16.3--Temple Trip #4

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

As usual, this week has been pretty awesome! Life is cruising on right by here in Albuquerque. This past week we had a couple of awesome things happen! For starters we were able to go to the Temple yesterday!! Wooh! And this will be the last time I will get to go through until it's time to go home.... sad day. At the temple our Mission President shared a quote from Elder Bednar he said: "“The issue is not going to church; rather, the issue is worshipping and renewing covenants as we attend church. The issue is not going to or through the temple; rather, the issue is having in our hearts the Spirit, the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord’s house. The issue is not going on a mission; rather, the issue is becoming a missionary and serving throughout our entire life with all of our heart, might, mind and strength." I thought that was a neat observation about how we need to be living our lives with real intent. I know that as we apply ourselves to our faith we will be able to see the difference!

Also this week, we were able to have another lesson with Jennifer. This past week we taught her the Laws and the Ordinances lesson, and she is so excited for her baptism that is coming up! This is the same Jennifer that I've talked about before, and some info is that we bumped back her baptismal date from April 25th to May 9th! It's been a huge blessing to be able to have gotten to meet with her! She was pretty skeptical at first, but as she's kept commitments her whole attitude has change. She has found hope, healing, and peace.

On a slightly more secular note, we went back to the Creepy Doll house, and I took some pictures this time Muahuahau! We also had a beautiful rain storm come through. I love the rain. 

And lastly Elder Riley Smith and I met a scary guy while on exchanges...So the story goes, we were walking through a neighborhood, wondering who we could talk to... We then passed a house, and I get the feeling to go and knock on it. Elder Smith said that they had knocked before, and he had met a guy who wasn't all that happy, but we figured we'd try again. And as we were walking up his driveway, I accidentally kicked one of his little globe lights on the walk-way and it shattered...awkward. And so we rang his doorbell, and there was no answer. In the background we could hear that he had some loud rock music blaring, and I turned to Elder Smith, and we both agreed to slip off without any further A due.  We then walked away, and Elder Smith remembered that the next door neighbor was an investigator, and so we went and had an awesome talk with that investigator's wife. We left her house feeling pretty pumped, and as we turned the corner, there was a man standing on the cinder block wall dividing the properties.... It was the owner of the broken-globe house... and to make it better, he had no hair at all on his face and head, was super muscular and had a python wrapped around his neck. To top it all off, the man wasn't happy... He looks at me and says "Are you gonna pay for that?" and so I did. And then the guy gets super cranky with us. He goes on to say " I thought I told you guys to never come back. When I say that, I don't mean ever. I NEVER want to see you at my house again."  So that was pretty interesting. I just wanted to share the joy! 

Anywho! I hope that y'all have a great week!

Elder Jacob Guymon

16.2--Life as per usual

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen of the Internet!
Life is going pretty good down here in New Mexico. It was pretty grand! Here was my week at a glance:

1. Monday was P-Day. We said goodbyes to the missionaries transferred and played games.

2. We went out to the most picturesque hobby farm I've ever seen. 

3. We pruned sagebrush for one of our investigators, yes sagebrush! 

4. We moved a family and had a great lesson with one of our investigators.

5. We shoveled loads of gravel.

6. We had a delightful lesson with a woman at one of our ward member's homes.

Anywho, life this week was pretty much carrying on as per usual! We are doing service, teaching lessons, and doing goofy things on the side!

Yesterday we had a district leader/zone leader meeting in which we talked a lot about "Raising the Bar"...not like the type of bar that you drink at, but like raising the bar of our conversion up to the next notch.(see also https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-greatest-generation-of-young-adults?lang=eng). And in it we were talking about a lot of the problems that we commonly face in missionary work. We talked about unity, obedience, boldness, and better time management. President Miller promised us that every problem that we have can be resolved as we focus on the "why" of why we're serving a mission. The Church's missionary manual, Preach My Gospel, does a great job of defining what that "why" is.  It says "(Your purpose is to) invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."  President Miller went on to say that we need to remember that what we do isn't about ourselves but about helping others to come unto Christ. And I think that'sa good thing to think about. The way that we live our lives don't just affect us, but it will affect our families, friends, co-workers, spouse, and children. Our decisions affect eternity. And the problems that we  face can all be resolved through increased faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. 

Anywho! I hpe that yall have a great week! 

Elder Jacob Guymon

16.1--Transfers and Baptismal Dates

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

The reason for this Monday email is because transfers are happening tomorrow, but not to worry, I will be staying here on the west side with Elder Bunderson for this next one.

Speaking of transfers, there are only 2 left in my mission. Where is time going? It seems like it  was just yesterday that I was still with Elder Jewett on the East side... But that's a good thing though!

On our weekly letter from President Miller, he included a couple of paragraphs that I thought were really good that I wanted to pass on.

" 'Because He Lives” is having a great impact in many areas, I hope your area is one of them. Use the Book of Mormon along with the pass along cards you have to teach. Great scriptures in the Book of Mormon to use in expressing the joy of the Resurrection are: 2 Nephi 2:8, 2 Nephi 9:6, 2 Nephi 9:12,
2 Nephi 9:22, Mosiah 15: 21-24 and many, many more.

Enjoy this transfer; lose yourself in serving others; find the deep happiness of conversion as you share the joy of the gospel with everyone. Be bold with humility and love; ask inspired questions; have eyes to see and ears to hear; laugh a lot; be interested, not interesting. Think of the excitement you felt before your mission and while you were at the MTC and strive to have that same fire in your heart again."

I thought that he included a couple of powerful thoughts. He always talks about that it's more important to be an "interested missionary not an interesting missionary". And in how in all of our contacts we should be the ones being interested and willing to help others!

I also thought that it was interesting how he asked if we still feel the excitement in our hearts as the same as when it first started. I think that's a good parallel to a lot of different things, whether it is in missionary work, our conversion to Christ, our marriages, our careers, or our relationships with friends. We usually start out with things because there was something good that attracted us, and I think over time we can become disillusioned with what we had once loved. It also reminds me of a scripture from the Book of Mormon in Alma 5:26-- "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?"

Anywho, this past week was great here in Albuquerque. We were able to see more of our investigators, and we even had a pretty rad miracle. A young single mom and her son that we've been working with asked us if they could get baptized! The mom told us " You know, I think your church has it right." and so we, being the nice guys that we are, obliged them and set a baptismal date for April 25th!! Needless to say, we are pretty excited to see what will happen in the future!

Well, I think that's all for now! Thanks for reading and may God bless you!

Sincerely,

Elder Jacob Guymon

15.6--General Conference

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Yet another week has come and gone and this week was really good! And a beautiful thing happened this past week. My brother and his wife just had their first baby!!! Her name is Jada, and she's adorable! She was 8lbs 1 ounce and was born on 4 April 2015

Other than that this past week we were able to watch General Conference!! :) It was all incredible. The Apostles  spoke boldly with power and authority and I was touched! Probably my favorite one was from the Saturday afternoon session, his name was Dale G Renlund. And in his talk he quoted a story from Shakespeare about two brothers who had been fighting for years. And eventually one of the brothers tried to kill the other. Come to find out the other brother forgave him, and even saved the murderous brother when he was in a life-death situation. And from that point on the bad brother had a conversion. And later when some ladies asked him why he was spending time with his brother if he had once tried to kill him, his response was "Twas I, but tis not I".  I thought that was a powerful analogy for all of us, What we were yesterday isn't as important as what we are right now, and what we are right now isn't as important as  what the future holds for us, and we just need to trust in the Savior to allow us to change, and be patient with ourselves as we make the changes to become more Christlike. 

(https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2015/04?cid=HP_SU_4-5-2015_dPTH_fGC_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng)

Well ladies and gents! I hope that ya'll have a good week!

Sincerely,

Elder Guymon

15.5-- Service Week

Dearest Blog Readers! :)

It is another week down here in New Mexico, and summer is encroaching! This past week the temps were in the 70s+, and it's been beautiful! Along with that, Elder Bunderson and I have had a bunch of opportunities to give service. This week, we took on the roles of: mechanic, landscaper, farrier, gardener, and mover. :) Moral of the story, we get to do all sorts of fun things because people ask for help.

As for missionary work, this past week was a slower week, but it was still good!  We weren't able to see a lot of the people we had panned on, but we did randomly visit with people who we hadn't seen in a while. In our visits with people we have been using the new "Because He Lives" video ( http://www.mormon.org/easter ). They introduced it in Zone Conference, and it's awesome! :) One thing that we noticed about it is that each of the different images shown during the video can mean so many different things depending on where you are at in your life. Parable? I think so!

Oh man! I just about forgot. Easter is this coming Sunday, and I am so very excited! There is always a special spirit around Easter Season as everybody is thinking about the Savior. I am so grateful that because He lives, I can have hope, peace, and happiness. I am so grateful for my Savior and coming to know Him has been the biggest blessing in my life

Anywho, I think that's all for this week! 

Elder Jacob Guymon