To BAPTIZE!!!

Dearest friends and family,

My heart is full, and this week was fantastic.  Fantastic.  Sooooo many miracles, in soooo many areas!  I shall proceed, but in honor of Thanksgiving this week, let's do it in the form of thanks:

I am thankful for the chance I had to receive some training this week about finding.  This helped to strengthen my faith that there still are people out there, even in my area, who need to hear the message of the gospel!  This really helped me to have renewed vigor and desire to go out and find and teach.

I am thankful for the opportunity I had to go on exchanges this week.  Three of them!  With three different Elders.  The first was with an Elder Smith, who I actually was with for 3 days at the beginning of last transfer.  I was so excited when I learned that I was going to do a leadership exchange with him, and we had a great time finding some new people for him to teach in his area.  The last one I went on was with Elder Nieto, a missionary from Colombia, and his Spanish accent reminded me SO MUCH of El Paso and home.  I got to practice my broken Spanish with him, and we were just happy and laughing the whole day as we taught, served, and contacted.  One of my favorite quotes of the day was when he told me "It's so funny - you're tall, white, and Polish, but you speak like a Mexican!"  Haha, that's my 17 years in El Paso for SURE!  

I am thankful for my companion, Elder Taylor.  We were able to do some major work this week in finding and teaching, and it is so great to see this area the busiest it has ever been since I came at the beginning of August!  He has really been a great support in everything.

I am thankful for the great gift of the Book of Mormon for teaching me, inspiring me, and helping me feel the Spirit more every day.  What a great resource for me, and what a great tool for others.  As I have applied my mission president's words to use the Book of Mormon more, I have definitely seen and felt great miracles.  Such as one where we went to see Dan: he was a little tired and irritated at first, but as we read from the Book of Mormon he changed so much.  He learned more about the Bible as we discussed what we read, and he was much calmer and happier at the end.  I asked him if he noticed how different he felt at the end compared to the beginning, but of course he declined to respond.  I know he notices it though!

I am grateful for gloves.  They do such a great job at keeping my hands warm. :)

I am grateful to be able to drive a car.  I am so spoiled.  So spoiled.  But that heater is pretty darn hot, let me tell ya! :P

I am grateful for our good bishop, who has inspired the ward council to praying for our investigators by name, and for us as missionaries of their ward by name.  I can testify that specific prayers like that really does make a huge difference!  They are currently applying the idea of asking the missionaries serving from their ward for investigators' names to pray for and then praying for them.  I think that is a fantastic idea.  So if you feel so inclined, would you say a prayer for Jim, Robert, William, Marc, or Tania?  I would really appreciate it.  As would they.

I am grateful for the gift of music.  So grateful.  I would be dead without it.  Life would be bland and terrible.  Music fills me up and drives me forward and gives me such incredible joy!

I am grateful for my family: Mom, Dad, Ryan Jen Ellie and Charlie, James, David, Mark, Robert, Katy, Kimberly, and all the rest of my extended family and extended extended family.  That should include all of you. :)  You all are the best.

Last of all, I am grateful for Jim.  And the Spirit.  And the gospel.  And what happens when you combine those together.  We had a baptismal date set for the 30th with him, but all of last week he wasn't really sure if he wanted to go through with it.  In fact, with one lesson my companion had with him when we were on exchanges, he said he wanted to wait it out.  BUT, on Saturday, we had a great time reading the Book of Mormon with him, and he told us of how the Lord might have been answering his prayers about the church.  We testified to him that the experiences he shared were truly the Lord telling him through the Holy Ghost that this gospel is true.  We then challenged him to make a decision about baptism, pray about it, and then come to church the next morning.

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful.  During Sacrament meeting, Jim leaned over to Elder Taylor and said he wanted to go through with being baptized on the 30th.  And then the talks seemed like they were specifically geared towards his concerns.  Wow.  When Elder Taylor shared the good news to me, MAN I was filled with so much joy!  I am so grateful for the work that the Lord has done on him to help him to change and accept this covenant!

So now we have a baptism to plan for Saturday.  Me in my lack of faith wasn't planning on it happening, so the Lord taught me a great lesson.  Wahoo!!  On goes the work!  Hoorah for Israel!

Love,

--Elder Usevitch

1. The first snow of the year!  Yay!

2. The first fellow Ham that I've found in Idaho!

3. Sweetest pic EVER of the Boise temple.

To Baptize or not to Baptize?

That is the question.  Obvious answer, of course.

Hello Family!  And Friends!  And everyone else.

So.... the bad news of the week is that the baptism for Robert has to be postponed.  BUT, all is not lost.  He is a solid guy and will definitely keep progressing and coming to church.  We had a couple great lessons with him this past week, and it was great to hear feedback from the fellowshipping family that some of the lessons we chose to give were things that he really needed.  The Spirit does direct the work!  Now I just need to keep seeking that Spirit more and more.

After our fantastic zone conference last Tuesday, I set out this week to dive into the Book of Mormon more in my personal study.  There were definitely a couple of days where my feelings were not the most positive and my motivations for the work were lacking some, but as I read in the Book of Mormon, I was uplifted SO MUCH!  I remember one day when I started off reading, and all of a sudden in the middle of my study I looked up and realized that I felt great!  There truly is a power in the Book of Mormon.  I know there is!  I testify there is!  It was so great to take those experiences and testify to my investigators that I know the Book of Mormon will bless them IF they choose to read it and ponder over it.

Fun experience for the week was helping with the ward Rake-Up this Saturday.  We were able to get two investigators to come help with that (Robert was one), and we had a great time raking leaves.  Haha, and by great time I mean that we all woke up in the morning to a couple inches of snow on the ground!  That didn't stop us, though, so we set out and scooped up slushy piles of tree refuse for a few hours.  Love it!

I think one of my favorite miracles this week was finally catching up with a part-member family.  We met the wife a few months ago, and haven't been able to see them since, so this was awesome.  We had heard from the RS President, their neighbor, that their daughter was interested in taking the lessons, so of course our interest was caught and we went by again.  The Lord led us to go at the right time when they were all home, and we talked, met them, and set up a time to go by this week to teach the daughter AND the nonmember father!  We are super excited to be working with their whole family.

Seeing the ward coordinate more to help with the work is the best.  One investigator we were teaching had a few problems and concerns which drove him away from meeting with us, but a lady in the ward visit-teaches his LA girlfriend and has been able to friendship both of them.  Another investigator we were able to finally get introduced to Young Women in the ward, so hopefully she will now start coming to Mutual and maybe even church!  I am so grateful to be working with such an active ward!  The ward really is the key!

To end, I am grateful for what the Lord is teaching me about focusing on Him and the work.  So for some food for thought:

• What does it mean to have an "eye single to the glory of God?"
• How can you focus more on Him each day?
• How can you develop more integrity towards Him?

I'm still thinking about those, for sure.  But I want to share with you that I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and I know that it will bless the life of any person who sincerely seeks to read it, ponder it, and act upon it!

Love you all!

Oh, and I have a NEPHEW!!!!  WAHOOOO!!!!!

--Uncle Elder Usevitch

An apology in order...

As Monday was Veterans Day, Libraries were closed.  Tuesday was zone conference.  And so today is the day that I get to email.  Yay!

First of all, an emotional release is in order:

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

I love all your emails SO MUCH!!!!  What a great gift each of you are to a missionary learning his way in the gospel.  They just pick me up and help me so much.  Thank you Thank you Thank you!

And now to the fun stuff:  first off, the big thing we are working on this week is one of our investigators, Robert, is being baptized on the 23rd!  Yay!!!  I am super excited.  Such a solid guy - he gets home from work around midnight, has to make dinner, and still makes time to read the Book of Mormon before bed around 2.  Then he gets up to go to school the next day.  Wow.  Oh and Mom, the pictures from the one family you got are the family in the ward we are teaching him with.  So much fun!

We had some awesome lessons this week.  Tons of help from the ward, too!  Our big thing now that I didn't figure out earlier is that the ward is SUCH a resource for helping us!  We have been scheduling appointments overlapping each other, which then gives us a need for members of the ward to split with.  Plus, we get to get more work done!  It has been fun to get more and more people in the ward involved.

It is also fun to be working in an area for an extended period of time.  I know most of the ward now through visiting people Bishop has sent us to and also just going down the ward directory and working with everyone!  It's kinda fun to have the HP group leadership sit down with us and ask us who various people off the ward directory are.  And we proceed to tell them who they are, what happened when we visited them, etc.  They have really realized that missionaries are a super good resource. :)

My favorite learning experience this week was through a zone meeting on Friday and then Zone Conference on Tuesday.  I am grateful that the Lord prepared me for receiving the revelation that I did at those meetings.  Let me describe that preparation: there has always come a point each transfer or so where I feel like there is something more that I should be doing, something else that I need to know.  Then it has turned out that I go to a meeting and learn things that help me exactly how I need them!

It's an interesting concept, really - there are times when I have felt uneasy and discontented, feeling like the Spirit is not there.  I have learned that there are three things this could represent. Some of those times obviously are when I have done some sin to offend God.  However, there are other times where I feel like God draws back his Spirit to help me grow.  When I don't feel the Spirit as strong, I search for why, wonder why, and seek out what more I can be doing.  This has happened each time before zone meetings/conferences.  What this withdrawing of the Spirit does is help me get into the attitude of searching and seeking so that when I do go to that meeting, I am ready to receive the revelation He wants to give me.  Then it is up to me to act on that and continue on.  Again, this has been a poor description of the idea I want to convey, but I hope the Spirit fills in the true meaning of what I am trying to get at.

So in this case, I went to zone meeting and conference and learned about repentance and using the Book of Mormon more effectively.  I am excited to apply this knowledge and seek more to help me succeed better as a missionary! 

And for the fun moment of the week, I had someone ask me if I had kids, I had an investigator think I was around thirty years old, and no, Mom, despite you THINKING I look skinny, I am fuller and fatter than ever. :)  Bring on the weight!  I'm now trying to slow down a little so I don't gain even more.  The garbage disposal of all garbage disposals has met it's match: the Idaho Spud.  ;)

Have a great week!  Love you all!

--Elder Usevitch.

No Subject

Hello everyone!

What a week.  Up and down and all around!  But that's normal, of course.  We had some INCREDIBLE, INCREDIBLE miracles.  It was awesome.

My favorite was definitely with Jim.  We had 3 great lessons with him.  The first we challenged him to go to church with the question if this church was true, and we promised him that he would be able to find answers there.  The second we watched the Restoration video at the house of some members.  He then went to church for Fast and Testimony meeting.  I sat wondering if I should bear my testimony or not, but decided to go do it.  I do it every month anyways... why miss a week? :P

So after church, Elder Taylor comes up to me and says that Jim was telling him that he had such a great experience after church.  We decide to set up a lesson for that night, and when we go over, he tells us more of what happened.  He described to us how he really felt the Holy Ghost during church.  He said that during the testimony of one older sister, and then during my testimony, he was really hit hard.  He told me that when I got up and spoke, he was hit hard and unexpectedly with such a great feeling!  We sat there amazed listening to him describe how he just felt so much joy.

Wow.  I am so grateful for the Lord sending His Spirit there to that church for him to feel!  It is again humbling to know that the Lord truly can work through you to bless the lives of others.  He is coming along really well, and he is now praying about a baptismal date for November 30th.  Yay!  He said that if he feels the same way next week at church, then "Bring on the water!  I'll do it right there!"  So guess what we will be praying for this week?  :)

In another lesson, we brought a member along to teach John and Krista.  The member was someone who we have been trying for about a month or so to come with us, and finally it happened!  We knew that he and John had grown up together in the same ward, and that was why we wanted him to come, but we didn't know that there would be so many more benefits.  Turns out they all like reading, they get along in other aspects, and it is just a perfect fit.  We are really looking forward to having him come along to help them out.

Haha as I write these things down I realize that I can't give the full picture, the full story, but at least you can get a taste of things that are happening.  I can't wait to keep going on and on!

I was thinking this week about different weaknesses of mine that have been coming up more, and while it is super hard to deal with and humbling, it is also good for me to realize what I need to work on.  I think that just like the Lord does not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able to bear, He also does not reveal to us what our true nature and weaknesses are more than we can handle.  Line upon line, precept upon precept, He teaches us who we really are so that we can slowly work and change.  If it was all at once, we would be totally overwhelmed!  I am grateful for his patience as I struggle and continue to change.

Love you all!  Have a fantasmigorical week!  The gospel is true!

--Elder Usevitch