A White Christmas!

Dear everybody,

Christmas was great!  Thanks for the packages and stuff!  It was great to see your friendly faces on Skype (those who were there, that is)  Christmas for us here in Idaho was what they call a no first-contact day, so no tracting, etc.  So we had a great time visiting members of our ward here and there.

However, as good as Christmas was, my favorite day was on Saturday.  Why?  Because I attended two baptisms!  Hooray!!!!  Both of them were very great.  The younger guy is James, and for that baptism I got to sing a special musical number.  And then the WML invited me to play piano for the changing time, so I was glad to oblige.  The older guy is Jim.  The member on the left baptized him, but they asked me to be in there to help him up out of the water, just in case, since his back isn't the best.  Both were great.

I do have to say, though, that after teaching Jim for so long, I was so glad to see him follow the example of Jesus Christ in this way!  I was really touched by how impacted he was by the experience.  I have seen so many miracles over the course of teaching him, and saw more miracles at the baptism, so overall it has been an incredible experience.  Jim bore his testimony of his whole experience, and it was something I'll never forget!  He told of how God had been calling him and of the experiences that led him to be introduced to the church and then to know that this really is Christ's church on the earth.  It was amazing.  I love that man so much!

That experience definitely is going to be a motivation for me to continue serving the Lord with all my might, mind, and strength!  I love seeing others change their lives for the better through accepting the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!  The transformation is amazing.  Absolutely amazing.  Not only does it change them, but it is changing me, as well!

In other news, I just love the other little things that are interspersed throughout each day that keep me going.  One was going to one family for help in fellowshipping another family we are teaching who has three children, and them just taking initiative and saying "Yeah we'll totally invite them over, get their son involved in Mutual, and take care of everything."  So cool!  Another was teaching Hans, the Swedish husband of a member in one of our wards.  We taught him about prayer, and he said "Ok, well let's pray then!  I'll say it!"  Haha by all means!

Hmmm... other than that, Happy New Year, everyone!  I am excited to see more growth in myself over the course of this next year.  I know that the only way I'll really be able to realize that growth is through making goals for myself.  So that is what I'll be doing this next week!

Love you all!  I pray that each of you have the best 2014 that you can!  I know that as you seek Heavenly Father's help in improving yourself, He will help you, support you, and give you the experiences you need to be able to become who He wants you to become.

--Elder Usevitch

 

 

 

All is Merry and Bright!

Hello everyone!

This week has brought more miracles.  I love it!  Yes there were struggles of course, but that's just boring and down, so let's talk about the good times. :)

One miracle came from going out with President Winder Wednesday night.  We started out by contacting a family to invite them to the ward Christmas party, and it turns out that President knew them!  Crazy story which I cannot spend too much time on, but it consists of President and Sister Winder praying to meet someone they could help a week or two ago, then meeting a waitress at Cracker Barrel who was a member and helping her develop a greater desire to come back to church.  Turns out that she is in our ward.  Coincidence?  I think NOT!

We had some great lessons with other families as well. My favorite was reconnecting with an investigator we had never met who is a junior in high school.  He told us about how he really liked learning about the gospel but then school and choir got in the way and he was too busy now.  Man, I testified with all my heart and soul about how seeking the Lord first will really bless him in his schooling.  If nothing else, four years of that in high school and two more years at BYU taught me that one lesson!  Needless to say, he committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray everyday this week.  He is the coolest guy ever and I am excited for him!

What more can I say.  I don't even know.  Christmas is in full swing and it is fun to be able to sing and play carols for people!  So far, no member has taken up on my offer to go caroling to their neighbors with them, but I hope to change that soon....

And to end, a FANTASTIC quote from President Hinckley.  I love it:

"For you, my dear friends, the sky is the limit. You can be excellent in every way. You can be first class. There is no need for you to be a scrub. Respect yourself. Do not feel sorry for yourself. Do not dwell on unkind things others may say about you. ...  Polish and refine whatever talents the Lord has given you. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart." 

          New Era, Nov. 2003 - "DAUGHTERS OF THE ALMIGHTY"  (Don't judge me.... )

 

Awesome.  Just awesome.  My favorite part is the scrub sentence.  I cracked up so hard, haha!  But I love his message!  We have ENORMOUS potential!  We just need to work hard to realize it!  The Lord knows what we can do, so let's go out and DO IT!!!  Let us be good examples!  Let us share His gospel!  Let us proclaim the glad message of Christ's gospel to the world!  The Lord will strengthen us!  We know what the outcome will be - Christ will conquer all.  Let us choose to be on that side now and forever!

Love you all!

--Elder Usevitch

Cooooooooold!!

Hello everyone from the frozen wastelands of Boise!

We have been getting some crazy weather up here!  Pretty abnormal, I hear, but whatever.  Saturday morning we woke up to almost 4 inches of fresh snow.  That presented a great service opportunity for us to help some people in the two wards we serve in and make some more connections.  Then that night it got down below zero I think, although exactly how cold I'm not sure.  Here's one picture I took from our car's data:

And that was Sunday night, too.  I think Saturday night it got a little colder than that.  Brrr!!  It hasn't been too bad though with a good coat and a good car. :)  I am still alive, although I might be buying some thermals today just to help a little.

We had a ward Christmas party this past week for one of the wards, and it was a great opportunity to meet people!  We got to help serve food, and I loved being able to meet members and nonmembers in that way.  These wards are quite a bit bigger than the last one I served in for sure!  I am excited to draw from the potential that is here.  There is work enough to do ere the sun goes down!

And as a side note, I still am surprised at how many people I have met here that have El Paso connections!  In the past week I have met 3 or 4 people who lived in El Paso, with a few more who have relatives that have lived there!  Most of them were there a while ago, but it's still fun to find those connections.

The big miracle for the week was in meeting with one of our investigators James.  We had talked about how we wanted to set a baptismal date for him this lesson.  We walked in and started the lesson, and he said "Yeah, I'm thinking I want to get baptized somewhere around Christmas."  Haha, he pretty much set the date himself!  So it's looking like we're going to have a white Christmas in more than one way..... No pun intended..... Just kidding....

In other news, the first night I got to this area we went to the ward mission leader's home to meet him and his wife.  She was super excited to learn that I played piano and sang.  She had me play something for her, and I was happy to do so on her phenomenal 10 foot grand Steinway.  Turns out that she used to be the head of the music department at BSU, and honestly that doesn't surprise me from how she wasted no time in getting me involved with this and that and telling just about everybody in the ward that I am musical.  Those music people know how to get you and get you QUICK!  (cough cough MOM cough cough)  Haha I am pretty stoked though!  Music is the BOMB!  And it is a great missionary tool.  More updates on that later.  It has already helped us build relations with one part-member family in the ward.

The thought for the week comes from 2 Nephi 31.  It talks about how "the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water."  After thinking about that, I can really agree!  The process of repentance and baptism is designed to jumpstart us onto the path of discipleship.  If we only get baptized without repenting, it is just like walking up to the gate, going through the motions of opening it, and not actually going through.  If we view baptism as the end-all, we just stay inside the gate, leaning on the fence without going anywhere.  However, if we view it as a beginning of a journey, then it serves its true purpose of helping us come to Christ.  And oh boy, what a journey that is!  Sometimes I look back and think "Man, if I only knew what I was getting into when I got baptized...."  And then I think of all the great joys and blessings I have received, and of course it is all worth it.  Following God is always worth it.

Love you all!  Have a fantastic week.  Hopefully you're not as cold as it is up here, but I guess if you are then we can just enjoy the cold together.  Yay for winter! :P

--Elder Usevitch

Transfers!

Hello everyone!

The sad news is that I am leaving the ward I have been in for the past 3 transfers.  Things are really bumping there, so Elder Taylor will have a lot of fun serving and training a new missionary!  I am super excited.  I am now moving to the Boise West stake with Elder Lehmuller from Chicago.  Picture included (excuse the weird face...):

So I am pretty stoked.  It will be a great transfer!  Yeesh it's only in pictures that I realize how huge I actually am....  Carazy to see sometimes!

Twas a roller-coaster week.  All things went well to get Jim ready for baptism, the interview was held, and I was STOKED!  I was just super duper excited.  And then Jim told us on Thursday that he didn't want to be baptized this Saturday.  A little devastating, to say the least.  But we kept on going along with it, knowing that the Lord knows what will happen.  We invited him to another baptism going on that weekend, and he had a pretty good time.  He was thinking about going to check out another church near his house, but a couple of ward members there at the baptism convinced him otherwise.  So I'm pretty sure that we'll be able to get him baptized here soon.  Super good!

Our Thanksgiving day was pretty great.  We had two dinner appointments back to back, one with an investigator, and then a couple other places to visit that night, but through eating slowly and controlling what I ate, things went pretty well.  I could have stuffed myself more, but ... yeah I didn't really feel like it.  Fortunately people are understanding here in Idaho.  They know what missionaries go through as far as food goes. :)

It was amazing for me to see how much the Lord has taught me these past few transfers.  I think the big thing that happened for me was that I had my testimony solidified that this really is Christ's church here on the earth!  Like Preach my Gospel says, it isn't just another church or just another religion, but truly the truth of God restored again today!  Realizing this has really helped me to be a little bolder in the way I teach and contact.  Really cool to see!

I really know that the Lord is watching out for us!  Through good times and bad, through ups and downs and all arounds.  I am grateful that He is still teaching me and helping me learn from my experiences.  I will be looking to learn more as I continue on.

Thanks for all your support and prayers!

Love, 

--Elder Usevitch

 

PS - for the 2nd picture, Elder Taylor and I both earned the Thomas S. Monson award - new Scouting award as of this year.  Check it out!