Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Week 48, July 4, 2016

Area:  Lake Mills

Companion:  Elder Poulson

Date:  July 4, 2016

Wow well a bunch of stuff to say this week and don't really know where to start but I guess I will start with July 1st we got to meet our new Mission President. I love the man so much already and I am gonna get real close with him I will come back to that. We had a two hour conference with them and they just told us about themselves and they have some pretty funny stories I will share one day. I don't really get how you can feel so much love so fast for someone you barely know but I know they are going to be amazing! It was fun I got to see some missionaries that I served around with in Green Bay so that was really fun! Well nothing really too exciting till Sunday we got the Transfer texts in the morning and found out I was being Transferred but we still didn't know where I was going didn't think I was gonna find out until Monday but, We got a call from my mission President Sunday night and He told me he wants me to be his assistant my reponse was "there are a lot of great missionaries in this mission President...." He replies "this isn't a question it is a request." I have no clue why me I don't have the experience like others do and I feel super unqualified to do this but, I know I will learn so much from this and from President Williams. But if you don't mind throwin something in for me your prays right now that would be awesome haha. Well ya after that I didn't sleep much that night thoughts were going crazy. Then for the 4th of July I just did a lot of saying good bye to members and some investigators I have plenty of pictures to send home now. The hardest good bye was definitely with the Cabrera family. Man I didn't want to let go of Angel when we were hugging and he didn't let me go. To just hearing the words he said to me with tears in his eyes saying "Tu no intendes que ha hecho por mi familia" or in English "You don't understand what you have done for my family." I just told him I better see him in Utah at the Salt Lake Temple! That family will be one I can never forget I hope and pray they will be in my life for the rest of my life! So this week has been so up and down for me never felt this many emotions in such a short amount of time!

 I want to share with something I read this morning that was able to help me feel some peace this morning it is in Roman 8:25 "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."
So you may read this and think well now lets sit and wait well obviously that isn't what we should do because in Ether 12:6 it tells us we don't receive our answer until after the trail of our faith! Right now my faith is being tested I feel so in-adequate and thoughts of doubts are coming into my head that I can not do this but I know that I just need to go and work hard that is all I can do is just work hard for the lord and for my Mission President! I love you all I hope you enjoyed your 4th of July!!

My new Address is 9661 Forest Home Ave. #14 Hales Corner WI 53220

Elder DeSantis 












Week 47, June 27, 2016

Area:  Lake Mills

Companion:  Elder Poulson

Date:  June 27, 2016

Hey everyone man this week we did a lot of stuff this week so I will start with Tuesday. Sadly our President and his wife are leaving the 30th so we had our good bye conference with them. I truly felt like I was saying good bye to my parents again cause they honestly become your parents during the mission. President Cutler has impacted my life more then he will ever know his example to me has helped me to become a better missionary each day. That was a bitter sweet day for me but, I know I will love the new mission President and His wife who I will meet July 1st! Well after the conference we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders which went really well taught a bunch of people always fun. Then on like Wednesday I think we taught this guy Micheal who in 4 days had read all the way up to Mosiah. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and it was amazing everything went great and he knew all of it was true (he is catholic so the Plan of Salvation is where we get really different) so ya we were super excited to go back the next day and then we get a text saying "we wont be meeting the Book of Mormon testifies too much of Christ and Baptism" well Micheal it is another testament of Jesus Christ haha. Ya so that was actually pretty sad to get dropped by him we were super excited for him but, I think we will try and stop by again soon. Gotta a little funny story again me and Elder Poulson were planning on knocking these HUGE house for a while but we know rich people think they have it all so finally this last week we tried some and guess what they all hated us haha we tried all approaches from hey can we do service for you to we are representatives of the lord Jesus Christ and got nothing. Well we will try again and teach them again in the Spirit World. Eh that wasn't too funny but it was a story. Well that is pretty much it for my week, just a heads up my P-day will be on the 5th of July not the 4th so that is when I will email everyone back! 

A scripture I read today that I always love reading cause man I weak but I am grateful for these words too keep me going 

Ether 12 : 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them theirweakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men thathumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.


Allow Him to make you strong because as I have found out without him I am so weak! But with him I can move mountains and let me tell I feel if Wisconsin had mountains they would have been moved now I just need to take the strength of the Lord and help others change their hearts! 

Love Elder DeSantis!







Week 46, June 20, 2016

Area:  Lake Mills

Companion:  Elder Poulson

Date:  June 20, 2016

Well this week was a good one we went to Elkhorn area for a day to do some proselyting which went pretty good I went with Elder Wright he is like genius haha I love talking to the kid about deep things to hear on what he things about it. Then later this week we taught Finna (Josheua) I love this guy super cool and has a lot of good questions about the Plan of Salvation so it was nice to help him answer those deep questions. Kinda crazy to think a 19 (me) has answers to those types of questions I guess that is what the Gospel does for you. Then on Sunday me and my companion spoke on Sunday which I thought went really well we talked about Fathers so I talked about Dad and our Heavenly Father. It was cool because to describe Heavenly Father and who he is all we have to do is look at his Son because his whole goal is to do the will of the Father. The rest of today we are going golfing with one of our Investigators so that will be super fun. That is pretty much all for this week.

My spiritual message is more of me asking a favor. A friend I have met in this mission -Elder Shaum- father passed away this last week from and accident. If you could keep him and his family in your prayers. He is an amazing missionary he went home to go speak at the funeral and he will be coming back out sometime this week to finish his mission. This is why I am glad to have the knowledge I do to know that this is not the end and because of Temples and Priesthood power we are able to be with our families forever. I love you all never take anyone for granted in your life! Let me know if I can do anything to help anyone! Thanks for all your prayers!

~Elder DeSantis






Week 45, June 13, 2016

Area:  Lake Mills

Companion:  Elder Poulson

Date:  June 13, 2016

So there was a lot to this week I will start with Thrusday this crazy miracle that probably will never happen again. So we were weekly planning that day and we had the window open cause the weather has been perfect and all of a sudden we see someone come to our window and say "Hey I want to learn about your religion" We were like "oh ya for sure when?" he tells us he is available all the time. We have met him before we played basketball with him not too long ago and we told him what we do and stuff so I guess we left a good impression on him. So anyway we finally met with him today and it was like a picture perfect lesson like he was sooo prepared its crazy! He loves the Book of Mormon he never thought it was right that only people in Jerusalem would be able to hear the Word of God and not everybody so that made him stoked! So we are super excited for him and how cool of a story would that be he just comes up to our window and asks us. Then on Friday we had Spanish Conference it was so fun we got to see all the Spanish Missionaries in the Mission so it was great to see old companions Such as: Elder Alldredge (my trainer who goes home in 17 days), Elder Whimpey (love the kid) Elder Christofferson and a lot more so so that was super fun! We had Elder Scott come from the seventy and he is awesome he taught us more of our Ministry verses our Calling! Then he sat down and ate lunch with me so I was able to keep asking him more questions I got a lot out of it super nice man! Then on Saturday I was able to interview a lady named Tiffany for Baptism and she is amazing she has overcome soo much in her life. It is crazy how I have the power/authority to be able to see if someone is properly prepared for such an sacred ordinance! So then for today we headed to the good ol golf course man it was so fun I missed playing so much! We have a member in our ward who is way into golf and so he lent us some clubs and also on Mondays they have a special $21 for 9 holes and a Cart and lunch then $30  for 18 with all the perks and what not so that is super nice! Probably be doing that for a lot of P-days! Oh ya and thanks to my mom for hooking me and my comp up with golf balls, tees and gloves so that was nice! So ya pretty good week over all!

Cool verse that I really like was one Elder Scott is in 1 Corinthians 1:25-28 The lord truly does call those who are weak in hopes they will come unto him to allow him to make our weak things become strong! 

Love Elder DeSantis









Week 44, June 6, 2016

Area:  Lake Mills

Companion:  Elder Poulson

Date:  June 6, 2016

Hey guys so some good things happened this week I guess for the begining Elder Pouslon and I still finding a bunch of new Hispanics which is super fun we have some promising ones I was able to give a blessing to one of them which is always a good experience. We also met this lady named Maria and man we just met the lady and she just trusted us with everything about her family she has really been praying for help for her family. I know I have said this before but it is amazing how people just trust these two young kids with such personal things and just open up to us! When they do this it is hard not to grow love for them right away. I hope that all goes well with her and her family. Then Sunday came man that was a spiritual one for me. So Angel Cabrera was able to bless the sacrament sitting up there with him I just thought for a little and realized what an important work he is about to do by breaking and blessing this bread and water. He is doing the exact same thing Jesus Christ did for his Apostles and now this man (Angel) has come so far that he is able to participate in this sacred ordinance. I felt the spirit super strong there and then I asked him after how he felt and he told me that for a moment when he was looking at his hands break the bread he felt so small but what he was doing was such an amazing work it was a work of the lord! This man is incredible and he is growing so much every day! Then that same day we headed to the Luccion's house man I love that family! We just click so well and sister Luccion is a way good cook which is also nice she also makes sure we eat healthy too which doesn't happen too often as missionaries so I love it! I am excited for this upcoming week we will have Spanish conference so all the Spanish missionaries will go to Milwaukee it will be sweet I will see all my old comps including my Trainer so I will be sure to take a lot of pictures! 

So for a little spiritual thing I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Helamen 5 and this verse hit me super hard I sat there and kept re-reading it and just looking at other scriptures that apply to it. So verse 1And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls.
 is talking about Christ and how His atonement and this atonement was so hard and so painful that he had to what I believe is receive MORE power from our Heavenly Father to do so on his own. Then it talks about the condition of Repentance or in other words is Accessing power of Atonement. We have to do our part to access the power of the Atonement because Jesus Christ already did his so painful and agonizing part with complete love for all of us. So we are asked to do our part which at times is so hard but it is always worth our Savior suffered for us all we can all call upon his power and help when we can't keep going on our own the Atonement is not only for Reptence but is for those who are in need of more strength more courage more happiness more peace and more love! He can give us this if we allow him! I love you all I hope you have a great week!

Love Elder DeSantis 






Week 43, May 30, 2016

Area:  Lake Mills

Companion:  Elder Poulson

Date:  May 30, 2016



Hey everyone well so much has changed you could say and this week was just amazing! My new comp Elder Poulson is from Salem, Utah he has been out for about 7 months and I love the guy we are so similar in a lot of things we both love sports (we play basketball every morning against each other) and the first thing I saw when I saw him was golf clubs and oh I was so excited! A member told us we could use some of his old clubs when we want to go and play so I can't wait for that! I have a bunch of photos to send home we are taking so many because Elder Poulson has been in Milwaukee for his whole mission so he didn't know what Wisconsin even looked like so he was shocked when he saw open fields and nice houses haha so we have been taking it all in. We have had soo much success with finding new people and they are all Hispanic which is soo awesome! We have been working a lot and have been finding families left and right I pray that they will start to progress and come to church! Something else that happened this week was Angel Cabrera got the Aaronic Priesthood this week he was so excited and he also got to help ordain a priest into his office! I love this family so much they are just becoming so active in everything the change is unreal! So ya I am super excited for this transfer I hope we have a lot of success. Here are some funny quotes we have heard this past week first one comes from this random lady haha she said "I am hungry and I've got 8 bucks so I need to go get some Gas and Cigarettes" probably only funny in the moment but ya! thats all for now!





Week 42, May 23, 2016

Area:  Lake Mills

Companion:  Elder Lopez

Date:  May 23, 2016

Hey everyone so this week was great! Saw a lot of success and found some new families which is awesome I am very excited! Also transfer are happening Wednesday and I am getting a new Companion his name is Elder Poulson I know him pretty well and I love the guy I am super stoked to be comps with him! Also this week Angel Cabrera took me and Elder Lopez to get some new shoes cause he wanted to get us something and so he bought us new shoes man I love this guy soo sweet!! They also said the opening and closing prayer in Sacrament man he was so nervous haha! Oh ya also for this week we met with our Grandma Gaby she calls us her adopted grandsons. She feeds us once or twice a week and this week she made us Tar Tar sandwiches and for those who don't know what those are -cause I didn't till a few days ago- all it is raw beef and you put it on a piece of bread and put salt pepper and onions and then you just eat it. She told us that it is like heaven to her she loves them I guess they eat those a lot in Latvia so she made us try them and yes I ate two! They aren't bad but it is just weird to think you are eating this raw beef!  I took pictures so you can all see! We also went to a member house to help do some yard work and then after we had S'mores and man there house reminds me like I am in Utah in the Mountains because they have these trees surrounding there whole house and man I loved it I truly felt like back home! Then the rest of the week Elder Lopez has just been saying good bye to the members and so ya not much more to add!

Well for something hopefully spiritual I just want to give my little testimony that the Savior lives and that our Heavenly Father is truly aware of all of us! I know this to be true because this boy who has been on his knees praying and pleading with Him has answered his prayers but it definitely not how I have expected He knows what we need!  Just ask Him and have Faith he will answer and then go and do what is right! Love you all hope you have a great week!

Love Elder DeSantis







Week 41, May 16, 2016

Area:  Lake Mills

Companion:  Elder Lopez

Date:  May 16, 2016

Hey everyone!
 Well this week for me was kinda slow you could say, probably because last week was just crazy full and full of emotions that this week was just normal. We have really been focusing on Families recently which is super awesome I love it we have a lot of good stuff to use for our approaches and we have seen a lot of success from it! I went on exchanges with Elder Bowers this week super nice kid really like him he came out with me also but he is from Washington (no where near Seattle) but, ya on the exchange we had a lot of fun and a lot of success. Funny little story we were in our Car about to go out and tract and so we wanted to start the exchange with a pray so we were in our car praying and I was saying it and during the pray I hear this "HEY" so I look up while still praying and it was a cop so I put my head back down said a few more things and then ended the pray and rolled my window down. The Cop was like "what are you doing?" I was like "oh we are just missionaries for our church" he said " Oh ok well have you seen any guys with blue back packs going door to do door?" we told him no cause we just got there but he told us if we see them to call the cops so we said we would. Then while he was driving away he was like "sorry for interrupting your prayer good luck!" Haha so ya that was funny but there is more so I guess it isn't too short of a story. Well we just kept knocking on doors and we see this one guy with a huge red beard walking so we said "hey" and he was like "you boys just gettin out of school" we explained and what not and then gave him a pamphlet of the The Family Proc. and he was like "oh you're LDS" man I was shocked nobody calls us LDS it is either Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses, so that was pretty cool but man this guy was crazy no clue what he was saying something about the English language and what not. We had to walk and talk wtih him cause he is "SUPER BUSY" but occasionally he would randomly say "what language are we speaking in?" I said "English"he replies "ok good" so ya guy was crazy and while we were walking we saw a guy with a blue back pack but this guy wouldn't stop talking so we tried to find a time to like stop him but it took forever so by the time we did we couldn't find the guy with a blue back pack. Oh ya the reason we had to walk and talk with the guy is because he was on his way to Israel so ya hopefully he makes it! Wow sorry that was super long story well the rest of my week nothing too much happened but transfers are next week so next time I will tell you if I am leaving, staying or who my new companion is! 

My spiritual message today comes from Alma 26 I read this chapter this morning and it took me forever cause this chapter has a lot of good stuff in it I love this verse in Alma 26: 35 Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all powerall wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is merciful Being,eveunto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on hiname.
It is so true don't we all have reason to rejoice? Every time I am praying or I guess complaining to God in my prayers about how it is hard and what not I always get lead back to Christ and How this is nothing and that I still have soo much to be grateful and happy for! I have an amazing family who loves me and supports me in all my decisions which some missionaries don't have. I know I have so much and I know we can all find good in these times of hardness! Keep praying Keep having hope in Christ and I promise you all will work out one day! I love you all! Hope your week is great! 



Week 40, May 9, 2016




Area:  Lake Mills

Companion:  Elder Lopez

Date:  May 9, 2016

Well it was an amazing week to say the least but also the most stressful week of my life. I felt every single emotion one human can experience I believe. I don't really know how to describe it all but, all I can say is I gave the Cabrera family my whole heart my everything that I have for them and what turned out was amazing! I have never thought about one family so much every second I was thinking of them praying for them that all would turn out. It finally did even though at times I didn't think it was going to happen. I guess that is why the baptism was just so much more amazing for me is because I did give them my all because I know it is true I know that this would bless them more then anything. One of my most spiritual moments came two days before their baptism. Things really hit the fan with them you could say so we asked if they wanted a priesthood blessing and they said yes and asked me to say it. Before that moment I always kinda felt like during priesthood blessings my own thoughts and words got in the way but, this time was completely different the words came out and we all felt the Spirit so strongly I will never forget that moment. Then their baptism was amazing everything went great except the water was a little caliente opps... We had over 100 people there to support them including our President and his wife! I was so nervous to actually baptize someone but it was so fun also! I guess you could say this was a missionaries perfect weekend we baptized a family and then the next day we talked to our mothers what better weekend is there for a missionary. 

For my Spiritual message I want to talk about the following the Spirit because I kinda had an experience that Thomas S. Monson had -not to compare by myself to him at all though- the spirit told me to ask a question and I didn't do it, it then told me again to ask a question and I didn't do it. Then the spirit told my Zone Leader to ask a question and he didn't do it. What came out of it was something that almost cost a family their Salvation their ETERNAL exaltation. God has trusted 18-21 year old boys to have this work but, he didn't leave us a lone he gave us His Spirit to do it that is why this work actually works and so when we don't follow it because we think we are better or smarter or we may be too afraid that is when this work wont work. I will always from now on try my hardest to follow the promptings of the Spirit no matter what it is telling me I will do it! I love you all! I have lots of pictures to send home!

Love Elder DeSantis