February 23, 2015 Our People

With President and Sister Calderwood

This is a list of the people Elder Galke claim as our own.  I basically copied and pasted it with a few modifications from a list I've been creating as I go.  There's so many new people to meet I can't remember everyone if I don't write this. I thought it would be fun for you to get to know them a little bit better. In this mission we do "open pool", which means that anybody can teach anybody (which makes sense - President Calderwood is a big proponent of figuring out what works and avoiding conventions just because that's how it's always done.

So keep a list of these people and I will add more people/details as they come.

Christian and Anthony - two cousins, around fifteen years old.  They have friends that are members, so somehow they got interested and have been taking the lessons.  My first week they agreed to march 8 as a baptismal date.  They are good kids and both really like the church and the gospel, but it's hard for them being the only ones in their family.  Anthony's mother believes that changing religions is a very serious sin, and they are Catholic.  That said, they want it to be up to Anthony, and Sister Vazquez and Sister Vela are working with them.  The Sisters are also working with Christian's parents.  Christian wants to be baptized but really wants to do it with his family.  It sounds like his parents are close and say they would get baptized if Christian did.

Belkis and Rick - Inactive for ten years.  They both work in Manhattan.  Sweetest people ever. Belkis feeds one to two sets of missionaries every week, Rick is usually asleep because of his work schedule, but our last visit I met him! So cool, he's Italian and looks exactly like a classic Italian clothes model. He gave Elder Galke's last companion a ton of super expensive clothes because he lost a ton of weight. Belkis said she put a hundred pounds on him the first year of marriage, and that's no surprise. Her cooking is bien bien rico.  Marrying her would be bad for one's figure, but man it's good.  She takes pride in fattening up missionaries.  Oh Belkis is from Spain and I love her Spanish, it's very proper and clear, although we actually mostly use English, they are both fluent.  I'm not sure exactly what is holding them back.  They accept our teachings and seem to have testimonies. Not positive on Rick, but I know Belkis really wants to follow God, but can't see the importance of a few things, like going to church and reading from the scriptures and such.

La familia Contreras - the Contreras are a great family with good desires, but they sort of struggle.  It depends on the month whether they are active or less active. My first lesson with them the husband admitted he was a little bit discouraged due to the example of our ward members. In particular, the men with much more experience than he aren't good home teachers.  He says he knows that this is a bad reason to be discouraged, but it makes it hard to do your home teaching as a recent convert if the other elders aren't doing it. Take note of that.  It's not just home teaching.  If you are a member of the church you have a huge responsibility to fellowship and befriend everyone else in the ward, especially new ones, and set good examples in all things.  He's asked to go through all the discussions again.  Their family was baptized three years ago within two weeks of meeting the missionaries, and he feels like he wants a better understanding of everything.

Lesbia and Irvin - Lesbia is a member and is preparing to go through the temple for the first time.  She usually comes to church with her kids.  Irvin is not a member. He seems to accept the missionary lessons, but withdraws if he's invited to be baptized. Lesbia says he just needs it to be on his own time table.  He is in a lot of pain right now - he's got a few bulged discs in his back poor fellow.  I just had my first lesson with them, they are really awesome people. We talked about how the gospel blesses families and Irvin committed to read a chapter we gave him out of the Book of Mormon.

La familia Menjivar - inactive family with three kids.  They didn't seem enthusiastic when we taught them, and Elder Galke says they are always like that but they are always okay with us scheduling them, so it's hard to know what goes through their heads.  Man I wish I had a meticulous biography to study of everyone we teach.  That'd be nice.  They committed to show up to church on Sunday but no such luck.

Luna - she is 11 years old and a recent convert.  Wow she is so sweet.  Her parents, Carmen and Victor, are very supportive of her being in the church, although they are less active and divorced.  Luna lives with her mom.  I think the reason her mom doesn't go to church is because Luna's dad still lives in the same branch and he goes to church sometimes.  Elder Galke says that when they ask her dad what they can do for him he just says to make sure Luna stays strong in the gospel, and it's clear that her mom feels the same way.  It's interesting how even though there is something keeping them away from living the gospel fully, they know that it is the best way of life and the key to her daughter living a better life than they have.  I've been over there once and her mom was there and was really helping Luna out.

Melissa - she's not exactly an investigator... But I just have to throw her in here! She's nine years old and so adorable, she is the embodiment of Sarah and Mary put together in a nine year old.  She's at the church during mutual and we are always there in another room making calls while we wait for it to finish and she comes in and helps us make calls.  She is so excited to be helping with missionary work! I wish Sarah and Mary could come play with her.

 Judy - another sidekick. She's probably about three.  WHY. WHY ARE WE NOT ALLOWED TO HOLD CHILDREN. Ugh... She slays me.  I didn't realize how much I missed Sarah and Mary until the first Sunday and this cruel trick came to pass.

In our district we have two sets of elders and one set of sisters. I've decided that when I get home, my mission is going to consist of recruiting young women to serve missions. Right now they are about 30 something percent of the missionary force, and it needs to be 50%.   Pres. Calderwood has really pushed Salt Lake to have a set of sisters in every district, which is not very common. But in reality, the sisters are the best missionaries in the mission. I had and experience the other day that may have illustrated one reason why they do more than all the elders do. The sisters wanted to go heart attacking people. Heart attacking is simply writing uplifting messages on heart cutouts and taping them to peoples doors that may be in need. Honestly, I was a little bit skeptical about how much this would really help our purpose, because if I was the one on the receiving end, it wouldn't really mean anything to me. But we went along with them and one of the doors that we visited what is the door of a woman named Julisa. The missionaries have been trying to get a hold of Julisa for months. They were teaching her before and she seemed to like a golden investigator, but then she sort of just disappeared. Elder Galke and I have been calling and knocking at her door ever since I got here and he says that they've been doing it for much longer than that, but she's been juking us. Well about an hour after we got home from heart attack, Julisa texted us! It was incredible to see how much this simple act had touched her. She said that she had been going through a rough time, and that we had lifted her so much (we left no indication that the heart attack was from the missionaries, she had just assumed that). She was really, really appreciative. So then Elder Galke called her, and she ended up asking us when we could come over.

*deer in headlights*

"Uh.... Uh... Yes. I mean sure well whenever you can do it you know I mean Elder Sirrine doesn't have anything against it I mean we're just missionaries you know like we do that stuff sometimes it's really up to you I mean I know you work schedule has been really busy and stuff...."

It was pretty funny. So that was a quite miraculous change of heart that I did not see coming from such an activity.

While we were driving around to the doors that we had plans to heart attack, the sisters had prepared little handouts consisting of those little hand warmer pockets and a Mormon card. We were just looking for people on the street that might be cold to give them to.  So I guess once the sisters have already laid it on the table, this is what qualifies the existence of Elders - when we saw a good victim, Hermana Vazquez would pull over, and Elder Galke and I would go run them down.  Literally.  Elder Galke thought that la Hermana Vazquez just thought it was funny planning the most difficult and longest route for us to run and park there.

"Mira mira mira! Una persona!"

"Hermana, that's not a person yet, thats just a speck."

"DO SHORT SOULS HAVE NO WORTH TO YOU!?"

"Okay, okay, just pointing out you could have kept driving for a little bit before parking..."

Anyways, there was a lot of rejection with the hand warmer approach, eg "FA-REE?? Son, what do I look like to you?" (No, that didn't happen - that's Elder Galke's rendering of what their eyes were saying). But there was one man that made the whole thing worth it. When I gave him that hand warmer, he just seems so appreciative and taken aback by the kindness that we had shown.  Of course, he never called that number we put on the Mormon card, but it was a positive experience for him. More importantly, it was an experience in which we had helped a child of God, a brother.

So I learned a valuable lesson in thinking outside of my own head, and not discounting certain tactics based on how I would have received it best.  So that's one reason why we have sisters.  Another reason is that we usually give all our single lady contacts to them, so they have more progressing investigators than either set of elders do.  Elder Galke has said that he wishes I could have come into an area without sisters so I could see the difference they make.  Said he, "it's ridiculous".

Verdad.  Sisters are not only a lot sweeter than Elders, but I think they are also better at studying and being disciplined.  On a mission you will hear a lot that the studies are what makes the missionaries.

Another interesting happening this week was after a lesson with Luna. We had a good lesson and then left, but right when we got home, her mom, Carmen, called and asked if we could come back.  She wouldn't tell us why.  So we drove twenty minutes back to her house and her brother, who is not a member, opened the door.  Neither of us had met her brother before, but he presented us with huge bags of really good rolls (he works at a bakery) and asked if he could sit in on the lessons. Por qué no.

I testify that this is the true church, which most fully espouses the doctrine of Christ and is endorsed by Him.  I truly believe we have seen miracles here in New York.  I give this witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Transfers with Elder Vidaurri

Public School 16

February 16, 2015 Wow Authentic Latino food is so good.

Wow authentic Latino food is so good.  It's also a little sketchy sometimes.  I actually had one lady tell me straight up what her food would do to me. Of course I didn't know she was talking to me - and I can't understand much Spanish if I'm not looking at the person. I found that out the next day, whilst I was sitting upon the throne of afflictions for a good half hour.

"Elder Galke, what did I eat?"

"It's probably the mole from Hermana Hernandez.  she told you up front it would wreck your bowel system, so it's on you man".

If you ever go to a Latin country get yourself a good translator.

Also I decided that wicked hot chilies should be an item in my backpack on any mountaineering trips in the future. Those will keep your belly warm a lot longer than hot cocoa.

WE WILL NOW TAKE AN IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL BREAK AND HEAR FROM OUR SPONSORS ........

Okay this is funny.  As I'm writing this, Elder Galke just called from the bathroom (separate incident):

"Agh, Elder, did we eat something bad?"

"Probably. I had it this morning too."

So I guess that illustrates the point.  Now back to the spicy part. We walked into that house and I started  coughing.  The air felt thick with capsaicin. I did my best to man up and eat what she served, praying for strength that I wouldn't start crying in the middle of the meal, but in the end I had to have her package the rest of it to go.

This week we had a branch Valentine's Day fiesta fund raiser for girls camp. It was so funny - Mary showed up! Mary is (was) an English class regular (they stopped doing them before I got here because nobody came due to the cold, but we will start back up in a while). She's also not Latino, she's Chinese! So she doesn't really speak Spanish or English. We were just trying to figure out how she found out about the event. I loved that. She's so bold.  Also she kind of stands out since she's a foot taller than everyone.  I was the only one there taller than her.

We got a few new investigators is week, Isidro, Maribel and their two kids.  They had been invited to the branch Christmas party, where the missionaries shared "He Is the Gift" with them. They really liked it, and finally it's payed off.  We shared a message about the Family, using the Proclamation and a Mormon Message, Padre Terrenal, Padre Celestial (probably earthly father, Heavenly Father in English).  It was a beautiful lesson.   It's hard to describe the sense of power in many of our lessons.  The Spirit is there.  I can feel it testifying, and we know when the investigators feel it.  There's also another feeling there - that is, personal love I have for them. It's amazing how much we love these people we don't really know. It's different than what I've experienced before in my life.

To me an interesting part of Lehi's dream in the Book of Mormon is when he has partaken of the fruit of life and desires for his family to partake of it.  He says that he saw Laman and Lemuel and called out to them.  When they shrugged him off, why did he not do something about it? Was it not important enough to attack from a different angle? As far as I know, we have no scriptural indication that Lehi had a torn rotator cuff at this point in his life.  Why not make it a little easier for them and lob it? Or better yet, go make a personal delivery?

Partaking of the gospel fruit is a personal decision.  We have been working a lot with less active members.  It's heartbreaking to see that they have chosen not to eat the fruit.  It is tempting to be
discouraged.  I ask myself all the time what we can do to help them change.  But in the end, all we can do is, like Lehi, beckon to them.

It's hard to see all the examples of people who won't accept the gospel or can't see he eternal significance of it.  But being able to see all the examples of those who are accepting it makes it so worth it.  We are so blessed to have almost everybody we work with progressing.

I love my God and Savior Jesus Christ.  I feel like he has given me a small taste of the love that he has for each of us.  I testify that the doctrine of Christ (see 2 Ne 31) is not only the only way to return to live with Him again, but also the way to find peace in this life. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

February 9 2015 This is Elder Sirrine hailing from New York

My new comp, Elder Galke

The view form our apartment window

Well the fraction of my experiences that I can write is an even smaller number his week than normal.

We left the MTC at four am to catch the flight at seven (the Padresgot a surprise telephone call at five-something am from the airport). We were a bit late getting out of the residence so we didn't have time for breakfast. I dramatically shed a single tear.

Our flight ended up getting delayed almost 45 minute (after they had trapped us on the plane of course), so we would have missed our next flight, but the forces of nature decided to cancel our connection flight, just for good measure.  So there were 19 missionaries,speaking a variety of languages (some of them very little English) wandering around Detroit's airport, not quite sure what to do. So we worked out a shuttle and a hotel, but still had to wait a couple hours in the airport.  So naturally, we ate pizza and terrorized the people at large.  It was SO exciting to be out and about and have real live people to run down! Actually most of the missionaries were super stressed and anxious/depressed because of the whole situation.  As for a reformed adrenaline junkie (I've been clean five months), WOW that was a refreshing adventure! The MTC was absolutely wonderful, but after 7 weeks I really needed some new territory to sniff out.

Eventually we got to the hotel and there discovered.... A clothes iron! So naturally we had to get a pic of me walking Bartholomew the Second. So there we were, in the hallway of La Quinta, and right as we were taking the pic, a room service lady walked out of a room. She was, understandably, a little confused, but we explained the story and she laughed and said that, after a long day, she really appreciated the humor. We asked her what she knew about the church, and she ended up committing pretty enthusiastically to watch Meet the Mormons. So in a nutshell, walking your iron can be dangerous, but a careful analysis of the risk versus reward scheme may reveal profit.

Somehow our luggage had made it straight to New York.  I didn't really have a carry on like everyone else, just my little satchel that was stuffed with study materials.  It ended up working out though, I went and begged the hotel desk for a toothbrush, so it was all good. Scriptures, marking pencils, and a toothbrush.  What more does a man need? I mean, Preach My Gospel itself is the ultimate survival guide so I was pretty much Bear Grylls-ing it.

The next morning we left early again to catch a 7:20 flight. The hotel didn't have breakfast that early and we got caught up in security due to diabetic complications, so no breakfast two days in a row. And due to the luggage situation and my poor choice of what to include in my shoulder bag, I had no snacks.  What an oversight.  In the words of our fearless district leader of 23b, "The one time Elder Sirrine doesn't have enough food on his person to eat a small meal every 45 minutes".

I had plenty of sitting time to reflect upon this gross error.  The flight was listed as one hour and five minutes. We were on that plane for almost five hours due to more delays. Unfortunately, everyone else on the plane was absorbed into their smartphones, so it was difficult to talk to people.

Because we arrived a day late, we skipped the mission home and all the niceties.  So I guess I'm still roughing it without my bedding (but I'm sure it arrived on time, mom).  The President ordered in pizza, so we finally got to eat! I'm down a solid five pounds - our last day in the MTC was fast Sunday, Monday we didn't eat until 2 pm, and then food finally graced us around 4 on Tuesday.

We immediately met our comps and headed out to our areas.  My trainer is Elder Galke from Panama (although, not to be deceived, he is just as much a gringo as I am).  He's a really good guy.  We then headed to our area, Staten Island, the largest in the mission, although we of course stopped by Manhattan on the way (Elder Galke got a little lost. Of course I would break the mission boundary rule on the first day).

The first Sunday was an adventure. We went to ward council in the morning and honestly did not understand what occurred during that gathering.  The church meetings were a lot better because they were talking about subjects I was familiar with, but after three hours it became difficult to exert that much brain power.  Goodness gracious there are a lot of Dominicans and if I didn't know any better I'd say they invented their own language.

And hence, the accompaniment set up an impressively dissonant congregation.  Despite that, I loved the enthusiasm of the little branch.  The choir professor at BYUi said, "if you're going to miss
it, miss it big" because our choir often didn't sound quite lively enough.  I don't think anyone ever had enough courage to follow that advice, but she would have loved this branch.

At first, arriving in New York was just what I'd expected.  I was reminded why I like small towns.  But  I knew that God would take care of me.  I have a testimony of he changing power of the Atonement.  I knew that if I had learned to love the MTC, New York would be no problem.  And the second day here we taught a lesson and I was comforted so much.  We got up into this puny apartment and started teaching Concepcion and Yavanni, and really felt the presence of the Spirit there.  The feeling of love I had for them was overwhelming.  I already knew this, but it really struck me that people are children of God everywhere.  It doesn't matter where you find yourself, whether
you are a set apart or a member, whether you are in the most remote mountain or in New York City, missionary work is the same.  It is inviting children of God to come into Christ, the work of salvation.
I testify that this is God's work.  I invite everyone to reconsider how much importance it has in your life and set missionary goals today.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

February 2, 2015 New York Flight Cancelled, Overnight in Detroit

February 2

Dear parents of today’s arriving missionaries to the New York New York South Mission,
Because of the winter conditions in New York and the East Coast today, the connecting flight in Detroit for the missionaries travelling here was cancelled and they were not able to be rebooked on another flight today.  The Church’s Travel Department has arranged hotel rooms for them to stay the night in Detroit and Delta is in the process of rebooking them on a flight for tomorrow.  They are all together and safe and President Calderwood will be in touch with them.   We will keep you posted on the plans for their arrival.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call.

Kind regards,

Sister Dibble
Mission Secretary
New York New York South Mission




February 3

Dear family of Elder Sirrine,

We just want to send you a quick note to let you know that your missionary just arrived safely in New York City this morning.  President and Sister Calderwood met them at the airport, will feed and visit with them, and this afternoon they will meet their new companions who have been chosen by inspiration to train them. Within a few days you will receive an email letter from President and Sister Calderwood with a picture of your missionary.  The missionary preparation day is Monday so you will be hearing from your missionary then.

Thank you for entrusting your missionary to us in the New York New York South mission.  We so appreciate all you have done to get these missionaries to this point in their lives.

Sincerely,

Sister Dibble
Mission Secretary
New York New York South Mission

January 27, 2015 Last week in the MTC!

Our district with Hermana Wilson

 

  

With the teachers

Last week!  Hopefully, anyway.  I know a lot of flights have been cancelled in that area.  By Monday it should be good.  As it is, we have 7 weeks here instead of 6 because of Christmas.  We lost the Sisters in our district yesterday since they aren't going to New York.

It's been a good week.  Let me tell you that Sundays have never failed to be so spiritual.  On Sunday I accompanied in Relief Society for "Be Still My Soul".  President Stewart told me I needed to come back with valuable information about all their inner workings.  He said it's normally pretty tough to sneak into Relief Society here.  I did discover that they watch Music and the Spoken Word - not fair in the least.

Then during sacrament meeting, as a last hurrah with the entire branch there, we did a musical number we've been working on.  We sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer (in Spanish) to the tune of Come Thou Fount.  The third verse we hummed while Elder Moe quoted the First Vision in Spanish.  Wow.  A few weeks ago, Elder Nelson came and spoke to us.  He promised us as an apostle of Jesus Christ that if we were ever in trouble, in our lives or if a lesson was going bad, to tell the story of the First Vision and the Spirit will come rushing in.  I have found that to be true.  Afterwards, President Stewart came up and talked to me about it and said he was almost crying.  I was thinking, "umm President, my sources say you lost it" (my back was turned during the song so I couldn't see).  And of course the Presidency wives didn't stand a chance.  Combining that promise from a prophet and combining it with a sacred hymn sung by missionaries was indescribable.  And I can tell you it didn't come from impeccable musical talent - we've got two good singers, everyone else ranges from usable to pretty horrible.

This morning we had an interesting experience.  Last night at gym time, Elder Hull attempted to catch a basketball with his face.  His glasses didn't make it.  So we got shuttled to the outside world to have an optometrist fix them.  And guess what?  Provo is still alive!  The world is still turning, apparently.

I've been thinking some about the vision Nephi had where he witnessed the destruction of his own people.  When you read later in the Book of Mormon, you discover that would have been a horrific vision.  There's no words to describe how awful the end of the Nephites was.  Afterwards, he laments that he viewed his afflictions above all else because of what he had seen.  Yet right after that is pretty interesting.  His brothers are quarreling and Nephi asks what's up.  They say that they don't understand Lehi's vision of the tree of life.  Nephi proceeds to talk with them and clear things up about the vision and does his best to invite his brothers to repentance and to God.  I think this is pretty spectacular.  He had just witnessed the destruction of his people, and that it was due to the posterity of his brothers and their hatred of Nephi that they would pass down generation to generation.  Yet Nephi never stops being kind.  It seems as if he immediately forgave them.  And despite knowing exactly what was going to happen, he still never gave up patiently teaching his brothers and inviting them to Christ.

I think we can all learn a lesson in forgiveness and persistence in missionary work.  He never gave up on them, even knowing the future.  It was a hopeless case.  Nephi would never convert them to the Lord.  But God doesn't ask us to bring converts.  What he asks is all our heart, might, mind and strength.  Those are expectations we can fill no matter what the circumstances or people around us.

Turning outward in time of great trial was a defining characteristic of Christ.  I testify that this is the way to self-conversion and happiness.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Sirrine



(a second letter sent....)

Hello fam!

So one day in one building they had boxes of free garments!  It was the best day ever.  My comps were laughing at me endlessly.  I decided that I like the 50/50 better than the drilux, but they're too expensive to just buy new ones, also the spandexish ones are awesome for the gym.  So I doubled my stocks.  No one else was brave or cheap enough to join in.  Granted.... on pair of the spandex did have a nice brown streak right in the seat (like is that legal?).  I couldn't bring myself to keep that pair.

I had an appalling experience in a lesson with the Law of Chastity this week.  It's probably requisite.  Fortunately (actually I don't know how fortunate I feel), I wasn't teaching.  I was role playing an investigator.  One of the Hermanas just started grilling me.  The scenario was that I was living with my girlfriend and needed to get married.  She just skipped that bit and made sure I understood the knitty gritty.  Por ejemplo: she demonstrated where appropriate clothing should cover, and then asked "If a woman isn't doing that, where is the first place you look"?

*deer in headlights*

Umm... do you want me to answer that?  What do you want me to say?  I responded by saying that I had a question.  She answered it briefly and then went right back to her question.  Once she was sufficiently satisfied with my answer, she asked where the first place a woman would look if a guy was wearing a swimsuit below the hips.  I thought I was smart by saying, "I don't know".  Nope, she proceeded to gesture just to make sure I would understand.

It didn't get better.

On the bright side, I think our lessons have been increasing in the Spirit.  It's so beautiful when you are studying the scriptures thinking about an investigator and the Spirit shows you exactly what they need and how to touch them.  It's hard to explain, but it means so much more that just coming up with the answer logically on your own.

I think that we are working hard and have shown God our desire to qualify for discernment and guidance with our investigators.  We've now had three different investigators all come to a lesson one day with some big issues from encountering anti-mormon people since the last visit.  Each time, I knew.  As soon as they opened the door, I knew what was happening.  And each of those lessons has been so guided by the Spirit and some of our best lessons.  I know that the Spirit is what turns us into teachers.  Because we're just 18 and 19 year old kids.

I hope you know how much I care about you all.  I wish you the best,

Elder Sirrine

January 20th, 2015 The weeks seem to be going by faster and faster!

Record upgrade

A picture of a picture..Utah Capitol bldg in distance

The weeks seem to be going by faster and faster!  It's been super fun to see Mckenna Gibbons at breakfast.  We get excited when we see evidence that the outside world still exists.  (Mckenna is our backyard neighbor, currently working in the MTC cafeteria).

We had some pretty epic Spanish faux pas this week.  Not the least of which was from our counter-district.  Their teacher (Hermana Valdez) asked the class what they would give up to be a missionary. Then Elder Oaks asked her how to say "chess" in Spanish.  She thought he said "chastity", and replied castidad.  Well you know what Elder Oaks then said.  I thought we were going to lose Hermana Valdez.  Good ole conditional tense.

We never ended up getting more districts, so the President never called zone leaders.  So Elder Napoleon and I have had the opportunity to figure out how to be district and zone leaders at the same time with no trainers.  It's been a little stressful but I think we've finally got it figured out.

Elder Napoleon

Elder Roland is the one with the face

I'm finally starting to adjust to the MTC lifestyle.  Probably my biggest challenge has been being penned up with so many people.  The first few weeks were really suffocating (quite literally, breathing other people's air makes me feel like I'm in a choke hold.... but less fun).

The MTC has been on flu lockdown for a couple weeks now.  No hugs or handshakes.  So we do the 'elbow-touch'.  It's probably trademarked by the MTC.

Having a clearly defined life purpose is such a big help in productivity.  I highly recommend it.  One of our teachers liked the missionary purpose so much that he decided to just adapt it for his post mission life - Mi proposito es invitar a las chicas al reino celestial....
Whatever stage of life you are in, I would invite everyone to come up with a purpose statement and say it every single day.  Vision is what separates the great from the ordinary.  Christ had the greatest vision of any person to come to the earth, and his actions never deviated from that.  I testify that the Spirit honors preparation and desire, and I know this is a way to show God our desire and invite his blessing into our lives.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Sirrine

           

Careful kids. Irons are dangerous

Flowers that survive a cumulative foot of snow!