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 11 And 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, I 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 power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being,even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.

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  

Week 39, May 2, 2016

Area:  Lake Mills

Companion:  Elder Lopez

Date:  May 2, 2016

Hey everyone this week was good. We did a lot of service which is always nice but, the first one was pretty rough we helped this in-active lady move out of her apartment and oh my she  had soooo much stuff every where like you could barely see the ground ah man and the smell so bad. I don't understand how she was living like that so crazy but the lady was super nice to us and doing service for those members is sometimes what they need. Then we also helped one of our members daughter move all her stuff which was fun we had a lot of the ward there and Angel Cabrera also came with is which awesome. Then that same day we helped this young man in our ward with his Eagle project because no body in the ward could go help so the mom called us and it was really fun we made these storage type of shelves out of wood so ya pretty fun. I love doing service for people now like I look back and man it was like a burden for me I felt but now it has just become like more of a desire. Sunday was also great we were able to hear Angel and Irasema testimony in Sunday School about the restored Gospel. To hear their stories it just makes me so happy how it started from honestly nothing to this huge new desire to follow our Savior. One thing that made me laugh was we got a call Sunday morning from Angel and he asked "who do I make the check out to for tithing and fast offerings" I can't believe their dedication they aren't even members yet and they paid tithing this family is just so amazing! I can't wait for Saturday it will be a day I never forget. Kinda makes me sad when we go to invite some families from the ward and I hear the reasons why they can't make it to their baptism I just want to tell them do you understand what is happening this is one of our brothers and sisters that we lived with before this life, who we loved and cared for so much back then that is finally finding their way back! This is what we all agreed to before we came here to fight everyday to make it back to him and this family is making that first step. So moral of my tangent if there is a convert baptism in your Ward or stake GO! That support will mean so much to them I promise! That is pretty much all for the week.

For this spiritual message part it comes from me learning more about what I need to do better. I learned something that to some of you might sound like a "duh" type of thing but some how I didn't realize it. One thing I had been struggling with is trying to understand why people don't except this Gospel so one way I tried to fix that was by trying to prove people wrong. I would never do it in a harsh or mean way I just always trying to show people that what "their church" was doing is wrong and proving to them that all this is true. Well I was talking to this member in our church who we go and visit every week cause he has some deseases where it made it so he can't walk anymore so he gets lonely. Well this man is very smart and pretty much called me out on the things I was doing wrong which is what I needed. After kinda sharing to him what I just shared with you he looks at me and says "you know what that sounds like to me? Fear, Doubt or Pride. You need to just let the spirit testify to them that it is true not proving it to them because that wont last." he is so right me trying to prove them wrong shows doubt on my part that I have to re-assure myself each time that it is true instead of letting the Spirit tell them it is true. I do not need to answer every ones questions I do not need to know everything and why we do everything. I just need to testify that Jesus is our Savior and Heavenly Father loves so so much that he gave us Prophets again and The Book of Mormon. I know that all this is true! I don't need to prove it anymore even though we can I don't need to. I am grateful for this humbling experience and for the wisdom of that member. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love Elder DeSantis