New Year's Resolutions

Hello Everybody!

This week has been great! I got the wonderful opportunity to see my beautiful family! I'm so grateful for the chance to talk to them! I know that they are proud of the great choices I am making. Though I loved talking to them, I know that the work I am doing here is incredibly important and I am happy that I can!

Last week, on Christmas eve, we got to go to Bryce Canyon with the Workman family for our P-day activity. It was so much fun! It was absolutely beautiful there. I recommend going in the winter because it is absolutely beautiful. Something cool that we realized was, when you are down in the Canyon, you can not see the full perspective of the Canyon but just small beautiful parts. In the the same way, when we are in the midst of trials during this life, we are not able to see the full picture. We catch small glimpses of beauty that help us push forward until we can make it to the view point of our Heavenly Father and see everything.

With the new year right around the corner, I have decided that it is important to look at things with that greater perspective. How do we do this? Through the Plan of Salvation. Joseph Smith has said, "The great plan of salvation is a theme which ought to occupy our strict attention, and be regarded as one of heaven’s best gifts to mankind." 

Proclaiming the wonderful truth and comfort of the Plan of Salvation is one of the main reasons I came out on my mission. I am committing to further my studies of this wonderful, complete plan that was created for each one of us individually to make it back to our Heavenly Family.

Seeing my own family, I take great comfort in my knowledge of eternal families. I hope I can share the great comfort that I have with others.

Have a great New Year's!

Elder Francis

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hey all you people!

With Christmas so close, one of the most common questions I get is, "Are you feeling pretty homesick?" Hahaha though I love my family more than words can describe, I have not felt homesick in the slightest. I'm sure it's because Utah is not too different from my hometown plus we are too busy to think about it. 

Christmas on the mission is a different kind of Christmas. It's far more centered on Christ and giving to others. I feel like this is the first time in my life that I am truly experiencing Christmas as it was supposed to be. I focus nearly all my efforts on serving others and helping them come closer to Jesus Christ. I know that the Christmas spirit is real because I am truly experiencing it!

We had a baptism this week for Ethan! He is a 9 year old and is super shy. He was so nervous about being baptized but he did great! His dad baptized him and his whole family became active again. Its situations like those that make me so happy. I know of quite a few people in my home ward who are less active members and I want to be able to help them so much. Here, we have been asked to only work with nonmembers and less active families are supposed to go to the ward or our senior couple. It was hard for me to accept that at first, but I see the wisdom in it now.

I hope you all have a great Christmas! I am super excited to be able to talk to my family tomorrow! Remember to love your family, especially during this Christmas season. I am lucky enough to be able to send them packages and to receive packages from them. I also get to video chat with them during Christmas and Mother's day! I am very blessed here in Richfield, Utah!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas! Have a great week! 

Elder Francis

P.s. 

My mom sent us some matching ties for Christmas and so me and my companion wore them this Sunday.

This picture was taken at stan's Christmas party which is legendary.

Jolly old St. Nicholas

This week has gone by so fast!

We have had quite a bit of things happen. We went on exchanges with Monroe on Tuesday and I get to meet a family that has some pigs! Thursday was a blitz with the Zone Leaders so that they could do a baptizimal interview for us. It was also my first time having to do some planning for the area without help. It was really good! We have great Zone Leaders who do a good job of inspiring us to work harder.

Then, this Saturday, we had Samantha's baptism! Samantha is awesome and, even though I was only there to teach the last few principals, she was ready for baptism. It was really cool though because her whole family came to the baptism and none of them are members of the church. It was a really good baptizimal service. 

That following Sunday was a very busy day. We went to two wards sacrament meetings, stayed at one for the rest of the classes, and then had a special Christmas dinner with the Dorm branch. After that, we went over to the Dorm (the Dorm is a building for high school age kids to have the opportunity to go to high school here in Richfield) and helped in their Christmas program. Elder Lane played the piano for one of their songs and I sang Jolly Old St. Nicholas. It was not a great performance hahaha but it was good enough.

The work here is exploding! Elder Lane and I have been finding some great potential as well as started teaching quite a few people whom I genuinely think will be baptized. Untop of the already good sized teaching pool we had, we are now teaching so enough people to keep most of our days full. This, combined with exchanges, district meetings, and blitzes of the other areas means that we have absolutely no time which I absolutely love!

We have already been invited to some really awesome houses for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so I am very excited for this coming week. Work has been great with everyone so open to hearing a Christmas message, but we honestly have done much door knocking because we have been so busy.

Life is good here in Richfield! It is getting cold and I am not quite prepared for that Haha, but it will be good. 

Have a great week!!

Elder Francis

Give me this mountain

This week has been slow. We did have zone conference on Thursday and it was very good! We emphasized the importance of maintaining a good attitude during this Christmas time and using this season to proclaim Christ's message! At nearly every dinner message, we have been sharing the #lighttheworld message.

It is so important for us to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Try and do some service to those around you. I have found that, as I look outside of myself and try and serve others, I am much happier and my trials seems easier to bare.

Speaking of trials, I got extremely sick this week hahaha. I got the stomach flu Thursday night and was still recovering all day Friday. I prayed so much hahaha! Saturday morning I was still feeling kinda sick and I was seriously contemplating staying home, but then I remembered the bible story of Caleb.

Caleb and Joshua are the only two original generation of Israelites to receive their inheritance after 40 years in the wilderness. This meant that Caleb got to choose what land he wanted as his inheritance. The Anakims, the giants, were still inhabiting part of the promised land, and they still had to be taken out. Caleb, now at 85 years old, said, “Give me this mountain” (Josh. 14:12).

The story of Caleb has always been a very cherished and loved story for me because my name is also Caleb, but I also feel like it is my job to maintain the honor of my namesake. When at my lowest of low, mentally and physically, I simple said to my Heavenly Father, "Give me this mountain" signifying that I willingly accept all the challenges and trials that I am given. I have a sure testimony that Heavenly Father does not give us any trial without also giving us a way to get through it and grow because of it.

The Church is true and the book is blue!

Have a good week!!

Pictures: 

We got a new car!! It's a 2018 Nissan Rogue.

We set up a Christmas tree in our apartment!!!

This is a super decked out house that we saw.

Elder Francis

How are all you wonderful people doing?

This week has been super crazy! So I got to my new area, Richfield, and it rained for the first two days... I did not come out with any rain jackets or even a coat hahaha so we had to go buy one. It has since snowed a foot or two hahaha. Let's just say it is a little different from St.George weather.

Turns out, the Richfield stake is coveted among missionaries in this mission. There is this one man named Stan who is the best member I've ever met in my life. He is around 80 and is a Bachelor and he loves missionaries. He's what other missionaries call a "hang out" house. Sadly (well sad for my companion), I will not be hanging out there hahaha, but he is super cool and has given us a key to his home and had a fridge that is always stocked with food just for missionaries. Let's just say, I am very blessed to be serving here in Utah.

On top of that, we have three freebies which means that they will give us food for free and one of them is Papa Murphy's. I don't have to worry too much about money this transfer hahaha.

We had a baptism this Saturday for Devin (the one on the right)! I feel like I cheated because I just walked into the area and got a baptism but I am still very excited for Devin. So, Devin shared a cool story. He was extremely discouraged because it seemed like everything was working against him. He was so frustrated he asked, "God why are you doing this to me?" It was then that he heard a small voice in the back of his head saying, "Devin, be thankful." He stopped complaining and started being thankful for everything. At the end he said, "You know what, I'm thankful for you, God." Right then, he looked up and saw a cloud in the shape of a heart. That was all he needed. His faith grew and he was baptized this Sunday.

This area is so amazing and my new companion is so awesome. We get along very well and are both obedient and diligent. I know that this transfer is going to be amazing!

With Christmas right around the corner, the church has started the Light the World initiative! I invite all of you to participate this year in this wonderful opportunity to serve our fellow man and be a light to the world. 

Remember: "14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."    

- Mathew 5

Hope you all have a good week.

Elder Francis

Transfers!

Big news everyone!!

I'm going to Richfield! It's up north... and it's going to be December... I'm going to be cold hahaha!

My new companion is going to be Elder Lane (I've never met him nor do I know anything about him) and he is the District Leader so I get to be a junior companion! I'm super excited for the change and to see how everything turns out!

Elder Greenwood is staying here and is going to be to the second half of someone's training and staying as district leader. It should be good!

This past week was not super eventful. We had Thanksgiving dinner at a families house in Sienna Hills and they had this huge nutcracker display. Like over a couple hundred nutcrackers hahaha. It was really good and really filling. I didn't really get that homesick. I just kept working and I didn't really worry about it.

As far as work in the Washington East Stake goes, it was slow this week. Many people were out of town and so we only had a few appointments, but, we were able to find three solid new people to teach. It's interesting because that won't really affect me now, but I'm still really happy for the area!

I feel like I am plagued with humbling experiences and a distinct lack of luck wherever I go, so, hopefully, Washington East will start growing exponentially as soon as I leave hahaha! 

I know that President Smith is a very inspired man and I trust so much his decisions regarding my new companion and area. I am so excited to be a missionary! Of course, I am very nervous to see what my new companion is like and what the area is like, but I will not let anything stop me from doing missionary work!

Elder Greenwood and I took quite a lot of pictures this week so I hope you enjoy that. I won't be getting my new address until tomorrow (I have a two and a half hour bus ride tomorrow) so you'll have to wait for next week to get it.

In the words of my hero Nacho Libre, "Life is good, Really good." 

Elder Francis

Happy Thanksgiving

Hey all you people!

This past week has gone by so fast! Though I absolutely love time going by fast, I do hope that I am able to learn and grow as much as I can within this time frame.

We had a baptism for Dan this last Saturday! Dan is 65 years old and has been meeting with missionaries for the past two and a half years. He has been on date for the past 8 months Haha! As you can tell from the picture, he is also like 6'8" and the person baptizing him was shorter than me! Dan's story just goes to show you that you should never give up on people and that everything will work out according to God's timetable.

Dan shared a cool story with us at his baptism. He explained the first time that he knew that this church was true. Dan had been asked by a member of the ward to help do some gardening work at the Temple grounds. He accepted but was fearful because he had not been able to get sleep the past few nights because of terrible pain in his shoulders. The pain was so unbearable that he could not even lift his arms over his head. When they got to the temple, the temple curator pointed at Dan and said, "You're tall. You trim that large hedge over there." The hedge was taller than Dan. He accepted the task, not wanting to tell anyone about his problem. He started by trimming the sides of the hedge until only the top was left. This was the part he feared most. He slowly lifted his arms to start trimming the top of the hedge. Before he knew it, his arms were completely over his head and he was able to reach the top of the hedge. There was no pain. 

He finished the gardening with a firm realization that this temple was truly from God for only God could have healed him. His shoulder never bothered him again. The only reason he wasn't baptized then answering there is because he did not feel he was yet worthy. While standing as a witness for Dan's baptism, I knew that he was not only worthy, but prepared to make that loving covenant with his Heavenly Father.

Also on this Saturday, we stopped by a young girl who we've been trying to talk to for a while. This time, she was home and we were able to talk to her about who we were and asked if she was interested. She said, "Yeah I really want to be baptized but my mom isn't home right now." I was shocked hahaha! Not only did this young girl answer the door, but she has been wanting to be baptized! The Lord has truly prepared people for us to meet and help. We have an appointment with her for this week. Her name is Lizzy.

I might have mentioned last time, but Elder Greenwood has been increasingly pessimistic. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I was never the most optimistic person, however, since I've been out on my mission, my optimism has soared! This leads to a problem though because Elder Greenwood does not agree with my hope filled ideas. In fact, just last night he explained that I needed to lower my expectations. He also described that I should not be so worried about being efficient and effective and worry more about just being diligent. I would like some advice on this. Elder Greenwood is not only my trainer but also my District Leader. I try to humbly accept meaningful council that he gives me, and I know he is truly trying to help me become a better missionary, but I'm confused with the council. Any suggestions or advice from those more experienced than I would be much appreciated.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! Remember all the wonderful blessings that Heavenly Father has given you!

Elder Francis