Week 69, November 28, 2016

Area:  

Companion:  Elder Lee

Date:  November 28, 2016

Hey family how are you, I hope your week was good with Thanksgiving and shopping! Kinda funny oh the day we are Thankful for the things we have we go out shopping for more things haha I don't mean to say that to make you feel bad just thought it was funny. 

 

 So my Thanksgiving was good I spent part of it down in Kenosha with Elder Whimpey, love that kid! We played in the Turkey Bowl in the morning so that was super fun, but after we can back and changed and what not. The night before we were praying on where we should go, and we both came up with an area close to each other so we went there and we prayed specifically to find a family of 6! Well I should say Elder Whimpey prayed for that in our comp prayer and so the night before I prayed that I could have the faith like Elder Whimpey to find this family. Well story goes on to and we went tracting wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and what not, but we finally get to this one door. A man opens it and he is huge like 6' 5" and just a big man like strong type of big. We get to talking to the guy and he is just so nice and has great faith in Christ. We finishing teaching him the whole restoration and invited him to be baptized and he said he would be if he knew the Book of Mormon was true! Then before I leave I ask him how many kids he has get this he said "4 plus me and my wife!" We were just so shocked, ah it was sooo cool! The Lord will put us where he needs us! 

 This week we also had Thanksgiving with two families from the ward. We had a lunch with one family and then dinner with the other they were both great! We also had an awesome lesson last night with the super Catholic family and when I say super Catholic I am serious. Like this man goes to mass 5 times a week and his brother is Priest and Sister is a Nun so ya Catholic blood! We brought this member with us who knows the Gospel super well and it went really well, but one thing he said really stuck out to me. He said "You know what makes you guys so compelling is your presence." This man who is like 45 to 50 and is a lawyer and makes good money is telling us that "our presence is compelling" us 19 year old kids, how crazy is that! So that was an awesome experience to have! 

 So for the spiritual message it comes from our Bishop in the YSA ward during ward council he said something that really stuck with me. He said "Life for us is to do the right thing, for the right reason." I thought that was awesome, so true we are here to make righteous decisions and our ulitmate goal is to do them out of love for God! It is a process but it is one that I have felt happen within myself, you truly do start to do things because you love God. I love you all so  much and I am so grateful for all you have given me! 

Love Elder DeSantis

Week 68, November 21, 2016

Area:

Companion:  Elder Lee

Date:  November 21, 2016

So this past week was so good, we went around the Mission and had Zone Conferences which were super fun. I love seeing all the missionaries and being around President ah that man is amazing has so much wisdom and knowledge. He makes me want to just gain more and more knowledge! Well anyway all the Zone Conferences so far have been really good and super spiritual. We have two more left so hopefully those go well also! 

Elder Lee and I spoke on Sunday in one of our Wards it was super fun. I had the topic of "How developing Christ like attributes makes you a more thankful person." It was a fun topic I thought it went ok. It is crazy how fast 15 minutes goes while you are up there haha. Oh also on our way back from a Zone Conference we stopped in Lake Mills to eat (my old area) and we also went and I was able to see the Cabreras again ah it was soo awesome!! They are doing so good he drove out to Utah to watch conference. He reads every morning with his family out of the Book of Mormon that man is so converted it is sweet! Also another funny thing happened with one of our investigators Derrick, so he came to church yesterday and the sister missionaries had their investigator there and so they went and showed them the Baptismal font. Haha Helan (their investigator) is straight off the boat from China like doesn't understand english too well and so Derrick was like "Helan I am a little farther along then you" Luckily she didn't understand at all hahah so funny! I love Derrick he is supposed to be getting baptized this Saturday I pray it happens! 

I guess my spiritual thought of the day is that we all have so much to be grateful for and I know in hard times is so hard to find anything but I know that if we look for them we will see that we do have so much! I know that we have one amazing thing to be grateful for which is that we have a Savior who lives and loves us and has made it possible for us to return to our Father! I know this is all true I hope you know that My whole heart believes that we have a Savior an older Brother who loves us! I love you all I hope you enjoy Thanksgiving I am thankful for all the support I get from you all! 

Love Elder DeSantis

Week 67 November 14, 2016

Area:

Companion:  Elder Lee

Date:  November 14, 2016

We had a super busy week this week, we picked up the New Missionaries which is always fun they are awesome! I probably met the most loving and humble missionary in the world. He just got here and is from California but is Samoan and he has had such a hard life! He is 26, but that guy is just so amazing I know he is going to change sooo many lives out here! We also had ,the missionaries who are going home, testimonies that is such a spiritual experience for me each time. These missionaries truly come home converted to the Lord! 

So for our investigators they are doing well. Derrick is doing good he came to church this week and he loved it! He is progressing well just need him to teach his parents what we truly believe they are feeding him a lot of anti stuff but he is staying strong! Jackson is doing good he just needs to meet up with us more to help him progress more, but this week will not be the week. We have Zone Conferences so we will be going around the mission all this week until Friday sadly but it will be fun! Nathan is doing really good he just really needs someone to take his lease ahh pray hard for him because once that happens it will happen! 

Ah man so for the story this week, Elder Lee and I are trying to dunk before the end of this year -which is going well btw dunked a volleyball- so we have been doing leg work outs and what not. One work out I was doing was like box jumps onto the stage and I was doing some and I slipped and slammed my shin onto the edge of it. Hurt like no other haha, but I think I like cut a nerve because not I can't feel anything under where I hit guess I won't need shine guards anymore for when I got home! So ya that was fun! Also another crazy thing is Bridger Hansen his last companion came home from his mission and he came to the YSA ward so I got to meet him super fun to talk about the things Bridger shared with him! 

The Holiday season is such a good time to help serve people and the best time to share the Gospel well I guess it is always a good time to share the Gospel, but people are so much more willing to listen right now! I love helping and serving others the joy I feel and the love you grow for that person is real and I know each of us is a child of God and just like any good parent would love it if someone served their Child! I love you all and hope you have a great week! Let me know if I can help at all!

Love Elder DeSantis

1) Bowling again 

2) Elder Marsh great missionary he went home

3) Elder Marsh again 

Week 66, November 7, 2016

Area:

Companion:  Elder Lee

Date:  November 7, 2016


Ok so I just want to apologize right now for this email because this week was crazy busy with not the funniest things, but I will see what I can do to make it interesting. So our investigator Derrick is doing better, he is the one whose parents were feeding him anti stuff and telling him how awful we are, but he just told them that is all wrong! He is awesome he really wants to know if the Book of Mormon is true he said that is the only thing he needs to figure out and if he can know that then he will get baptized on the 26th of November! It was awesome though we had a lesson at a members house with him and he said the closing prayer and in it he asked if the Book of Mormon was true and he stopped praying for a a minute and just sat there ah man the spirit was super strong in that moment! So he is getting closer and closer to his answer! 

Cool little thing happened so I asked my mom to order me some new glasses and she did because she is he best, but the night before they came I was cleaning my old ones and as I was doing that they just snapped in half haha so weird! Luckily my new ones came the next day! 

I have been doing a lot of pondering about a lot of things but one thing I really thought about is the Atonement. One thing I struggled with a little bit is truly letting go of the past and letting the atonement cleanse me each day. I had a little analogy that I came up with that helped me realize what I was doing wrong. So when one sins it is like he adding a piece to the chain, slowly this chain starts to grow bigger and bigger and wrap around our hands and arms and body till we feel so weighed down and at the end of the chain there is a lock that preventing it from all falling off. The only way to unlock this to allow the chains to drop is by using the Atonement and once the lock is taken off the chains can fall off. Well even when the lock is off sometimes the chains stay not because the atonement didn't work but we refused to let them go. I have come to know now that when we usually the atonement we just need to drop all that is holding us down let the chains go and move forward. The atonement truly cleanse us from sins we don't have anything lingering well God holds nothing over our heads that we have repented of, the only ones who do that is ourselves! 

Isaiah 1"18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool".

Mosiah 14:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, hewas bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

The Atonement is REAL we can all become clean and white because of the blood he shed for us!

I love you all hope you have a good week! 

Love Elder DeSantis 

Week 65, October 31, 2016

Area:

Companion:

Date:  October 31, 2016

Well this week was a good one I think sorry I really can't remember much from this week but what I do remember is it rained a lot like almost everyday during the week! Our investigators are doing good but not as good as last week when I gave the run down on all of them. Kealey is now saying she is going to wait a year before she gets baptized because she talked more with her parents and they are just so against it. Pretty sad because right now she would have a lot of the missionaries who taught her if she got baptized right now, but hey peoples agency it is a gift from God so we are gonna now back off and let her make her own decisions with no pressure from us. Our other people we are working with are doing good we just have to re-set some dates with them and get in more with them. 

Week 64, October 24, 2016

Area:

Companion:  Elder Lee

Date:  October 24, 2016

Well things are going super good the work is really going let me update you on everyone with a baptismal date so. Kealey she finally talked to her parents about joining and it didn't go as bad as she thought it would, so after that we set a date of November 1st for her! Then we have a kid named jake he is doing good he is just lovin the book of mormon his date is for November 5th. Then we have Derrick ah man I love Derrick he is such a funny kid he is a freshman at marquette and really likes the church! His date is for November 12th. Then we have Nathan he is a grad student at UWM and he just needs to move out so he can get baptized he really wants to be baptized just need a miracle to happen for someone to take his lease! He has a date for November 19th. Then we have Jackson he is such a funny 14 year old kid he uses way to big of words haha he really wants to get baptized so he has a date for the 26th of November but we are hoping to add his family to that which would be three more people. 

  

So ya there is that for you all just a little update on them. For this week we had some really weird things happen like really weird haha so here is one that is so funny but so odd too. So we were having this lesson at this mall because that is where a less active worked at and this guy kept walking around us during the whole lesson and finally when we were done he came up to us and wanted our number and what not so we were pretty stoked about that but, little did we know he has met with missionaries in the past and he has this weird foot fetish. He called us and was like "ok when you come in make sure to take off your shoes" so we were like well this is really weird so we told him we couldn't come and got really mad. We call him terrance the toe tickler but ya that was really weird. Another thing this week was we met with these investigators who are super catholic like his sister is a nun and brother a priest so ya and to add on they are lawyers so they have some good questions! They really help me learn the doctrine and teach clearly they really keep me on my toes! They are super awesome though so we will let you know on them that would be quit the conversion story! You all remember that HUGE house I sent a picture of that we knocked well we went back and got in and sat down and had a lesson there how cool is that! There are 15 people that there because in their culture you all live together so it has a lot of people but, the house was soooo nice probably will be the nicest house I ever go into and also the lesson was super good so I will keep you updated on them! 

Also this week we had a general authority come to our Stake Conference it was elder Switchzer he was super funny. He pointed out things in the Book of Mormon I never even thought of he talked about how impossible it would have been for Joseph Smith to write the Book of Mormon because of things in it. One was how in it they talk about Checks and Balances with the government with King Noah and also all the war strategies that Captain Moroni did like how would Joseph Smith know about any of that at his age and with his education. So cool so ya little testimony builder. 

For a Spiritual thought it comes from Joshua 3:5 it says "And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves:for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you." When we Sanctify ourselves that means to purify us and get ride of any ungodliness or sins we may have and then he promises us that when we do that He can do all things through us! I can feel that in my own self when I truly give my all to the Lord he is able to do many wonders through me! I love you all hope you have a great week! 

Elder DeSantis 

Week 63, October 17, 2016

Area:

Companion:  Elder Lee

Date:  October 17, 2016

Man this week was great we saw so much success and miracles! Our area right now is doing so good. We have set 4 baptismal dates with our investigators and they are all super solid! Kealey is doing really good she has a lot of great things happen with her and she has had a lot of really powerful prayers! She is so awesome haha she is so funny she honestly is part of the ward already she was the MC for the Talent show we had for our YSA ward! The talent show was so fun elder Lee and I did a little skit haha sounds pretty dumb when I explain it but, I don't think it was that bad but we did like a role play thing and I rejected him saying he couldn't come in but then he started beat boxing and he is pretty good at it so ya like I said sounds really dumb but it wasn't too bad haha! So we also have dates with Derrick, Jake and Nathan and they are all doing really good we had 4 investigators show up to church which is always so nice! Haha real quick back to kealey we had dinner with her and a family after church and she was like "You guys had a lot of investigators at church today!" I was like "Ya Kealey and you are one of them haha" like I said she is already a member and just has to tell her parents still and then she will be baptized! She is just supper scared because her parents told her if she joins she will have no support from anyone in the family so pray for her! So I have such a crazy story to tell about so here it goes, Elder Lee and I were street contacting at Marquette campus and we had been there for awhile just talking to people and it was getting pretty late and so were gonna leave soon. I tried talking to these college kids walking and they just ignored me and so I turned around and there were a couple more guys tried talking to them and same thing happened they just kept on walking haha so ya pretty awkward at this point but oh well missionary work is always awkward. Then I turn around again and I saw these two kids and said " hey what about you guys can I give you this card?" They took it but started to walk away but I kept asking them questions so they stopped and kinda talked to me and I noticed he had a Marquette soccer shirt on and I asked if he plays for them and he does. Then I asked what club he played for which is weird cause I usually never do that but he said "Fire" so I asked the academy and he was like ya so then I for some reason said sweet I almost went to the Real Academy which is also weird cause I have never said that but, his friend looks at me and is like "really? I played there and I play goalie!" So we get to talking and man we knew so many of the same people it was so crazy haha we were both shocked. He looked super familiar I am pretty sure we may have trained together we talked about Nacho and some other kids we played so ya that was super crazy to connect with someone like that but, because of that he opened up a lot and he is willing to meet with us! So ya small small world! So ya things are going for us! 

So today my message comes from 1 John 3:2 it says "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."  Our purpose right now in this life is to become like him as much as possible so that when he comes we will be like him. Change is such an amazing thing I love progressing and becoming better everyday I hope I can do it in all aspects of my life I never want to just stay where I am at and I don't think anyone should! It takes a lot of sincere prayer and scripture reading to become better each day but, it is something we can all do! I am so grateful for the time I have to be a missionary and to meet such amazing people it is all worth it! I love this church I love this Gospel and I know it is all true I know this because I have felt God telling me it is true! I hope you are all doing good I would love to hear from you all! Have a good week!

Elder DeSantis