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!