Monday, June 20, 2016

June 13, 2016

To my 72 strong family crew,

Today was our preparation day, and from 10:00am-6:00pm we have time to prepare for the week by doing laundry, shopping, cleaning and other things that will make the week more productive. And although we have then only a small 3 hours in the evening to proselyte, tonight was a huge roller coaster of emotions and success. Let me tell you a short story, I will try to tell it without crying, but y'all won't notice that anyways because this is an email. Haha 

Faith is the name of a young 12 year old girl whom I met this time last year. She came to church on her own and asked us personally if we could teach her about the gospel. She said she had been baptized when she was 8, but her parents had never taught her about the gospel. We obviously agreed and started teaching her. Because of her parents we were only able to have our lessons out on the doorstep and for several weeks we thoroughly enjoyed meeting with this super awesome, spiritual-minded girl. She was so eager to learn and she kept every commitment with integrity! She just beamed with light each time we saw her and I really looked forward to meeting with her every week. Then we both got transferred and sister missionaries came into the area. Because of the transfer of missionaries, Faith ended up not being taught by missionaries anymore. Then exactly a year later, I was incredibly blessed to come back to this very same area. There are many people to whom my hearts belongs to here in this stake because of the long time I've been blessed to serve with all my heart here. But Faith stuck out in my mind a lot. We went back to her home one day and met her. I couldn't contain my smile when she brightly stepped out into that same front porch that we had taught and testified about our Savior Jesus Christ on. Upon catching up again we started teaching her again and helping her start to come back to church again. Soon we started having lessons in her home with her step-father as well. He is a super nice guy but has come off before as not wanting anything to do with the church. We now for the past month and a half have taught them once a week and have had some super spiritual and good lessons with the two of them. Her step-father even started coming to church! We washed his 67 Mustang with him in preparation for a car show, we wrote them notes and secretly delivered them each week, and we prayed earnestly for these two. We saw many awesome things happen in their lives as eh embraced the gospel. Last night however, we received word from Faith that she left her home to live with her grandparents. There has been far too much conflict and hurt for her in her home between her mother and her, and she couldn't take it anymore so she left to another city. Today I had bought a small model muscle car for her step-father because of his love of cars and wrote a note thanking him for his friendship and love he's shown towards us. So I put it in my backpack and we headed out after dinner to visit him, even though we knew that Faith had left, and that we probably wouldn't see her again. We sat down and we hadn't been there for 2 minutes when her mom stood up and tore a strip off us and proceeded to yell at us, the church, and God for about 45 minutes. She explained how missionaries coming over before had driven her daughters away from the church, and herself included. She told us how much Faith's step-father didn't actually want us to come over. They both wanted to run away from the church and had moved time and time again because members and missionaries came by trying to show their love and concern for them. They didn't want us to come over anymore. She accused us of Faith's damnation, and that we will bring her to hate the church just as they do. My heart broke as every word tore at my love for these people and especially Faith, this beautiful, extremely smart and super strong in the church girl seemingly was taken from our lives forever, when she once used to be such a light and joy to our life. My tears stung on my cheek as they ran down, while we were quietly sitting on their couch being chastised. As we left I quietly and inconspicuously placed his little car I bought and note on the coffee table. I gave him a hug and told him we loved him. And then it started to rain on us. We then went to a man later after that bad experience and we gave this man a blessing. Before the blessing we taught a little lesson. We started to read in Ether 12 about faith and how it proceeds miracles. We shared our testimonies and felt the Spirit so strongly and shared a video that went perfectly with what was shared. We all had tears in our eyes as we then proceeded to place our hands lightly on his head and gave him a priesthood blessing. We had such a contrasting, wonderful experience with him that I'm kinda doing okay. I still really miss Faith and hope I get to see her again and can help her with staying strong in the gospel and being happy. I love you all so much! Have a great week! 
Love Elder Patterson 


We also got free ice cream at Dicky's bbq and grill. It was awesome! :)

May 30, 2016

Dear Fammy whammy,

This week flew by! Does anyone else agree with me?? I'll bet there are a few out there who would! 

So uh we got a haircut today by the utmost awesome Ellen! She is too cool for school! Well and I'm trying to think of other significant things that happened this week, oh yeah! We were biking one day and found a guy on his roof re-shingling it in the hot Utah sun all by himself. We stopped and offered our services to him, and he accepted. So we set up a time the next day which was Saturday. We woke up that next morning and it was raining. So it was postponed till the next week. It rained that weekend as well. This kept happening when finally this last Saturday, the weather was beautiful and so we got to go up on the roof and shingle with him! It was super fun! He is an inactive member of the church and we had a great time getting to know him and serve him. We got so much done with three of us instead of just him. It reminded me of roofing my sister Stephanie and Brandon's home in Edmonton. I actually enjoy roofing even though it's super hot up on the roof. I got some good farmers tan that day. It just so happened that we stopped by the Wilson's home that night and they have an aloe plant. They cut me off a few stems and I rubbed the goo-like clear substance from the inside of the stems on my burns and it worked so well to subdue the pain and hot. Plants are so cool! God is so cool, with all His wonderful creations that do so much for us and remind us of Christ (Alma 30:44, Moses 6:63). 

I don't know how P-day just gets away from you! We had nothing planned today that was more extensive than getting haircuts and going to the store, and yet I feel like we've got nothing done and no time to relax. I wish we took a nap today. That would've been nice! But alas I am a servant of the Lord and have been commanded to give my heart, might , mind and strength to this work (D&C 4:2). I am exhausted everyday and at the end of every week. I seem to just have enough in me to do the Lord's work and that I have no energy to think of myself anymore. That's awesome! Haha I've seen greater blessings when I look out of myself. 

Oh haha funny story! So while at the Bennett's home we found out that there is a new policy for male missionaries to wear wide-brimmed hats (specifically shown on the church website for clarification on appropriate styles and so forth), and so last week at the DI I saw this "wide brimmed hat" and so I bought it to show to the Bennett's that I had found the widest and brimmiest hat of them all... See picture below. 

Hope you have a wonderful week! I love ya'll so much! Can't wait to hear back from you! 


Love 
Elder Patterson 


 Look at this beautiful sunset... And the goober on the left.

May 23, 2016

Dear people, 

I have not much time to write this week, as my email time was spent emailing an old friend of mine to whom I just received word of many trials in her life. I hope you all can recognize the fact that I love you regardless of how many words are contained within these emails of mine. I just really felt the need to write her learned of her current situation which greatly disturbed me. 

This week is transfers and WE ARE BOTH STAYING!!! I'm so excited to remain here. I'm really hoping to finish my mission here in this area and with Elder Maldarizzi. If I stay one more transfer after this new one, I will have spent half of my mission in this one area. That is super mega awesome! This week during my studies of the Book of Mormon I realized the importance of family history, specifically journals. I realize how many times my family has urged me to keep up to date with my journal writing and with my yearly history reports. I have not been so diligent in these endeavors, so I am repenting and trying to find time (which is very hard as a missionary) to write down my history—for I must "...labor diligently to write, to persuade [my] children, and also [my] brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for [I, Elder Patterson,] know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. (2 Nephi 25:23)


I love you! Have a wonderful week! Love Elder Patterson 

We had a baptism this weekend which was awesome!




May 16, 2016

Dear wham bam thank you fam, 

I'm running out of different things to call you all. Maybe one of these times I'll just say "dear family," but till I completely run out of name ideas I will continue finding creative ways to call you the people I love most in the world. 

Right now I am at the point in my life (and my mission) where I know how to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to other people so that they can understand and appreciate it, but I myself have a difficult time applying these principles in my own life. There are so many ways to experience the lessons God wants us to learn to re-enter His presence someday. There isn't a cookie-cutter trial or opportunity for "patience" that we all have to experience to gain that Christ-like attribute. We each in our individual stations may receive the perfect instruction through our experience of mortal life to advance to our next estate, thus qualifying for the peace of the Spirit and calmness of conscience promised to the righteous. 

I have found myself in much different circumstances the last number of weeks that have brought me to deep reflection of myself and my personal goals to refine and receive qualities and attributes to bless my life and the lives of those around me. The apartment we live in is of the highest quality I've ever been in on my mission, my companion is loving, kind and very obedient and hard working. The area we are serving in is booming with work to do and people to see. We have many baptisms and reactivations as well as numberless opportunities to serve and give of ourselves in behalf of these wonderful people we have come to love with all our hearts. The environment I am in is extremely conducive to growth, because I am being pushed to my limit every day in some way or another, whether that is spiritually, emotionally or physically. I can push myself because when I come home after a long day, I have little to no worries or trials; I have no regrets about the day because I gave it all and left it all on the playing field. In fact most days I can't even give it my all. I have to plead with Heavenly Father for the strength to press forward and to do what is asked of us because I am so drained that I couldn't possibly do any part of the work on my own. I know very well when I receive strength beyond my own, and it is humbling to see how God blesses His children when our desires and works are righteous. For instance, this week we had an encounter with a man who powerfully fought against us and the truth we stood for. It was a different experience from the first half of our day as we were now sitting on this man's couch being instructed that our testimonies were falsely paced in ungodly truth, that we could not say "I know" because knowledge cannot come to us through feelings of the Spirit because those are universal feelings that all humans feel. He explained how there was no sin, no eternal progression to become perfect like our Savior is perfect, and how our morals and commandments come from us, not God. It was hurtful to be told that the essence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true because it makes us want to better ourselves and serve those around us, but that the organization (Prophets, apostles, priesthood authority, revelation, and scripture) was bull crap. This man used a lot stronger language than what I've been using. This was the first time someone denounced our testimony of what we know to be true because of the sources we gathered our "truth" from. I was frustrated! I was shaken in several different ways as my faith was tried to a very real limit, which I felt affect me like never before. I continued to pray but this man's words rang in my mind over and over again tempting me to doubt. I prayed and prayed to strengthen my faith and to receive personal revelation as to the honest questions I had about this encounter. I read the Book of Mormon a lot and even fasted to know what I must do. In time I received my answer which sunk deep within my soul and extracted those doubtful thoughts and questions. I was reminded almost all at once my many answers to prayers and experiences I've had that have faithfully proven to me of the loving, and living reality of our Heavenly Father and of His Son Jesus Christ. Although this week was filled with many trials, I was strengthened and taught many things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. Many of these lessons are personal and for my individual betterment so I won't share all my experiences but I will share those I feel will inspire or uplift some of you. 

We had a super busy and awesome week besides the trials and opposition we faced. There's a man named Scott Godfrey and he has a daughter, Faith Jones that we are teaching in one of our wards and he has a Mustang that he has restored and was asked to enter a car show with on Saturday. We scheduled on Friday to come over and wash it and get it shining again. It was pretty fun! The best part was that after we helped him wash it he took us out and showed us what it could do on the pavement. Whew! That baby purred! It sounded so deep and loud that my whole soul shook when he opened that thing up out on the highway! :) it was so awesome! 

We also met with another man who we promised many blessings too through the prompting of the Spirit that was with us if he came to church on Sunday. He said that he can't because he was having some people come and lay some pipe and set up his sprinkler system. We right away volunteered all the possible time we could on Saturday to help him that he would be able to come to church. From 12-4 which is basically the hottest part of the day (and it was a hot day!) we swung pick axes, shovels, rock picks, and sledge hammers to break up the extremely rocky, desert ground. I got very sunburned and my arms were so tired that I could hardly shake people's hands, even the next day at church! I could barely lift them and squeeze barely the hands of the people we greeted on Sunday to church. Sadly they did not come to church. We went after church and found him still working on his yard. No worries, agency is a gift from God! :)

We also had a baptism this weekend! It was with possibly the oldest person I will ever baptize. Sister Eloise McCoullough was 79 years old when she was baptized yesterday! It was one of the coolest baptisms ever! The Spirit was super strong! A lot of her family came out and were super supportive. I was asked to give a talk on the Holy Ghost after she was baptized. We then got to confirm her right after the baptismal service and give the gift of the Holy Ghost, and confirm her a member of the Church! They had dinner afterward and one of the desserts was cracker brittle!!! Ahhhh! I didn't know anyone else knew what that was! I ate a whole plate full of cracker brittle, instead of eating the food, because we ate before the baptism with a family in one of our wards. We will be having another super cool baptism next week of an 18 year girl who is super cool and super prepared! She knows so much about the gospel and does so much that she seems already like a member of the church. She is going to a mission prep class, seminary, church every Sunday, and mutual activities each week! 

A lot more happened but I need to go now. Sorry! :) hope you all have a great week! Thank you for your unending support! I really love serving here and hope I can learn to serve with all my heart, might, mind, and strength for the rest of my life and into the eternities, because my Savior has changed me forever! :) till next week! 

Love 
Elder Patterson 

Here is us and Eloise!


For our planning session this week I taped a marker on the end of a swiffer duster so that my companion didn't have to get up to write on the board. I also taped a white board eraser onto the end of our broom. :)




May 10, 2016

Dear fam jam and Friends,

So this week our preparation day is today, Tuesday, because we got to go to the temple this morning! :) yay! That was awesome! We went to the Bountiful Temple which was beautiful! There is such a wonderful view from the temple grounds of the valley because the temple is right on the side of the mountain. It was totally worth the effort to wake up early. It was a good morning. This last Sunday was awesome! We invited someone to church, AND THEY ACTUALLY CAME!!! It was so nice to sit with their whole family and to have these great testimony building experiences. There was actually a lot of people we were working with that came to church this week. It was quite a sight. It is always a blessing to see these people striving to come closer to their Savior. Through the ordinance of the Sacrament, we remember Jesus Christ and His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, His crucifixion, and His resurrection three days later; showing us that He overcame both sin and death, that we may, through Him, return to the presence of our Heavenly Father! The work here is really awesome! 

So our district decided to go to the zoo after we went to the temple this morning, and that was hard for me. I honestly didn't want to go, because I knew nothing would get done today. And once you've seen one zoo, you've seen them all. And we went and spent a ridiculously long time there, and by the time we got back home and dropped off other missionaries in our district, we were already late for dinner. We haven't done laundry, emails, studies, or anything. So it wasn't much of a preparation day and was more of a "let's do nothing day" and I don't like that. Personally, we have been working so hard that we've been dying for a break of some sort. I'm so tired from biking up and down these hills and teaching a ton of lessons that I'm ready to pass out! But we've seen more miracles in the times where we struggled to want to work but then did anyways. There is many instances in the scriptures that teaches us about that sort of diligence. 

Well gotta go! We have a lesson in 5 minutes! I'm surprised I could right all of this in the time I did! It's been a good week! Love you all! :) keep in touch!


Love Elder Patterson 

May 2, 2016

Dear Everyone I'm writing,

So this week was filled with miracles and with answers to prayer. It was one of the coolest weeks that I can remember as a missionary. Tuesday was a very busy and productive day as usual, except halfway through the day Elder Maldarizzi asks if he can lie down for a second. I said sure and I did some other things while he was resting. He got up a few minutes later and said he was feeling sick so he went to the washroom. It was all good till I heard a sound coming from the washroom that sounded much like throwing up. So I proceeded to reschedule the appointments for that evening and allowed him to rest. Thankfully he was 100% better the next morning which was an answer to my prayers, because we really enjoy working together here. 

On Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and my companion and I were privileged to bear our testimonies in 3 sacrament meetings. In each one we had opportunity to testify about the truths we know and have felt in our hearts. We had opportunity to testify about what each other had spoken of was true. I felt united with him in our purpose and desires for the work. We went to work that afternoon and found much success following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. We found many new people to teach by Heavenly Father's help and I was strengthened by the answers to my prayers!

There was so much more but I have not the time to tell! Have a great week I love you all! Sorry for the short email, but I am grateful to spend all my time in the service of the Lord! 


Love 
Elder Patterson 



April 25, 2016

Dear, to all it may concern,

This has been a very spiritual week for me and has brought me much happiness. I have not the time to explain all the happenings but I will explain a little about the best part of my week which was Saturday! 

I got an email this last week from Craig Moore. Craig is a man I was blessed to help in Grantsville to become active and temple worthy. He had a huge journey to go through and succeeded! He truly learned what the Atonement of Jesus Christ can do for us--that unending love which allows us to draw from the powers of Heaven. He went from 20 ish years of inactivity in the church and some difficult hurdles such as smoking to overcome, to receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood, becoming the executive secretary in the ward, and becoming temple worthy to do baptisms with us! It was so awesome to see him be baptized in the Salt Lake Temple! I cried seeing him having gone so far and I truly felt the Spirit. I didn't think that it could get better than that, and that that was the highlight of my mission. Then low and behold, I received that email this last week from Craig saying that he and his family were going to the temple on Saturday to be sealed as a family and asked me to come! AHHHHHH!!! I was so extremely excited because I had never been a part of someone's life like that and I had never seen a sealing before. It just so worked out that I could only go so we arranged for Craig to pick me up and be my "companion" and we called and found various people to be Elder Maldarizzi's companion for the day. Craig came by in the morning around 10:00am and we drove to the temple. His son Damien was in the back and needed food so we swung into Arctic Circle for a morning chicken and fries. Damian is so awesome! He is a funny guy. He is 12 years old and he also got to participate in the proxy baptisms last year with Craig and Veronica and I. We got to the temple and we went into this special place where the children were left to play and have snacks while Craig went through to take out his own Endowment. The Endowment is such a special and spiritual gift from Heavenly Father. It truly gives us strength beyond our own capacity. I was privileged to be invited to go through the same Endowment session as he. It was very full! There were many, many people there to support the Moore Family. It was nice to see so many beautiful, familiar faces from the wonderful Grantsiville Stake. The Spirit was so strong in the temple!!! After the Endowment session we all went up to the sealing room where I witnessed a man I had come to love as a brother be sealed to his wife and children for time and all eternity. Death will not separate their family ever! It was such a wonderful experience that filled my heart with such sweet emotion and tender feelings of love for our Savior who made these ordinances all possible through His great and everlasting sacrifice. Their two little girls that were also there were dressed in their cute, little white dresses and I was so happy to see them! Aizlee hugged me so much that day, almost every 2 minutes because I said she could because it was a special occasion. Alivia grabbed my pinky finger, squeezed it with all her might and wouldn’t let go, and that's the happiness they brought into my life! :) I was overjoyed to see their faces and hear their voices again. I was just so filled with the Spirit this weekend! I was so happy and so full of joy that I didn't ever want to leave! I wanted to stay in the temple forever. But you can't do that so I left peacefully. We then proceeded outside to a very dark and rainy evening. The weather did not dampen our spirits though! We were all still as happy as could be! I gave my suit jacket coat to Aizlee to wear outside so she didn't get too wet and cold. We all went to Chuck-a-Rama afterwards chosen by Aizlee. Haha I loved feeling a part of their family that day and being so close to those wonderful feelings the Spirit gives to us. I then had to go back to the temple because Craig left his iPad there, and then he kindly drove me back to our home where I met up with my companion again. It was the happiest moment of my life and it wasn't even my own family! Haha I can't even begin to imagine what it will be like to have the blessing of going to the temple to seal my own family together for time and all eternity! :) But I look forward to that day with extreme happiness and hope! 

I know that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ--That He came to this earth to atone for our sins and appease the demands of justice so that we may ALL be afforded these eternal blessings and opportunities; that our families may be sealed for time and all eternity through the love our Savior willingly offers to us! I know He lives!!! I make many mistakes in my weakness, and I struggle with many things in life. Sometimes I feel I am moving backwards in my spiritual progression. However I know and have felt the never-ending love that He brings into our lives. It is there when I don't deserve it. It is there when I least expect it. It is there when I don't want it. But I know it IS there! I know the Book of Mormon is true and testifies of Christ, and tells men and women what we must do to gain peace in this life and eternal life in the life to come. I know we are blessed and led by a living prophet today, Thomas S. Monson, and he receives guidance and revelation for the world in this, our time of need. I know that Joseph Smith restored this gospel through our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that families can be eternal and last beyond the trial of death. I love you all so much! I look forward to when I can see you all again someday! :) Have a great week! 


Love Elder Patterson 


This is that beautiful Moore family. They are the ones in white! ;) (Craig, Veronica, Damien, Aizlee, Alivia)

April 18, 2016

Dear all Ya'll,

I'm still praying for what Heavenly Father is teaching me here this
last week and because I'm a little slow to see and understand His
ways, it might take me a little bit longer to comprehend. Let me
explain...So yes I have been transferred back to my second area in my
mission which is the Hunter Copperhills Stake! I was ecstatic to
receive this information and quickly got to packing and preparing my
current area (West Jordan) for two new Elders to come in. We arrived
here on a beautiful Tuesday and after many long and stressful hours in
the morning of finding the house I'd be staying at, the keys to the
stake buildings, the area phone, and especially my companion! We
finally got it all worked out and got safely back to the Turnbull's
when we were finally able to get internet and sync our area book to
find out that we had a lesson to teach in 30 minutes, and we haven't
eaten or unpacked, we don't know who it is or where it is. So the fun
begins! :) We ate a granola bar and left on our bikes to go teach our
first lesson together. WOW!!! Amazing!!! My companion and I get along
really well together! He is an amazing teacher and such a hard worker.
He inspires me and encourages me to be and do better! He is such a
blessing! His name is Elder Maldarizzi, and he is from Italy. Super
cool guy! That whole Tuesday was packed full of amazing lessons we had
with many teaching opportunities and chances to talk to people on the
street and do service! AHHHHH!!! Compared to the last 7 weeks this is
HEAVEN!!! This is the missionary work I love! :) So we had a long day,
we were blessed to be able to put someone on date to be baptized along
with many other wonderful missionary things. We get home, have a sweet
planning session in our beautiful home we've been blessed to be able
to live in, eat some ice cream, and then start to unpack and set up
our room. As I am unpacking and reminiscing of having roamed the
streets of Hunter Copperhill, teaching in the very place I had taught
before, being surrounded by the amazing members that reside here, I
felt a soreness in my throat... Then it all went downhill from there!
Okay I've made this story long enough. I got a sore red throat and a
fever that lasted all week so we went on splits every night so that my
companion could go to our lessons. This place is booming! There's a
lot of work to do. I'm feeling better now today. I'm drugging up to
make sure I can keep working today but I'm doing a lot better! I love
this area and these people so much! :) I'll have more to report on
next week as not much happened this week.

So yeah! Love you all!! Till next week! Sorry for the lame email!


Love Elder Patterson

I made my companion Poutine this week! It was way good! :)

April 11, 2016

Dear my crew,

I'm being transferred! Ahhhhh! We both are! They are whitewashing our
area and I am going to whitewash a new area too!!! We are just cleaning up and

packing right now. Sorry for the short crappy email. I love you all and think of you
often! This email is such a contrast from last week's which was super
long and detailed. For those of you who have served missions you will
know how busy and stressful it is to leave all the correct info for
the missionaries coming in when you both leave an area.

So this weekend was mixed feelings when I found out we were leaving.
We were blessed to be able to visit many people that made a difference
in our lives which was a great comfort. Again we saw much success in
many different ways throughout this transfer, both in our relationship
as companions and also with the relationship we grew with the members
and the leadership of our Stake. We will definitely be saddened to
leave but our hopes are high for our new companions and areas we will
be serving in the future! God has been so good to us! He has blessed
us immensely! :)

Well that's all we have time for today folks! Next week will be an
exciting email! Trust me! :)

have a great week! :)

April 4, 2016

Dear ya'll,

So this week was good! Super slow still in our neck of the woods but we are still finding many service opportunities here with the wonderful saints of the Welby stake. We've met some amazing families this week! We had tickets to go down to conference with some people we are working with but alas, all of them fell through, we were still able to go on Saturday morning and also to the Priesthood session Saturday night downtown to watch conference there at the conference center. It was packed as usual!  The messages were really good this conference and helped me evaluate where I am and how I can improve. On Sunday we went early to the Liddle family home in the ward that we live in. They invited us over for a pre-conference breakfast. It was really good! They are so nice! They have two young boys and their youngest is a girl. Isaiah, Ian, and Elsa. They are so cute! We watched conference with the Liddle family and helped support them as the husband is going through a change in his work that makes him be away from home throughout the week and we are striving to be an influence for good in their family and for their kids. We've done service for them and shared spiritual messages with them as well as watch conference with them in their home this weekend. We love them and they are grateful for the help at this time in their life. I brought my guitar and played them some songs while we made lunch in between conference sessions. Sister Liddle and I talked a lot because she served a mission over in Scotland! My sister Melanie served there and we got to visit for 10 days there after her mission, so we talked a lot about all the stuff there, how when she first got there she walked up Pratt's Hill to dedicated her mission to the Lord and start her mission off with a prayer. We talked about Saint Andrews golf course and of course we talked about the amazing chocolate and bakery shops there! It was fun! It was also a good opportunity for me to practice the songs I've written on my mission in front of a live audience. Haha I broke one of my strings on my guitar while doing it, so they graciously bought me some more strings! Such a nice family! I love them! 

Not much happened this week but here is a report of some of the things we did, or tried to do. We were going to have lesson with the Romero family in the 1st Ward this week but we were unable to because of scheduling difficulties and sickness. We were going to conference with them on Sunday morning but Brother Romero called in sick, which was sad. We gave the tickets to another family to use instead of us going. Not many people wanted to go that we asked. We tried having a FHE with the Sharps and their neighbors but it got pushed back again to next week because of scheduling difficulties. We took Cayden Troff, a young priest, with us to a lesson to teach someone in a different ward we had scheduled to meet on Thursday evening at the Stake center. It was a good experience for him as he actually got to participate in teaching the Plan of Salvation and not just stuck finding people with us. He enjoyed it and we talked to him a little bit about missionary service afterward. He is a Grand Master in the world of chess and has travelled the world many times over because of his talent in the field of chess. He's a pretty cool guy! 

We met with the Hawkins family in the 3rd Ward as their son is preparing to serve a mission. We spent some time getting to know them as well as had a little Q and A about missionary service. We shared an Easter message about Jesus Christ to help them understand the importance of this time of year and season. It was a good opportunity to see how as missionaries we teach a lot about Jesus Christ because He is our light and salvation. He is our everything! We also met with the Carlson's who helped us put on the talent show we did a few weeks ago. They had given some referrals to us of some of their neighbors we had visited and we had reported back to them the progress in that endeavor. We shared a message to them about the light of Christ and how we must judge righteously in this world of opinion and doctrines. We invited them to pray about the messages they heard in conference.

We spent some time with the Wimmer family in the 4th Ward and helped to uplift them. They have done so much for us and for me that they have a special place in my heart. We went to watch the Priesthood session with brother Wimmer and they gave us referrals that we have started visiting. We have not contacted all their referrals but did contact Brother Whitney, one of Brother Wimmer's friends, and invited him to basketball on Tuesday nights and he came and had a good time playing with us. (We played some children's hymns in the background so he received some of the doctrine contained in those hymns through osmosis) haha we are slowly trying to invite him as he is not active and is seemingly kind of cold still towards the church, not sure yet if there is a definite reason or if they just haven't come in a while and then stopped coming. We will continue to try to be an influence for good in their family. 

We met with Emalee Gonsalves in the 5th Ward again this week and had a great discussion about revelation and the importance of prophets and apostles on the earth today. She is someone we have been working with to help her come back to church. She is a bit older and is single so we have to have our Ward Mission Leader join us for each visit so we can meet inside her home. We committed her to watch and to take notes of conference that we can review and talk about when we next see her. She is doing great and is just waiting on the bishop and the ward council as to finding a calling or responsibility in the church. She feels a little self-conscious about the whole "calling" thing. She doesn't want to stand in front of people and teach per se, but she is warming up the the fact that callings are another way the Lord blesses each of His children and makes sure we are all progressing together back to His presence. 

We tried to watch conference with the Randle family in the 6th Ward this weekend but they were not home. We have shared their info with the Wallis's, our senior couple missionaries, to see if they can have better success with them. The Wallis's are great teachers and can do a lot more good for that family than we can as they will be around much longer which will reduce the possibility of he Randle's falling through the cracks between transfers and changes of missionaries as they are progressing slower. We supported the Law family as Brady got his mission call this week. We stopped by the night he got it to congratulate him and share our love for that family. 

We tried stopping by a referral given to us in the 7th ward by the Wallis's. It is Lorena and Antonio Vasquez, no answer at the door but sounded like people were home. We are trying to contact this family to see if we or the Spanish Elders would be better suited to try visiting them. We stopped and visited with the Brady's on the same street as we were on our way over to contact this referral. We talked with them for a minute and asked them if they knew this referral we were asked to stop by. They said they've seen them but hadn't met them yet. We also stopped by the Steed family to see how they were doing and he answered the door and asked us to come back when his wife was there, in the mornings before 3:00pm. 

We had dinners in the 8th ward this week and had some good experiences meeting these wonderful members in the Ward. We found some extra tickets to conference this weekend and asked many people who declined us but we invited the Workman's who we just previously had dinner with and they accepted. Brother and Sister Workman as well as her parents went. They greatly appreciated it. We also had a good time over at the Rasmussen's who fed us home-made pizza, they good part was that their oldest son was there that we were able to talk to and we shared a message with the family on Christ and His infinite love for us and our individual situation and trials. We invited them to watch conference.

We met with Will Hansen this week who is in the 9th Ward who basically told us to not talk "church" to him anymore, that he was done and that God had His chance to speak to him and now he is closed off and won't ask or listen anymore. He said we are welcome to still come by but not to teach him. He wants the blessings God fully intends to give to him but he feels his life is too far gone in every manner of the phrase and that there is no point to his life anymore, thus he will not endeavor to ask, seek, or knock. We tried to console him but wouldn't let us. We invited him to take his concerns to the Lord by watching conference this weekend. He agreed hesitantly. We counseled with our district about how we can help him and received some council from the Wallis's. We still went over and did a lot of service for them this week by shoveling rock and using a wheelbarrow to move it to a low spot in the front of their property. That was right up my alley with what I used to do back home for work! Haha Sister Hansen especially appreciates the help. We still have much to do and will continue to help out in that home to try to show Will we still care for him. We told him when we saw him at their service and told him how much we love him and will always be there for him. He appreciated that as well and said he trusts us and believes us when we say that. We also met with Gary this week and taught him the Plan of Salvation and personalized it just for him to help him see hope amidst his trials. It helped him gain a better understanding and viewpoint of God and how He views him. He still struggles a lot and texts us frequently about giving up and that there is no hope for him. We console him often and have felt the need to also involve the Wallis's in our attempt to help Gary come closer to Christ. They have been with us to one of his lessons so far and connected really well with him. 

So yet again our numbers this week absolutely suck! But I know the Lord sees the way we are striving to work and find people and that's all that matters! Our efforts are much more sacred to the Lord than the results. We see this correlation in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 117, verses 12-13

12 And again, I say unto you, I remember my servant Oliver Granger; behold, verily I say unto him that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord.

13 Therefore, let him contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church, saith the Lord; and when he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord. (Underlines added afterward)

Oliver Granger was simply to stay behind when the saints were being driven from city to city, and his job was to sell the properties that were abandoned by the saints. He, in the standards of the world, or looking at it numerically, failed miserably, because he didn't gain any money for the church by what he did. Like the scripture said, "when he falls" it doesn't say "if he falls." The Lord did not set him up to fail—for in His perfect eyes, Oliver Granger did not fail, because he kept trying, he was diligent and persevered. We can see the same principle in our lives, in fact I am sure that when we reach the other side of the veil, and we will meet our Savior, we will be astonished as to  how He views us and our efforts to come close to Him. At times I feel very distant from Christ, or that the path ahead of me is daunting and increasingly steep so as to deter my progress. But I know my Savior lives! I know He loves me! I know that through Him I can become clean from sin and be admitted entrance into my Heavenly Father's presence again someday. As long as I keep trying, and getting up "when" life, temptation, sin, and trials knock me down, I will see success and many blessings in my life! I know this is true for all who strive to live the gospel of Jesus Christ in their daily lives! I love you all so much! Hope you have a great week! :)



Love 
Elder Patterson 



This is us with Cayden Troff, the chess man

March 29, 2016

Hey Everybody! 

Sorry this week’s email will be short. Today was a crazy Preparation Day and we didn't have much time to email.

So this week flew by again! Man if we don't take advantage of every minute God gives us here in this beautiful world it's going to pass right by us! But isn't it completely reassuring that we know and have a fullness of knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ, who suffered, bled and died for us that we may not only be resurrected one day, but also that because of Him, we can become clean and be prepared to enter into the presence of our loving Heavenly Father! What wonderful blessings we have! What knowledge we have! Let us all keep in remembrance our Savior and Redeemer and be grateful for the time we have here in this life to learn. All the heartache, sorrow, pain, infirmities, turmoil, disease, suffering, and all manner of afflictions that we experience in this mortal life are but a small moment in the grand design of our Heavenly Father's plan! He knows us perfectly and wants us to become better through our success and our failures here in this life. Our failures, mistake and other trials can and will make us better if we let them; if we let Christ help us with our burden. We can give our life to Him and in return He promises blessings of far greater magnitude, even eternal life. We give our lives to Christ by serving Him by serving those around us, obeying His commandments, and living His gospel, namely faith in Him, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sin, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end! I have found greater peace in my life and an outpouring of hope from a dreary world in which I lived to a now brighter future because of my growing faith in Him. I promise that as we follow His gospel, we will be happier! We will be blessed and we will receive everything the Father hath because of our partnership with Christ. I love you all so much! I wish I could say more but for now my testimony sufficeth to bring the true message and reason to why I am out here on my mission. I know God, our Heavenly Father lives, I know Christ lives! I know that the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to this earth once again, preparatory to the Second Coming of Christ, by the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that the fruits of his labors to bring about this wonderful dispensation, full of love and knowledge bestowed to us by God; the Book of Mormon, is true and is the word of God. I know that we are divinely lead by Christ today through a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I know that he, along with the quorum of the 12 apostles, lead and guide us personally, and collectively as a church, closer to Christ and that we will be immensely blessed by following their counsel. I know God has a plan for each of us and we need not feel afraid, lost, or unfulfilled in this life; we can receive a fullness of joy through Jesus Christ, we can sing the song of redeeming love, and in Jesus Christ we can find new life! I testify that these things are true in the holy and sacred name of our beloved Savior, even Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope y'all have a great week! I love you! Thank you for your unending support! 


Love Elder Patterson 

March 21, 2016

Dear my homeboys and homegirls! 

Well yet another week has passed me by in this beautiful valley. I now realize that September is coming up really soon! I'm going to blink and it will be here! It's been a rough week as well for the work in this area. This Welby Stake has been "dead" and by that I mean, there has been little to no fruits from our labors (no baptisms, no reactivations and no one to teach). It is difficult because (and I've seen this before in many of my areas that I newly came into) when nothing is happening the missionaries just wait around until someone pops up that they can teach. You can tell that by the records they keep in the Area book, by the phone, by the calendar and what they've spent their time doing. It looks like not much has been done here for a while. My companion and I have been busting our butts to find people to teach! This whole week we went out in the rain, snow and heat (Crazy Utah weather) to visit potential investigators of the church, former investigators, Bishops, Ward Mission Leaders, and members in the many wards we cover. We've talked to a lot of people and have been blessed to have shared messages with many, many families, but we ask every time for referrals and not much ever comes from it. There aren't many non-members in our area, and those that aren't members of the church don't give us an inch to speak, or never open their door! Haha 

On the plus side, we've gotten to know the area a lot better and we've met a lot of awesome families! We've also found many service opportunities! Spring time is here and I swear, (I don't actually swear) but everyone was outside on Saturday. It was in the 70"s and I got sunburned. We walked by a man digging around some sprinkler heads on his lawn and we saw his wife trimming trees. I though to myself, "I know how to do these things!" So I bothered the man until he let us help them. He was very stubborn but I was more stubborn. We ran home quickly and changed and came back and got all their yard work done that they needed. From the experience my brother Ryan and my brother Greg gave to me back home (and from the 4 sprinkler systems we put in people's yards last summer) we had some fun fixing this absolutely horrible sprinkler job. For those that know sprinklers, the previous owner had put 9 zones around this very small house and yard. There was 5 zones alone in the front yard and about 20 crappy sprinkler heads. To make things better, instead of taking the sprinkler heads right off of the main lines that run from the box to the front of the house, he treed every head off about 6 feet from the line like this:


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I hope you can understand my little aerial view of this sprinkler system. It was a lot worse than that but that is the basic premise of how he ran his 3/4" pipe. We had a fun time digging it all up to try to understand what he did and how to fix it. I got to put my digging skills to use! We also cut down some trees which I have some experience doing. It was fun! We got everything done that they needed in less than 2 hours. It helped a lot because the husband is away every week and is only home Saturday and Sunday. So he only has those two days to spend with his wife and their three kids, so it felt nice to help them. 

Many service opportunities came from us walking out and about searching for people to teach by going to members homes and sharing a message with them about their Savior. That is the thing, if you go around telling members and bishops and leaders in the church what they should be doing or what they need to work on so that we can have people to teach is wrong. We cannot tell others what to do or influence them in that way. "...only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile... Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion..." We need to love people into this work! Instead, "...we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." Jesus Christ is the life and light of the world! If we but provide an environment to feel the Spirit testify of these divine truths that we share about our Savior and Redeemer, then we can feel the Holy Ghost testify to our heart, mind and soul! He can tell us who is ready to hear the gospel! He knows the hearts of these people and will help us find people to teach! I know It! We must keep working hard and showing Heavenly Father how much these blessed two years mean to us! I read a quote this week that really changed me by Elder Holland.

"You only get one chance to serve a mission. It is your responsibility, your duty, to use it to it's fullest; to give every last ounce of energy until you collapse in exhaustion at the end of it. All the hardships, all the tears, all the hard work will be looked back upon as the best thing you've ever done, not because you enjoyed it, not because you baptized everyone, but because you gave it everything you had, even when you didn't think you could, and especially when you didn't want to. Live your mission to your fullest, work harder than you've ever worked before. Let people know that this is the most important thing in the world to you... If you do not run until you have nothing left to give, and then keep on going anyway; cry and pray and work and sweat and plead until you are so drained that all you can do is turn to the Lord; if you don't do this, then these people will not come to this joy because of you -- their failure to come to Christ will be partially upon your head. Come out of your mission proud of what you've done, and this experience will bless the rest of your life." - Elder Jeffery R. Holland

This really changed me inside as I felt the Spirit of the calling I've been given to Preach His gospel, Christ's gospel; the very essence of joy, peace and love emanate from our Savior who is the "author and finisher of [our] faith." It is His gospel that changes lives, and hearts, to prepare us for the time when He will inevitably come again to this earth that we may be exalted as He is; that as our Father in Heaven is, we may become also -- for it is His work and His glory, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." I know Christ lives and love us! He has paved the way for us to return back to our Heavenly Parents, to overcome death and sin. I love Him with all of my heart for what He has done for me personally and how he has miraculously changed my heart and fortified it against the temptations and lies of the adversary. I know that the Book of Mormon is true! It's pages ring with eternal truth and speak peace to my wearied soul. I know Joseph Smith was a true and living prophet who ushered in the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and supplied the place and time for us to receive, once again, the mighty Priesthood of God and all the saving ordinances that come with it, especially in the temple where our families can be sealed not only for time, but for all eternity. I know that we are currently led by a living Prophet of God, Thomas S. Monsoon, who holds all the keys necessary for us in this dispensation of the fullness of times to prepare us, like I stated earlier, for the Second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! I hope you all have a great week! I love you so much and can't wait to see ya'll again soon! :) 


Love 
Elder Patterson 


Elder Ruiz and I

March 8, 2016

Namaste everyone! 

Well this week flew by! I can't believe it's already Monday! We are doing well here in West Jordan and working our butts off to find people to teach! When we started here in this area there was absolutely no one they were working with. We've been able to put a number of different families in our teaching pool these last two weeks thankfully because of our organization and hard work. 

Thursday was seriously a miracle! So for those of you who don't know Thursday was my birthday and I was not expecting much because I just got into a new area and changed locations and I really just missed home that day. It's hard to go and do missionary work on special days of the year when we normally take breaks and do fun things. But little by little, Gods tender mercies were revealed to me over the course of the day. Calls from my Mission Presidents wife, the Zone leaders, and two birthday songs sung to me, 4 packages, a drop by visit at the end of the day from a family in an old area, and so much more. I almost cried I was so overwhelmed with love and happiness! 

On Friday we had a zone training meeting which was super good and super spiritual! The Zone leaders asked me to sing a song about Christ and His Atonement that I wrote last winter. I was nervous but played well, as I know I had help from Heavenly Father to consecrate my performance unto Him. It was a good training on "loving like you're not scared" because the pure love of Christ leaves no room for fear; fear of what man thinks, fear of consequences of doing good, fear of the unknown, whatever it may be. I learned that I need to worry more about what God thinks and not what others think of me. I'm trying to make goals to overcome those fears of man. 

Well we are looking forward to the talent show we are putting on in our stake. We made flyers and handed them out all over the wards is Sunday. We will report back to y'all about it next week! 

Well I love you all so much and I often think and pray for each of you! I hope you may all see God's hand in your lives as I've barely noticed this week. Let us all pray for the eyes to see these physical and spiritual manifestations of God's love for us! Till next week! :)


Love Elder Patterson