Far West is #FAR OUT! - Week 20

Hello family!!! 

Things are going pretty well! I got transferred :( it was pretty sad, but also expected. haha. I now live in good ol Excelsior Springs Missouri!! There are like 5 people that live here, we are totally in the boonies.   

We now get 1800 miles on our Ford Fusion haha. My new companions name is Elder Taylor. He is 6'7" and pretty awesome. He is pretty quiet, but awesome, I'm excited to serve with him!

Missouri is super different, I kind of miss Kansas, where I was the past few months.  haha. But it's cool being in Zion!! I've learned that a lot of people have a HUGE misunderstanding of Adam-Ondi-Ahman, even the members, so we've cleared that up a few times already. 

But things are really good! I'm serving in the Wood Heights Branch in the Far West Zone. There was only about 30 people at church on Sunday, and we had to sit on the stand... I'm  not quite sure why,  but it was cool. The Branch is full of nice people!! We have not had a single dinner appointment since I've been here, which was an adjustment because in my last area we never NOT had a dinner appointment, but it turns out my preaching and begging for food at church on Sunday went well

because we are full for a week or so now, so YAY!! 

There is mainly less active work going on here, we only 3 or so investigators, so we have a goal of finding more this week! It was super hard saying goodbye to a lot of people in the Chapel Hill Ward, I cried, a lot. haha Which is okay i guess.   

But this area is super cool!! It's been snowing and we've taught some people! Not a lot has really happened this week because of transfers, but here is a spiritual thought! I was reading in the Book of Alma this week- chapter 31, who was just a super awesome prophet! I am definitely learning more and more about the atonement every day; what it has done for me and how happy it has

made me, this part really stuck out to me: 

"34 O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we

may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ.

35 Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our

brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we

may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee." 

I just love these scriptures because it encompasses our purpose as missionaries, and shows that we MUST have the Lord's help in carrying out his work, we simply cannot do it on our own, just like we really can't do anything on our own without Him. 

I'm so excited to be here in Zion, and to serve! I know that I am in  this area for a reason, Just like I was in the Chapel Hill area for  reason.

All is well!!!! Thanks so much for everything you all do!! 

My new address is 

209 Fine Street. Apartment #3 

Excelsior Springs, Missouri

64024 

I promise its the right address this time ;) ok i love you all!

Love, Elder Samuel LaVar Ward

Elder Christensen, Me, and Elder Slesk!

Elder Kolacz and I saying goodbye

Me a T! Whoops! I accidentally put my arm around her... 

KIRBY VINCENT! And the owl he helped me carve 

Ron and Cheryl Pehrson

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

 

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

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!

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!

#service #buildingbricks- Week 8

Hello Hello! This was a very good week! We had lots going on! We did a ton of service! We helped out a partial-member family a few times, the Pehrsons. The husband is a member, but the wife is a strong Catholic. They are very nice. They are finally selling their old house after

keeping it for like 20 years. We went and chopped down some trees and are going to build a stone wall tonight. They also took us to an awesome Mexican restaurant last week and we gotta see a smidgen of the Royals game while there... I restrained from watching more than 5.3 seconds... Royals won though! I guess they are going to the World Series or something? NBD. So it's going to be CRAZY here soon. We also did some service for members of our ward, we did some street dimming and brick stacking....reminds me of my old Job! I even saw a couple goat heads I GOT to

pull. haha. 

Also, pretty much all of our appointments cancelled on us this week. 😔 Ron had to take care of his friend who just had major surgery, and Derek Flint cancelled. But we popped by Derek's House and

gave him a Spanish Book of Mormon and Spanish Plan of Salvation pamphlet, his brother just died and he was wondering what we think goes on there. It was good though! We are going to try to take him to the awesome visitors center in Independence this week. That's ALWAYS a great place to really get investigators to progress. 

We also met with our Burmese investigator Van and his family this week. Unfortunately

we didn't get to play Cheen, but we had a great lesson about the restoration.  The parents don't really speak English very well. But Van and his sister Khin do, and they liked it. They are going to try to

come to trunk or treat as well as church! I'm excited. We also got an appointment set up with their Burmese Neighbor. Unfortunately the Book of Mormon is NOT translated into Burmese yet. So that needs to get figured out ASAP. It causes a bit more difficulty for sure. But nothing we can't handle. 

Our investigator Cedric has pretty much ignored us all week. Which is really depressing. But we will pop by and see what's up.

Overall a really Really good Week! Lots of service and teaching! It's what we do! The work here is amazing. I never realized how important member present lessons were until recently. It

just always makes things go better. An example:

 We went on a team up with our new ward mission leader Brother Tady. We went to go see potential investigator Teresa. She wasn't home so we called. She was around the corner helping her best friend move in, so we went and helped! It only took about 40 minutes so we shared a brief message about service and how it is the Lord's work and benefits both people. We showed a message, testified, and they were in tears. They are also going to come to trunk or treat and church! They seem prepared and we have an appointment scheduled with each of them this week. Had Brother Tady not been there it wouldn't have been the same. They now have a member fellowship in the ward for when they come to church. It's also a great way to see how normal people are part of the gospel as well. That is not all just full time missionaries. How members also want to share their love for this gospel, and how important it is. It was awesome! A great week! It went by really fast! 2 month mark next week! Holy monsters! It's going by quick! Aargh. 

The Lord is our Savior. He knows what we are going through and that is what prepares us to see Him! Make sure you share what you know! Go with the missionaries! They will be blessed from it, so will you, so will the investigator. Love you all! Thanks for the packages and letters! Until next week!

-Elder Samuel LaVar Ward

(P.S. If you are going to send Christmas packages I've been asked to ask you to send them to the mission office by November. 20th. They want them at the mission office because transfers are right before Christmas and that could get REALLY confusing haha.) 

I'm hoping to not get transferred until after Christmas, but you never know, I'd imagine because I'm new and opening an area I wouldn't be transferred. But I guess president is very unpredictable, so that's what I was asked to ask you! Thanks for your cooperation! I love you all! 

Also. We are going to have a missionary car for trunk or treat, details and pics next week, buckle up!

Hard at work: 

Elder Kolacz's amazing sweater

BEFORE 

AFTER

TEETER TOTTER