The second week of the mission conference. It was great. There were a lot of great trainings on lesson plans and teaching people not lessons. That one is my favorite. Some people think that we are just here to share a certain number of messages and then you are supposed to get baptized. That is not the way it works. I love this training and I have tried to follow the guidelines in it for most of my mission. I love teaching to people's needs and following the spirit to know what to share with those I teach. Sure you have to still teach the lessons but you do it in such a different way. I love that we are able to have the Holy Ghost to be with us to guide us because when I try to teach by my ability it never goes as well and the spirit is not as strong.
We were told to get to know our investigators more and to teach to their needs. Asking inspired questions to find out what they already believe and what they are looking for. Sometimes people don’t join the church because they don’t have a spiritual witness others it is because they dont understand why we have baptisms for the dead. People also have questions that seem never to be answered because it is not in one of the missionary lessons. We have been advised to always teach from the lessons but for a foundation. We are here to answer questions and to help people understand that this gospel is for them and not just some church.
On to another topic. President Saylin shocked the mission when behind the pulpit during our meeting this past Thursday. He was standing and giving a few closing remarks. You can always tell if he is about to share something that he knows he is going to get a reaction out of people because he gets this grin on his face and just seems gitty. As he spoke he said; "I haven't been feeling good to lately as you and neither has most of the mission. Sister Saylin also hasn't been feeling too good this past week. But she hasn't been feeling too good because there is going to be another addition to the Saylin family..............................." A long pause. The whole mission instantly went silent and started talking quietly amongst themselves. The first thought that went through my mind was; "AWESOME!!!! That is so cool. They are both 42 and they are having another child!" They still have a year and 3 months left on their mission. They will be on their mission when she delivers. That will be so cool. Nobody knew about it and they are so excited for #7.
Also another cool thing to mention. You may have seen him in the news a little bit. But the man who found the cure for AIDS is in our ward. He actually gave us a really great referral that we are going to teach tomorrow. Brother Packered is a nice guy. Elder Born who I replaced here has a picture of Brother Packard roping an alligator with an extension cord. WELCOME TO TEXAS!!!
Last P-day we had a zone activity. We just had fun at the church and went to a field and played rugby. I love that sport. it is so much fun. Especially when you are around people who at least kinda know how to play.
President Saylin came to church on Sunday and totally scared us. He knew he shocked us too.
We went to a Chinese baptism this week. It was really cool. The young man who was baptized is from mainland China. He just moved over here over a month ago I believe and was only taught for 3 weeks before he was baptized. From what was translated to me from Elder Williams he was in China and before he left his teacher gave him a ring. On the ring it has a few letters on it and she told him it stands for Choose the Right. Then when he came here to the U.S. it helped him in his conversion. What are the chances! There are so few members in China. I believe only about 1,000. And they have the most population of any country in the world and the teacher just happened to be a member who just happened to give him a CTR ring and then he just happened to join the church and to be in a place where there was a Chinese branch close by with Mandarin Chinese speaking missionaries. To many coincidences. I love the gospel!!
I hope that you all have a great week. I wish that I had time to send you all a personal email or letter and talk to you one on one. I hope that you all have a great week and for those in Washington I hope that it snows again. I miss snow. I wish I could see more of i but it has been since I was in Friendswood 1.
I love yall and have a great week.
ELDER MARR
Monday, February 28, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Mission Conference 1
It was so cool. So great to see so many missionaries that I have not seen it what seems to be ages. And it will happen three weeks in a row. The meeting this last Thursday was from 7:30am to 6:00pm. With several quick breaks and a lunch. It was a long but great day. I learned so much and gained a lot from the meeting. President Saylin talked about the sacrament again and how important it is for all of us. He also spoke on the reverence we should have during the sacrament within ourselves. I had a great day on Sunday because of the things which he spoke on.
During the mission conference was a focus on several points. Teaching investigators some simple yet profound things that can help them progress in the gospel. The teachings were on. Revelation through prayer, revelation through church attendance, and revelation through the Book of Mormon. It was a focus on helping our investigators to receive revelation in each of these categories. That is why we are told to do each of them as members of the church because it is when we do these things that we receive personal revelation. Sometimes thinking about personal revelation frustrates me in the sense that so many people don’t have faith that it can happen.
This week just about every person who I talked to i asked if they would meet with us and pray to know if what we have told them is true. If there is a prophet today, if the Book of Mormon is true, or if the church made by Christ is back on the earth, or if God even exists. Hardly anyone understands what we say to them. We are telling them that they can receive personal revelation and have a direct answer on a specific question right from the Lord. Why would you not want an experience like that? I cannot understand why a good person who believes in the Lord would not want to do that or play it off like it is just something that the Mormons say. It is serious and it is amazing. There is no other organization on the earth that tells you that you can and should pray and ask the Lord if what we tell and preach is the truth. I love it! I have prayed and I know that these things are true. I know that Christ lives and that he does today the same that he has always done in sending his messengers to the earth. Like the prophets and apostles and that he loves us enough to let us know form him which messengers are from Him and which ones are not from Him. I know that whoever asks with a sincere heart and with real intent to act upon the answer received ,whatever that answer may be, they will receive a witness and an answer from God. I have received an answer that Joseph Smith was a prophet chosen by the Lord to be his mouthpiece. I also know that Brigham Young and every prophet since has been chosen by the Lord. If you have not received an answer if these things are true I would ask you to think about what i have said and to pray and ask if these things are true with a willingness to leave your comfort zone and do what will bring you the most happiness. Even if it is hard. I know that God knows what will make us happy better than we do.
I love you all and this week was a little rougher but this coming week look promising. I love Elder Morenpo and his willingness to serve and to work in this area. There is a lot to do and a lot of people that we are going to be visiting. I also look forward to the second meeting of our mission conference this week. I love you all and thank you for all of the help which you have given to me.
love,
ELDER MARR
During the mission conference was a focus on several points. Teaching investigators some simple yet profound things that can help them progress in the gospel. The teachings were on. Revelation through prayer, revelation through church attendance, and revelation through the Book of Mormon. It was a focus on helping our investigators to receive revelation in each of these categories. That is why we are told to do each of them as members of the church because it is when we do these things that we receive personal revelation. Sometimes thinking about personal revelation frustrates me in the sense that so many people don’t have faith that it can happen.
This week just about every person who I talked to i asked if they would meet with us and pray to know if what we have told them is true. If there is a prophet today, if the Book of Mormon is true, or if the church made by Christ is back on the earth, or if God even exists. Hardly anyone understands what we say to them. We are telling them that they can receive personal revelation and have a direct answer on a specific question right from the Lord. Why would you not want an experience like that? I cannot understand why a good person who believes in the Lord would not want to do that or play it off like it is just something that the Mormons say. It is serious and it is amazing. There is no other organization on the earth that tells you that you can and should pray and ask the Lord if what we tell and preach is the truth. I love it! I have prayed and I know that these things are true. I know that Christ lives and that he does today the same that he has always done in sending his messengers to the earth. Like the prophets and apostles and that he loves us enough to let us know form him which messengers are from Him and which ones are not from Him. I know that whoever asks with a sincere heart and with real intent to act upon the answer received ,whatever that answer may be, they will receive a witness and an answer from God. I have received an answer that Joseph Smith was a prophet chosen by the Lord to be his mouthpiece. I also know that Brigham Young and every prophet since has been chosen by the Lord. If you have not received an answer if these things are true I would ask you to think about what i have said and to pray and ask if these things are true with a willingness to leave your comfort zone and do what will bring you the most happiness. Even if it is hard. I know that God knows what will make us happy better than we do.
I love you all and this week was a little rougher but this coming week look promising. I love Elder Morenpo and his willingness to serve and to work in this area. There is a lot to do and a lot of people that we are going to be visiting. I also look forward to the second meeting of our mission conference this week. I love you all and thank you for all of the help which you have given to me.
love,
ELDER MARR
Monday, February 14, 2011
Sienna Plantation
New Address
010 Indian point
Missouri City, TX
77459
We live with members here in the ward. The Stone family. It is a nice place. We live just south of Sugar Land so the area is a lot more fancy than any of my past areas. Even Friendswood. There are some huge houses here and a lot of more rich communities. It is not largely developed for how large our area is but there are many people. we have a large teaching pool and a lot of great recent converts in the ward. The missionary before me trained Elder Moreno. So this is his second transfer in the field. He is a great missionary and will go far on his mission. He is already very obedient and hard working. He loves the people and does his best. He has been a little stressed with taking over the area but that passes with time. We are already great friends and work very well together. I love Elder Walker but we had a challenge in teaching with each other. Sometimes it just wouldn't match up as well as we would hope. I miss him though. And the whole area of Broadway South.
We went back to Broadway this past Saturday for a baptism. Isaac Chavez and his daughter Aleisha were baptized in the Broadway 1st ward. I taught them almost the whole time that I was in the ward and I was so happy to see a part member family become an all member family. My whole mission has been part member families and member referrals. We found them by street contacting and started teaching the family. They are so strong in their testimonies and I am so happy for them.
This are is great. I haven't been able to work here for too long. I went on exchanges with Elder Breeze, now the zone leader, and planned another day and had church another day. So I have not had a straight day of work.
Our district leader is awesome. I have known him for a while. His name is Elder Cui. He is from mainland China and is 24 years old. He is a Chinese speaking missionary and is so hardworking. His family and he are converts to the church in China. i find that sooo cool. There is no proselytizing in China and I forget how his family found the gospel.
We have a lot to do here. There are some less-active members that we are trying to help re-activate and some new approaches to our meals. We are trying to have a non-member or at least a less-active to all of our meal appointments. It has been interesting trying to get the members on board but it is a great tool. We did it a lot in Broadway and had some really great experiences come form it.
One last quick note. We will be having a mission conference for the next three weeks every Thursday to train the mission as a whole on the fundamentals of Preach My gospel that the brethren have put out. It is going to be soooo great to see so many missionaries that I have not seen in what seems to be ages. I will get to see them for three weeks and see them all one last time.
I look forward to what this next week brings. I have been changing alot these past few months. I might have already said that. I have a lot that I love and my heart just doesn't let me go back on some things. i have been experiencing somewhat a change of heart. At least a potion. I love it. This mission is so great. The greatest gift that I have ever been given besides my family. I am just so happy all of the time. A mission is so much fun and so edifying. I still have a lot of time left to bring more people to Christ. Because that is what we do. i am not out here to baptize people. i am here to help all to have a spiritual conversion to the Lord and to his gospel.
I love you all and have a great week. Send me mail. :)
love,
ELDER MARR
P.S.
HAPPY VELENTINES DAY!!!!!!!!!
010 Indian point
Missouri City, TX
77459
We live with members here in the ward. The Stone family. It is a nice place. We live just south of Sugar Land so the area is a lot more fancy than any of my past areas. Even Friendswood. There are some huge houses here and a lot of more rich communities. It is not largely developed for how large our area is but there are many people. we have a large teaching pool and a lot of great recent converts in the ward. The missionary before me trained Elder Moreno. So this is his second transfer in the field. He is a great missionary and will go far on his mission. He is already very obedient and hard working. He loves the people and does his best. He has been a little stressed with taking over the area but that passes with time. We are already great friends and work very well together. I love Elder Walker but we had a challenge in teaching with each other. Sometimes it just wouldn't match up as well as we would hope. I miss him though. And the whole area of Broadway South.
We went back to Broadway this past Saturday for a baptism. Isaac Chavez and his daughter Aleisha were baptized in the Broadway 1st ward. I taught them almost the whole time that I was in the ward and I was so happy to see a part member family become an all member family. My whole mission has been part member families and member referrals. We found them by street contacting and started teaching the family. They are so strong in their testimonies and I am so happy for them.
This are is great. I haven't been able to work here for too long. I went on exchanges with Elder Breeze, now the zone leader, and planned another day and had church another day. So I have not had a straight day of work.
Our district leader is awesome. I have known him for a while. His name is Elder Cui. He is from mainland China and is 24 years old. He is a Chinese speaking missionary and is so hardworking. His family and he are converts to the church in China. i find that sooo cool. There is no proselytizing in China and I forget how his family found the gospel.
We have a lot to do here. There are some less-active members that we are trying to help re-activate and some new approaches to our meals. We are trying to have a non-member or at least a less-active to all of our meal appointments. It has been interesting trying to get the members on board but it is a great tool. We did it a lot in Broadway and had some really great experiences come form it.
One last quick note. We will be having a mission conference for the next three weeks every Thursday to train the mission as a whole on the fundamentals of Preach My gospel that the brethren have put out. It is going to be soooo great to see so many missionaries that I have not seen in what seems to be ages. I will get to see them for three weeks and see them all one last time.
I look forward to what this next week brings. I have been changing alot these past few months. I might have already said that. I have a lot that I love and my heart just doesn't let me go back on some things. i have been experiencing somewhat a change of heart. At least a potion. I love it. This mission is so great. The greatest gift that I have ever been given besides my family. I am just so happy all of the time. A mission is so much fun and so edifying. I still have a lot of time left to bring more people to Christ. Because that is what we do. i am not out here to baptize people. i am here to help all to have a spiritual conversion to the Lord and to his gospel.
I love you all and have a great week. Send me mail. :)
love,
ELDER MARR
P.S.
HAPPY VELENTINES DAY!!!!!!!!!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Transfered
I love this area and I don’t want to leave. Part of me felt it coming though. For some reason I knew that I was going to be transferred. This area was a great one. There are so many people that I am going to miss and that I have to stay in contact with the best that I can. I will miss this place. I feel like my next area though is going to be awesome. I have no idea where i am going but I know I will love it. It will most likely be my final area. That is scary to think. I really don’t realize how long I have been out. I feel like I just got out in the field and that I have years left to serve and to work. But it is coming to a close and I don’t want it to. There is still so much I need to do and so much that I can do. Elder Walker has been a good companion. He is a hard worker and we were able to get a lot accomplished. This area has such a bright future and is already going strong in the missionary work. And in the reactivation work.
Besides getting transferred this week was a little odd. They thought that it was going to snow. But it didn't. It just stayed in the mid 20's to mid 30's not counting the strong wind chill for two days. Elder Walker and I both got sick because we were not allowed to drive because of the ice and our bikes would have slipped too so we walked everywhere. We did talk with a lot of great people though. But it was not the best week for the work. We had a zone meeting as well and Elder Hougard was sick so one of us had to stay with him while Elder Schaat and Elder Walker or I would go out and work their area. We had some really good lessons this week. One to an investigator named Fitzroy. We have been working with him for a long time and he finally came to church. And church was awesome. We had a stake conference broadcast from Salt Lake. The speakers were Ann Dibb of the relief society presidency, Elder Martin of the 70, Elder M. Russel Ballard, and President Thomas S. Monson. It went for 2 hours and was magnificent. The spirit was strong and the talks were great. It was a broadcast to Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. I really enjoyed it. It is not a usual thing to be able to hear from the general authorities of the church every Sunday. Fitzroy enjoyed it and I believe is now going to start keeping more commitments.
This week I was also able to see some great missionary friends at zone meeting. It is odd to think that I met Elder Oliver and Elder Manoa 6 months ago. Time just flies. There is no other way to describe it. It just shocks me that everything travels so fast that it seems like you never have time to think about everything you have to take care of. It is a rush. I love it though. A busy mission is a lot better than a slow mission.
P.P.S. Next week will be long with information on my new area. I love you all and I hope that this week goes well for all of you. I am so grateful for all of your prayers and help which you have given to me. I wish that I could give back more. I love you all and have a great week.
love,
ELDER MARR
P.S. Keep reading from the Book of Mormon
Besides getting transferred this week was a little odd. They thought that it was going to snow. But it didn't. It just stayed in the mid 20's to mid 30's not counting the strong wind chill for two days. Elder Walker and I both got sick because we were not allowed to drive because of the ice and our bikes would have slipped too so we walked everywhere. We did talk with a lot of great people though. But it was not the best week for the work. We had a zone meeting as well and Elder Hougard was sick so one of us had to stay with him while Elder Schaat and Elder Walker or I would go out and work their area. We had some really good lessons this week. One to an investigator named Fitzroy. We have been working with him for a long time and he finally came to church. And church was awesome. We had a stake conference broadcast from Salt Lake. The speakers were Ann Dibb of the relief society presidency, Elder Martin of the 70, Elder M. Russel Ballard, and President Thomas S. Monson. It went for 2 hours and was magnificent. The spirit was strong and the talks were great. It was a broadcast to Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. I really enjoyed it. It is not a usual thing to be able to hear from the general authorities of the church every Sunday. Fitzroy enjoyed it and I believe is now going to start keeping more commitments.
This week I was also able to see some great missionary friends at zone meeting. It is odd to think that I met Elder Oliver and Elder Manoa 6 months ago. Time just flies. There is no other way to describe it. It just shocks me that everything travels so fast that it seems like you never have time to think about everything you have to take care of. It is a rush. I love it though. A busy mission is a lot better than a slow mission.
P.P.S. Next week will be long with information on my new area. I love you all and I hope that this week goes well for all of you. I am so grateful for all of your prayers and help which you have given to me. I wish that I could give back more. I love you all and have a great week.
love,
ELDER MARR
P.S. Keep reading from the Book of Mormon
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