The Prayer of the heart.

January 5, 2015

Dear family and friends, 

 We're going to be going to Deseret Industries and Cafe Rio today! YAY! Greg better be jealous! I got a tie from a really cool service missionary, Elder Williams, who works in the Branch and it was from his mission in the Czech Republic, the ties that were in then were Wembly, and Greg ties. He gave me a Greg tie which is cool because I think Dad, that you have another son named Greg. Not sure but you should check up on that. :) So some of my goals this year is to work on prayer. These are what I wrote down in a district meeting couple weeks ago.

 -To kneel at my bed at the end of everyday, and feel like I've done everything possible to please my Heavenly Father

-To give up my will, my dreams, my wishes, my hopes to the Lord, and trust in Him to make more out of my life than I ever could

-To pray everyday for the gift of discernment so I can recognize evil influences in my life and turn straight away from them, and also to use that gift to bless the lives of others in my teaching opportunities

-Never say an insincere prayer

-set personal and mission related goals in the name of Christ. If I pray for the accomplishment of my goals, if I end in the name of Christ, then those goals should reflect what the Savior would do.

I really appreciate your prayers for me because I always feel love and happiness as I pray for you and somewhere down the line I know that is because He is answering our prayers. 

We've been assigned the unassigned home teaching list of families and individuals which in this ward is about 450 people. We had a month of perfection this December and we got lots of help from other missionaries but only got 237 visits. Wow was this a busy month of reporting and visiting. We've found 26 people who want return visits, we've found 83 families that have moved. So Elder Cooks gift of computer and data skills has really blessed this ward with his ability to help organize and report these things. We're asking President Swain, who is a really awesome man, if we can get another companionship here in this ward because there is so much to do! We would love sisters to come actually because there are a lot of single sisters here in our area that keep getting stolen from us by our senior couples, which is all right but frustrating sometimes. As long as they are being helped, that's all I care about. I love you very much and appreciate your patience with me and my interesting emails that go all over the place. I know too that this church is true! The Atonement is so important and is crucial for us to return to our Heavenly Father. If you have time you should read the talk, His Grace is Sufficient, by Brad Wilcox. Its good! :) 

Love Elder Patterson