladas, etc. it was pretty awesome, we ate at the Romeros, who feed us every Sunday! They rock and are so fun...we quote Mean Girls all the time. Also, we went to Will and Linda's home! I was too full to eat much, but I ate pumpkin cake and lemon pie, it was super good! We were also invited to President Hepworth and also the Pehrsons, but ended up not being able to make it. :( 

 But that was pretty much the extent of the week, we went tracting in 28 degree weather and an ice storm, and we got a Book of Mormon handed BACK to us! So lame! That's comparable to giving someone an awesome Christmas present, and they go return it or exchange it for cash. But the seed is planted!  Church was good! And we raked multiple lawns! Also, Brother Black, the coolest old man ever took us to Cabelas for lunch. I got an elk burger! It was tasty! We also got to LOOK at guns, and I held a few fly rods, good times! But that's about all! 

Transfers are in a week so that's scary! I hope I stay here, this place is awesome and the members are so nice! But whatever happens, happens! Thanks so much for all that everyone does! Holy cow, the three month mark is this week, that's crazy! Better get to work! I love you all!

-Elder Samuel LaVar Ward

New Door Approach- Week 12 (part 2)

The Filthy Font -Week 12

Hello everyone!
It has been a fantastic week! We have done a lot of service as usual and ended up actually teaching a fair amount of people! We taught Ron on Tuesday! He's been wondering about kicking his roommate out because they got in a huge fight about a precious gallon of milk. He asked what we think and we were just like...uuuuuuihhhhhh. I didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure how to make a decision. So we kind of told him about the story of the brother of Jared. How sometimes we just have to make a choice and then take it up with the Lord. Which he thought was interesting. He decided to kick him out, we prayed, and so far he has decided that that is the way to go... I guess it was just meant to be. 


But a few weeks ago he said that if our purpose was to baptize him, we may as well leave. Which is partially true. But not. Our purpose is to invite him to come unto Christ, but that can only be done through baptism. So the last couple weeks we have just been reading scriptures and such with him. Kind of taking it easy. But this week we are going to start easing back in to things. So wish us luck! 

We also saw Cedric this week! We taught him the plan of salvation! He loved it! He seemed truly interested! So we invited him to go on a church tour with us. And so he did! We got to scrub the filthy font and make it pretty, ew! There was so much mold and hair, it definitely hasn't been used for a while. We really should've just filled it up and surprise baptized him. But we decided against it. haha! But the tour was SOO spiritual! We showed him the nursery, primary, family history center, spent a solid half hour in the chapel talking about the sacrament and music. And then went into the foyer, showed the picture of the beautiful temple, and ended up in front of the font. 
We talked about the importance of baptism, and priesthood authority. He really understood and we invited him to be baptized when he finds his answer. He accepted! So he better read and pray this week! I am so excited for him! 

We also raked Brother Black's lawn and he wants to take us to Cables for lunch this week! So that will be way super awesome as well! 

We also met with Sheryl. Who is probably one of my most favorite ladies ever! She's not a member but her husband is! We talked to her about family history. She is going to come to the family history center next week and learn more! She also committed to taking her family to the Independence visitor center this week for the Christmas lighting and spoken word program! It will be so cool! The Lord has and is blessing us all! 

I'm so grateful to be out here! It's so beautiful to see the way the gospel touches lives! I couldn't be more excited for these people! Thanksgiving this week is going to be awesome! We have like 4 dinners, so that will be interesting, but good! I love you all! Thanks so much for the love and support! All is well! Love you!

-Elder Samuel Ward

I took some model pics.... enjoy!

  We met someone obsessed with legos.

   Someone loves X-Files as much as I do!

Still Doing the Missionary Thing! -Week 11

Hello all! 
Holy cow! What a crazy and amazing week! Lots and lots happened! We had a pretty regular day on Tuesday. Everyone canceling on us. 
But we did some street contacting and met lots of people. We met someone named Bernadette last week and we have an appointment next week! 


We saw the Burmese family! They were awesome! I hope they keep commitments this week though, it was cool. We sat on a Burmese rug thing the whole time. I am a little worried however that they may just be being nice and letting us come in to teach, like maybe it's apart of their culture, I don't know, but we are not giving up yet! 

Also, We got SUPER awesome referrals from the church and Kaw River Ward sisters. I was on the phone with the MTC for about an hour talking about one of them. I didn't think I'd ever have to talk to any of those people again haha....But the contact's name is JR. We were supposed to meet with him yesterday but something came up. 

But Monica, (the one we got from the Kaw River sisters) is #Gold. She is in a very rough patch of life. She has been contacted by like 5 members she has never met and 3 sets of missionaries in the last week. Sssooooo, she recognizes that it's God organizing that, and we are teaching a lesson tonight! Soooooooo sweet! 

We also went on exchanges this week, I went with Elder Llii from Samoa! He is so awesome! It was his 1 year mark so we went and got food, and I baked a cake and hung a birthday thing. It was great. We also went to Oklahoma Joes, which was obviously a life changer. 

None of our 7 people that committed to come to church came, buuuuttt, there's always next week! It's been a good week! Starting to get pretty cold and wet. It been raining all week and there were 4 tornadoes warnings, I thought I was going to die. But I'm sure it only gets worse! Hahaha. 

We also have Theresa on date for baptism! So that is awesome! I can't remember if that was last week or not though. But it's January 15!! I hope to be here still! Things are great in good ol Kansas., thanks for all that you do! I love you all!



-Elder Ward 

Liberty to our souls - Week 10

Hello hello! 

What a good week this week! We got lots done! We also got a couple of new investigators! HOORAY!! Unfortunately, a lot of our investigators cancelled. But we did a lot of member work, and committed a part member family to take the missionary lessons as a family! It was awesome! They are the Pehrsons who we helped cut down a few trees for! 

Also, the Tuesday birthday was awesome! Thanks so much
for all the letters and packages! But the best birthday present of all was the new investigator we found at the mailbox! His name is Richard,he's had a pretty rough time but we know how to help him! We are going to hopefully meet with him today, he lives in the same apartment complex as us. He is really cool and has a sweet mustache. We had dinner one night this week at the tadys, our ward mission leader. We had the splendid meal of pizza. And we stayed way too long. I think it was like 2.5 hours. We just got caught up so much in talking about the temple. Which was so awesome! I learned so much from them and we are going to try to go in the next couple weeks. I'm so excited! The Kansas City, Missouri temple is so pretty! Y'all need to come!

 Also, the wonderful Will Dillulo and Linda Clayton took us to Historic Liberty Jail and the Visitors Center! Those places are so awesome and so spiritual! I love the Liberty jail. You definitely know that that is where the prophet Joseph Smith was and more importantly, where he received revelation in the Doctrine of Covenants Sections 121, 122, and 123. I advise all of you to read those sections. And remember that everything that was revealed to Joseph applies to us individually as well. Also, our investigator Theresa committed to baptism! She is doing very well and is planning to get baptized in the next couple months. She wouldn't set a specific date, but we are planning to fix that this week.

 A great week over all! Lots of member work and other lessons. It was great! One quick thought. In the historic Liberty jail it goes through the story of the saints persecution out here in the Midwest, and what Joseph and the other prisoners in jail experienced. The last couple weeks have been a little hard with homesickness and such. But when I was in the rotunda of the jail, and the presentation of the Lord talking to the prophet played. They read a quote from section 121 that really brought peace unto my soul, and changed my outlook on many things in life. It says "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." (Section 121 verses 7-8) I love that. I know it's true, it is the words of the Lord our God. If we endure, we WILL be exhaled and we will find that everlasting peace and comfort. This IS the church of Jesus Christ. And I'm so glad to be sharing it. Thanks again for all that you do! I hope it is a great week! Thanks for everything! Love you!

-Elder Samuel LaVar Ward

 Birthday French Toast!

  Liberty Jail!

           Will and Linda took us to an Indian Buffet!

                             New coat, thanks mom and dad!

 Go Cups

Do or do not, there is no try- Week 9

Hello all! What an amazing week! Lots got done this week! The Lord is truly hastening his work! 

Elder Kolacz and I got 2 new official investigators this week. Theresa and Maria. We met them like 2 weeks ago on a trailer park. We have helped them move a lot of stuff into a new trailer. We finally got to teach Maria the restoration last night. Brother Tady,  our ward mission leader came as well. It was awesome. She had a lot of good questions and brought up some things from other bible translations that I had never heard of before. It was really weird, but really interesting... I think I now know where vampires come from...Long story.

But she liked the restoration! She also has really never learned anything about Jesus Christ. So we got to teach her some of that before anything, because He is the man. 

Along with that, we had 6 appointment cancellations this week... The Kansas City Royals games have taken this place over! Blue crowns all over the place, fireworks literally every night, and lots of gunshots. I'm not sure why though... 

One of our investigators, Ron Wilhelmi has had to cancel on us three weeks in a row because of the games. I'm ready for them to end. But I have no idea how it works. Hopefully soon. It's probably bad that I have seen more baseball games on my mission than I have my entire life. ITS EVERYWHERE! BUT ITS SO COOL! I refrain from it though.... 

Also. Trunk or treat was awesome. None of the people who said they would come, came. So that was depressing. But Elder Kolacz and I bought some candy and taped pass along cards to all of them. And then gathered everyone at the end to tell them to pass it along. The even was inside because it was

hardcore raining. So we ended up decorating a classroom instead of a door. We shared a classroom with the Wills, who are from Boise. They are awesome! I need to get me some BSU gear to show off to them someday. 

But it was also a really sad week for the Chapel Hill Ward. We lost the sister missionaries. :( Sister Currie went home and Sister Fletcher was transferred to Iola. So that was depressing. But

we got all of their investigators! We have already been dropped by one. Haha but in our transition lesson with one named Ricardo, WE PUT HIM ON DATE! (For baptism) Sister Currie suggested the end of January, But Elder Kolacz and I are going to try to help him move it up to December sometime, or at least beginning of January..... But all his family is anti and pump him full of lies. So we will see how that goes. 

But over all a really good week. We are so excited for this week because we've got some really solid appointments. So I'll keep you posted! Thanks so much for all the wonderful Halloween packages

birthday packages/cards and letters! They mean so much to me and definitely help things move along. Keep on reading scriptures! I love you all!

-Elder Samuel LaVar Ward.

Also, everything is Star Wars just as much as it is Royals. Shout out to Whitney Brewer and the tribe for all the awesome Star Wars candy, thanks! I love you!

Our Halloween present from Will Dilullo and Linda Clayton

Our Trunk or Treat room

RSL hat from Whitney Brewer... plus a Harry Potter chocolate frog, complete with Professor Quirrell trading card. YES!