Monday, June 20, 2016

February 29, 2016 Robs Birthday email

Hello everyone!!!

Thank you all for your emails this week! :) I am beginning to realize now that the older you get, the less important your birthdays become. They just come and go and I am almost unaware that my age will change. Nevertheless the Lord is hastening His work in His time and I am a part of it in the Welby Stake in West Jordan. We cover 8 wards which is a lot less than what I've had in the past number of transfers. It's a pretty small stake area. No car :( that was nice for a couple weeks! 

This week has been good! I got moved into a brand new area and have been put in charge so I'm kind of stressed but a good kind of stress. I love it here already in West Jordan. The missionaries here are crazy, and not in a good way. I went on exchanges with our district leader in his area and he drove around town all day, showed me his favourite cars in his area and we basically did nothing, plus he drove like a maniac. I prayed a lot for our safety that day. I'm glad that my parents and my brother have all taught me how to work hard. It is a real challenge being with someone 24/7 who doesn't want to do the same things as you. When we have different purposes or goals. However I do look forward after my mission to spending eternity with my spouse who will have the same goals to work hard at creating a Spirit-filled home and two closely knit hearts set on returning to our Heavenly parents. I know I'm not perfect but that if I try my best, especially here and now, and show Heavenly Father and my Savior my appreciation for the chance to serve them as a full-time missionary, I know and have faith They will help me with getting the rest of my life put in order when I get home.

Things are going well here, and we put 6 people on date for reactivation this week. That is basically like setting a baptismal date but for someone who is coming back to church. We help them meet with the bishop, come to church, take the missionary lessons, do family history work, etc. we also took two priests who are preparing to serve missions out with us all weekend for a "mini-mission" it was so fun! It really helped them know what a mission is like and know how to teach people and love them to serve them.

Well we had dinner with this family where the dad is from Edmonton! That's where I'm from! Haha so we had a good talk together. They have a set of twin girls who are really talented musicians and then a boy who is a baseball player. We are going to have a talent show at their home in 2 weeks and invite a lot of kids who are also talented and also less active kids. We've met a few of them and I am very thankful for the talents God has given me because I've been able to connect with a lot of people here who are struggling. I showed one kid how to do some tricks on his longboard, one is into music and guitar so I connect that way, one guy had like 10 ukuleles which when I said I could play he let us in and we jammed and shared a message. :) It’s fun being a missionary and sharing who you are and what we believe to also bring others to come unto Christ. 

We live with an elderly man who gives us milk and cereal! Boy that is so nice! You don't know how much that helps with us and our tight funds. We don't have wifi at our home, and we've had to go and ask all our neighbors for wifi and not many of them said yes so we have to use the churches nearby. Well they are on every street corner so that's fine with me. 

I thank you all for your prayers and for your emails! I am blessed to have spent the time I have with all of you! My heart is full when you're all on my mind as I love you all so much! I pray for you also! May God be with us all till we meet again! :)


Love 
Elder Patterson 


These are the two young men we took out with us for the weekend on a "mini-mission"

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