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!