Have you heard of Sacred Heart?

Another week is gone, it's the craziest thing!  I still feel like i've just barely left home, and I'll hit my 3 month mark in a few days.  I'm grateful i still have a long mission left, I have a lot more to do out here.  I have no plan for this email, no specific ideas i really want to include (that I can think of at the moment)  So i'm just gonna write down some stuff that happened this week :)

On Sunday (yesterday)  we went to church (understatement of the year) and then when we were about down we were asked to go give a little presentation to some kids about missionary work!  Just before we got there, Elder W shifted the responsibility to Elder D and myself, and Elder D was quick to take himself out of that equation.  Little did they know, i LOVE teaching little kids!  They were about 5, there were only 3 of them, and the lesson was about how they could be missionaries TODAY!  They had little paper black name tags, pretty cute!  It was way fun, I think kids are just the best.  I didn't have any lesson plan obviously, because of the short notice, but what I came up with was 2 parts.

1) we are missionaries by EXAMPLE.  We talked about how people notice you, notice you are different and happy.  I actually thought i did a pretty good job with this, I came in and did a quick introduction, then I just started asking them about missionaries.  I asked them what they thought missionaries did, or anything else about missionary work, and they had great answers (teach, talk to people, make friends, show people the gospel, etc) and then I asked them how they knew all this, because I hadn't taught them anything yet!  They basically answered that they knew because of what they had seen!  I explained how that is like learning by example, and that is one way to be a missionary!  Then,  when people are watching your example, they have questions, and that leads to the other way you share the gospel, and that is by talking.  so we did some fun mini role plays where they each invited me to church, it was pretty cute.  In the end, they all promised to try to share something about church/the gospel/Jesus Christ this week with a friend.  One of them didn't want to commit, but I think she will :)  

 

The Michel girls went to Mutual, and Church, and are loving it (Amy even wore a DRESS and they both bring their paperback book of mormons, and they both mark them and have have tabs in it and stuff, so legit!)  Cade is planning on getting into the Scouting program, and all 4 of them (even the dad) is planning on watching General Conference!  We had such trouble getting the 2 boys to progress, and what made the difference?  Members again!  Brother Shooster went over to their house the other night and just hung out and made friends with them, and suddenly the 2 boys made commitments!  Way to go member missionaries!  Elders W and D both say that these will probably be among the most solid converts of their whole missions, and what makes the difference? MEMBERS! 

I've already had experiences where members have been difficult or impossible to work with, and can slow down the work and frustrate missionaries.  On the flipside, I also know that members who have their minds on missionary work and sharing the Gospel can do MIRACLES and do things missionaries can just never never do.  Members need Missionaries, and Missionaries need Members!

John, I have a funny story I wanna tell you, but I don't know your address, and I don't know if you even know about the blog so i doubt you read it.  It's actually not that funny.  I'm gonna tell you anyways, and hope it gets to you somehow, and that you at least smile, Because I laughed.  Oh, it's a real story by the way, not like a joke I heard.

These two missionaries in 5th ward were out proselyting, or just street contacting, I don't really know, but they were just talking to a bunch of people, and a lot of them were Catholics, and so they'd just be making conversation, asking about what church they went to, and a lot of them went to this one Catholic church, it was called Sacred Heart, and then there were a few others, but Sacred Heart was pretty popular, just a way nice church apparently, really beautiful and a lot of really active members I guess.  So they were talking, and Elder Brown asked this one Catholic where they went to church and they named some random Catholic church, and Brown was like "Oh man, well have you heard of Sacred Heart?"  Haahahahahahaa.  I just think it's way funny.  Like, he was proselyting for this other church.  I just thought it was funny, ok? 

Anyways, I'm pretty over writing this email,  Love you all!

Elder Chase Lonas

A Week of Miracles

Dear World,

This week has been a week of Miracles.  It hasn't been a perfect week, there is opposition in all things, but the blessings this week are sooooo big, that for me to really talk about any of the negatives would just seem incredibly ungrateful to focus on any of that. (on a sidenote, maybe life is always like that, and I'm too de-sensitized to notice, but that's another email!)

Miracles

Last week, we had a pretty large pool of non-progressing investigators.    They'd range from people like Emily (I've decided to make up names) (not quite an eternal investigator, but we've been teaching her for a long time and just won't commit) to people like Naomi  (Super Legit, but hadn't even been able to meet with her yet because of scheduling)  And every frustration in between.  We had zero people on date.  (I don't remember if that's self-explanatory or not, but on date means with a baptismal date) 

This week we have 7 people on date, all of them pretty solid about it.

We met with Emily, and had this lesson with her (you have to keep in mind, she had dropped and undropped us, and pushed us off then let us back, so we had nothing particular in mind for this meeting, we were just gonna address her concerns as best we could) which suddenly turned into the plan of salvation lesson.  She had been taught this already, at least twice I know, but somehow it never clicked before.  Suddenly it made sense to her that Baptism is the gateway into the Celestial Kingdom, where she can eventually live with her family forever (her parents passed away not too long ago, it's been hard for her).  She wants the Bishop (she called him "the big guy" haha) to baptize her, and she's on date for Easter Sunday.  She tells everyone she meets, and everyone at church about her baptismal date (that's a REALLY good sign she's solid about it) and her friend is coming up from some other state to come support her, and hold her parents picture so they can watch it too.  No one can tell me this wasn't a miracle.

Shamus, shamus, shamus, shamus,  haha, no real progress this week in terms of progressing as an investigator, but the doctors which had previously given him 5-10 years to live, saw him this week, and took that back.  He gives all the credit to us for praying for him, we tried to explain that it's Heavenly Father who blesses him, we just ask haha.  So that's a Miracle in and of itself, and in addition to that, I found out that he used to be a drug lord.  He was a millionaire, owned all these cars and houses, and then i guess like 20-25 years ago, he got busted by an undercover government agent or something, and they took everything away, which is why he's poor now and stuff.  I'm not 100% sure that's the truth, but I'm pretty sure it is, he's not prone to making stuff up or living in another reality.  Thought that was interesting haha.

Lenny, Finally came to church!!! He had his whole family there (except 6 year old taylor, she was at her biological mom's house which is too bad, cuz she wanted to go to church more than anyone)  and they really liked it.  Lenny understands that Church brings peace into his life, and he really needs that, because he works like crazy.  I can't think of a single visit or lesson at their house where he wasn't exhausted from work.  He is on date for April 1st kinda, but it's gonna move back or forth depending on when his wife's mom gets in town.  Regardless of the date, he is serious about his baptism and that's what matters.  His testimony is growing so much, and he knows it's what he wants for him and his family, and it's just incredible to watch a FAMILY grow closer to Christ.  It was his wife's first time at church since she was 16.  It was a MIRACLE.

Naomi, finally got over to her house and met with her!  First of all, watching Elder W teach her the first lesson blew me away.  He is a PHENOMENAL teacher.  Second, and foremost haha, she is such an awesome girl, she is really smart and understands a lot more than you'd suspect.  She really wants to get baptized, and is on date for April 6th, Jesus' birthday!  Her Dad and grandma are way tight also, and they all came to church on sunday!  It was a Miracle!!!!

A lot of missionary work is really pretty fun, but Tracting... generally isn't.  In the WATAC, our President is way big on 5-7's, EVERY DAY.  that's a lot of Tracting.  14 hours a week. 84 hours a transfer.  A lot of people don't like it when Missionaries come to their house.  But this week, I had the Best 5-7 of my mission thus far!

Elder W was on an exchange in D Mac (no idea), so we had Elder S with us, (a new missionary, 6 weeks older than me((mission age, i have no clue about real age)) who really doesn't like talking, so he doesnt.)  and we also had this guy in 1st ward on splits with us, he's like 19 i think, working on mission papers, named Dave.  Anyways, I was knocking with Dave,  Elder D was with Elder S.  First of all, knocking with Dave was really good for me, because it forced me to take the lead, and I got to see how far I've come, some areas  need to work on.  Dave and I set up a Church Tour, and met a new investigator named Lorenzo (he's this 17 year old Mexican kid, living on his own, doesn't have a job, he just hangs out in cities haha) and talked to him, had a prayer with him, and we're gonna meet him this week and teach him the Restoration, so Dave had a cool night of tracting, which is awesome, because he'll go on his mission already starting with a testimony of how important tracting is, and he'll know it can be successful!

 BUT, as good as our night was, Elders S and D did even better.  They met (ba ba da ba, ba da ba ba ba baaaaaaa... a FAMILY!

They met the Michel family.  They moved here 8 days ago from today.  There is the dad,  two teenage daughters and a son (12)  They brought up Baptism before we did.  They are so cool, the dad has some crazy stories, he was a sniper in some branch of the military or secret service or something, i don't remember, but I can tell you he has killed a bunch of people (i think he said like in the 40's or 50's) 

He has also read the ENTIRE Book of Mormon a few years ago.  we gave them all a copy of the book of mormon, and now each of the girls have read a few chapters too!  The girls came to church on yesterday, and made a bunch of friends with the Young Women (*more on this in a minute)  and they are the most solid in the family, but they are all really cool.  The Dad especially loves watching movies, so we brought over all the Dvd's we have for distribution, and some pamphlets (he wants more, because they have questions in the back, and he wants his kids to fill them out haha)
 

*we had a TON of people at church, 5 with a baptismal date, also considering inactives, and children etc, we had probably around 10 people at church.  Some of them have had bad experiences in the past with members not being very friendly.  Not this time.  The members treated everyone we brought like they were old friends.  it was the best thing i've ever seen.  The michel girls were brought into the YW circle within 5 seconds of Sacrament meeting ending.  couldn't even go over there and talk to them because they were surrounded and taken to class so fast haha.  Almost everyone who passed by our investigators in the halls or before or after Sacrament welcomed them and just made them feel at home.  It was so nice.  Members make SUCH a difference.

Everyone at home- Be good Members!!! I'll probably send emails in the future talking about how to be a good Member missionary (I was a terrible one, most members don't really know how, or have forgotten how i think) but all that aside, just love people.  I'm not saying this cuz I think you don't, I'm saying this to remind you of how important it is.  Everyone we brought wants to come back, and it's because of the members, not us :)
 

This has been a MIRACULOUS week.  Every single day there were miracles.  I can't thank you enough for your prayers.

I want everyone to know that even though I'm a young missionary, I can already say with all my heart that going on a mission was the best decision I've ever made.  The best decision I make each day is to continue to be a missionary.  I am so happy out here.  I am so pumped out here.  I can't think of any missionary who would be ridiculous enough to end their email with a Dubstep reference to describe how they feel.

Power Up The Bass Cannon.

Elder Lonas

Dreaming in investigators

 It's the weirdest thing, All week long in my head I think of things I want to make sure I put down here, and then I come here and my mind is blank!  So it looks like we're going to have another random and disorganized email. Oh well!

Elder D and I have had a lot of cool conversations this week, just talking about like missions, or the gospel, or deep doctrine, or whatever, but it's been pretty cool and I've enjoyed it a lot.  We are pretty different in a lot of ways, but we both know the gospel is true, and are here on our missions for the same reason, and if you have that, I think any companionship can work.

It's hard for me to grasp that Elder W will be done with his mission this transfer.  that's like 4 weeks.  Even though i've only been out here for a couple months, I can't even describe how fast it goes when you immerse yourself in the work.  It feels like I've barely been gone in terms of time.  It feels shorter than a week at EFY, or a hike, or a day at school.  really.  So his mission will basically be over any second.  I recently made the transition where I now dream about investigators (in good dreams they like go on date, or get baptized or stuff, in bad dreams we get dropped, or cussed out on doorsteps and stuff haha)  and Elder W is now just having bizarre dreams about wakeboarding and snowboarding with one foot on a snowboard, one foot in a ski, and a parachute, and 200 foot drops, and our Mission President is on the mountain with him.  haha.

Here's an update on some of our investigators.  Our teaching pool is relatively massive.  I think its like 15-17 ish.  Unfortunately very very very few of those are solid, and the vast majority of our appointments fall through.  It's perfectly normal now to go to an appointment at 7, have it fall through, and then go to plans b, c, and d and have every one of those fall through, and now it's like 7:30 7:45, and we haven't taught anyone, and our plans are gone.  We still try and keep busy, but it's frustrating.  But anyways, here are some specific people on my mind, and I'd love if you get the chance to pray for some of them.

W: We met him tracting, It was actually a pretty significant door/night of tracting for me.  Why? because when I first started talking to him he basically said he was too busy, he is being deployed to Afghanistan in a few days, too stressed etc.  But I talked to him a little, and TTIP'd (Teach Testify Invite Promise!) And he changed his mind!  That whole night, but that door in particular, I just feel like I'm really improving at tracting, and getting better, which is really gratifying. Of course, I know that the Lord prepares people, the Spirit converts people, and all I really do is knock the door, but it's still cool to get better at my part, and better at inviting the Spirit so it can do the real work.  W almost came on a Church Tour right then and there (called an Insta-tour in the WATAC, i'm not sure about other missions) but then he remembered his dinner was almost done, and he wanted us to come back after dinner, but then he realized it would be 7:15 after his dinner, and he had to get up at 4, so he asked us to come back tomorrow.

AB: This guy is so legit.  He's from somewhere in the Caribbean I think, but not like a tropical paradise, it's a pretty bad area.  He and his family have seen like 6 or 7 murders out on the street in broad daylight.  The crime rate there is insane he says.  Anyways, so he's had a really humbling past, and about 19 years ago he found Jesus Christ, and really just turned his whole life around, and is just such a humble, sincere good person, I wish you all knew him.  He belongs to the 7th day Adventist church and loves the Bible.  He also really believes in the Bible, which is cool.

If you remember N who I wrote about before, she "believes in the Bible" but not really it turns out haha, she only believes in about half of it.  She hates Paul, for example, "because he never even really knew Jesus" and she disagrees with a lot of his teachings.  But anyways, AB does believe in the Bible, so thats really cool.  He shares a TON of our beliefs, and after he really understands the concept of Priesthood Authority, I think he will want to get baptized.

E: She dropped us, then undropped us, and then our last lesson she committed to get baptized (but not on a date)  and then she cancelled our last two appointments!  we should be going by there tonight, so hopefully that doesn't fall through, she is so close!  She wants the bishop to baptize her haha.  Whatever makes her happy!  If you get a chance, please pray for her that she will have clarity of mind in her decision making, and that she will pray with real intent.  Please pray for her that she will stick with her decision too, and not drop us again!

E&J:  E is the Dad, J is 11 year old daughter, and then Sis. G is the member in the family.  J has actually asked to be baptized before, so what we really want is just to help make that happen.  We are hoping to teach her everything she needs to know, and then she could really get baptized whenever, she has been coming to church for about 4 years.

L: Such a cool guy, He has been on a CT, had 2 lessons taught to him, and he really loves it all, he wants to get baptized, but just before we set a date, the baby spit up everywhere and the moment was gone.  but after we meet with him again, he'll have had 3 lessons, and I think he will want to set a date so we're excited!

N: she is 9, and way smart apparently, and her Dad is a member and got in contact with us awhile ago (last transfer)  and wants us to teach her, but then disappeared, but then undisappeared, so we're teaching her tomorrow! I'm very excited, because she wants to learn, her dad wants her to learn, and if tomorrows appointment goes well, she could be on date.

More investigators, but that's all I'm gonna write about for now.

Thank you so much everyone who writes me, I appreciate it so much, just makes my day every single time!!  If you get a chance send me a letter this week!

Love

Elder Chase Lonas

Repentance and Specificity

MMMMMM, missionary work.  I'm so happy to be out here.  My hardest/worst days of my mission thus far have been in this past week, but also some of the best moments.  Funny how that works :) 

I read all of Doctrine and Covenants this week, and one thing that really stood out to me was in Sec. 75, verses...24-27ish i think.  It's talking about the church supporting the families of missionaries while they are gone.  I just loved it!  So even though our family is blessed to be able to provide for itself, and i'm not the one who supported the family, and you aren't destitute or anything,  the principle that I got from it was that God really CARES about the families.  he didn't send missionaries out without providing for their families at home.  And i have faith that Heavenly Father can and will and probably already has blessed you all back home, and that makes me happy.  Also, just a sidenote, I don't think I could possibly have a more supporting family back home, so thank you.  A lot of missionaries make the sacrifice to come out here against the desires of one or both parents, and deal with family drama every week on P day.  I am so blessed to have you all as my family.  I feel so dumb for the times in my life I didn't appreciate that. 

  I have two spiritual thoughts kind of, that I've been thinking about a lot this week, and I really want to share, and then I'll talk a bit about my week! 

 

First, Repentance.  I've been thinking a lot about it, and I don't know if i'm the only one who feels this way or has ever thought this, but here's what I've been thinking.  We hear ALL the time in the scriptures about prophets crying for their people to repent because of their wickedness.  Naturally, we often talk about repentance along with serious sins, like with the law of chastity, or word of wisdom.  Nothing wrong with that, but here is a side effect that i've seen in my life, but I can't really generalize to everyone i guess.  But I will.  So, I think that because of the association we so often hear with serious sin and with wickedness, I think it's easy to think of Repentance as being something you do when you are bad.  Which is just such a stupid way to look at it.  Our Saviour atoned for our sins, not to "make us repent."  He allowed us to repent.  What repentance really is, in my opinion, is two things.  1) change, and along with that, 2) drawing closer to Jesus Christ.  Repentance isn't something "bad people" or people who do really bad things do (although when you do something bad you should obviously repent) it's something everyone can and SHOULD be doing EVERY day.  Hopefully if you are reading this you already understand what i'm trying to say. I'm just dumb so it took me a long time to think of this.  the point is, Repentance is us trying to be better, and be closer to our Saviour, so we should do it every day.

 

Second, specificity.  That sounds weird.  Hope I spelled it right.  anyways, we know in prayers we aren't supposed to use "vain repetitions" we should always be sincere in our prayers.  but also, something I've been learning these past few months is how important it is to be specific.  There is a huge difference, i believe, in praying before you go tract "please bless us as we tract"  and saying something more like "Heavenly Father, as we do A B and C tonight as we tract, please help us to  accomplish X Y and Z".

 

I have a problem with the word "blessing" or "bless" in general actually.  It is tossed around soooo often that people don't even think about it.  Only LDS people hear that and accept that.  To everyone else, it's a pretty empty word/phrase.  you have to promise SPECIFIC blessings.  If you are asking someone to give up smoking so they can be baptized, and you promise them "blessings", so what?  they have no idea what that even means.  Neither do you probably.  Not until you think about it at least.  

 

On a tangent, please pray for our investigators if you get the chance.  On the blog there wont be names, but family, please pray for ( .... people Chase has learned to love, along with the specific things they need.)

 

That's obviously just a fraction of the people out here we see that need help.  You don't need to pray for all of them, or any of them if you don't want, but I'd really appreciate it.   

 

Some stuff that happened this week....well, Elder D is here instead of Elders K and H.  So that's way different.  There's a ton I can learn from Elder D.  He's a pretty good missionary and has been out for about 20 months.  He's been teaching me a lot...   Elder W has been really sick for the past couple days, which has made missionary work a lot harder, but we haven't been letting it slow us down.  We are all determined to make this a successful transfer. 

 

Last thing I really want to say is just that I LOVE missionary work.  I really really do.  I'm pretty unhappy about P day right now, not just because I don't like P days, but because we have so much stuff to do, I don't feel like taking a break right now.  weird but true.  We are gonna make this a good week, and next week, I'm gonna have some miracles to report. 

 

Love you!