Tamales, Goats and Clothing Irons

Hello.

If you are reading this, it means that I have successfully sent this email. And if you are not reading this, then I suppose I can say whatever I want about you and you would never know.

So as I write this, I am actually currently in a restaurant called "The Tamale Store" eating, as you might have guessed, a tamale. Fun fact though, there's no such thing as a tamale. The correct singular form of the word tamales, is actually tamal. Shout out to my Dad for teaching me that. 

Well, although this week went by faster than a hummingbird on a treadmill, it was a really good week. 

So in recent news, our apartment got a new clothing iron finally! The one we have from before works, except we couldn't use it because apparently there was an Elder who lived here a long time ago who used it to make a grilled cheese sandwich. 

Also, I learned that Arizona can be pretty weird sometimes. For example, there's this super nice rich person neighborhood that we cover, except there's randomly a bunch of goats behind a fence on one street. It's crazy. They're just these goats. And there's this sign on the fence that's like, "Feed them at your own risk, the goats bite" or something to that effect. And all the people who live there don't know who they belong to and they don't even question it. They just use it as a landmark. They're like, "oh yeah I just live two blocks from the goats." Or "I live on the other side of the goats." It's crazy.

Speaking of the goats, last week I told you about the lady we started teaching who has the family. Well her name is Zina, and they live pretty close to the goats. That's not really what I wanted to tell you about though. What I wanted to tell you about is that she will be getting baptized later this month! And her husband is going to be able to baptize her as a well! They are very excited. So am I. It's just been amazing to see her recognize all these blessings come into her life. The Spirit is very present in their home, and Zina talks about how it hasn't always like that and how this really is what she's been missing from her family and her home and she's just been recognizing so many blessings just in the past few weeks. She is just so happy that she is going to be baptized. It just makes me so happy to see this family make these choices to bring them closer to Jesus Christ which brings them more happiness into their lives. Like I said last week, I and my siblings have been so blessed to have the teachings of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in my home my whole life. And to help bring Christ's Gospel to another family who hasn't had that, and to see those blessings come into their lives, it's just amazing. It makes me so happy.

So before I make like a Christmas gift and wrap up, I wanted to share this quote I came across this week. It's from C.S Lewis. He says: "Don't shine so others can see you; shine so that through you, others can see Him." That quote just hit me so hard when I heard it. I just really love that quote. As you probably assumed, Him refers to the Savior. And I love the quote because it is all because of Him. He's the reason we can be happy and we can be a light to others. One of the names in the scriptures that He is referred to as is the Light. He truly does bring light and joy to the World. And we can spread that joy to others as we serve and love and minister to them. And when we do so sincerely out of our love for God's children and our love for Christ and not out of pride, people will see His light. 

Well, I hope that you all have a wonderful week. 

Til we meet again,

~Elder Oswald

P.S.- Attached is a picture of why I love buying my own cereal. 

Also here are a few other pictures from p-day and here's what Kendall said about it in my email: As a district, with the exception of the Wainrights, we got permission to get up at 4:00 and hike up Camelback Mountain. And that was a hike and a half. It was super steep and lots of rocks and stuff. There was one point where there was a metal railing we had to hold onto because of how steep. And you already know we made a reference to the iron rod. We got to watch the sunrise though when we were on the top which was really cool. The sunrise came later than expected though and so it was freezing up on the top of the mountain where there was no protection from the wind. We were there waiting for a good while and it was really funny because we were like joking that the sun was never gonna come. It was cold. The sunrise was really cool though. 

Also, Elder Bower and I have been collecting the money that members will randomly give us, and so after we went hiking we went to the Pasteleria with $58. I'll send a picture of that. It was awesome. 

The Most Disappointing Title Yet

Well it's that time again. It's crazy though, I feel like I haven't emailed you guys since last year.

So here's a new joke for you all that I just thought of now:

Q). What did the pessimistic broken light bulb say to the fully functioning light bulb?

A). I don't have a flicker of hope

Yeah that was funnier in my head.

So we met a crazy guy yesterday. He was telling us his profound insights on theology. He was just like, "just think about it. The trinity, Thor, Odin, the Egyptians, they're all the same. And that just gets you thinkin', it's Aliens. It's all aliens." It was something to that effect. But yeah it was an interesting conversation. 

So also this week, there is a family we have been teaching, and they are super cool. The husband is a member of the Church but hasn't come in a long time. His wife and kids are not members however, and as a family they have decided that they really feel like they want Church to be an important part of their lives. In fact the wife just called us one day saying pretty much just that and that she wants to have lessons with missionaries. So we have been teaching the wife and she really understands how important it is for her to learn truth for herself. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it and she is really feeling like this is where she needs to be. It has been really amazing to watch this family as they recognize that something has been missing from their lives, and then be able to find the blessings that the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ brings to families. That is something that I have a testimony of. My family and I wouldn't be the same people without Jesus Christ's Gospel being the center of our home. I have been so blessed to have so much peace and love and joy present throughout my life. Was my family perfect? No. Were there arguments? You betcha. But I don't remember those things when I look back on my life at home. What I do remember is that there was just so much love in my home. And no matter what, after any fight or argument or yelling or failure to load the dishwasher or failure to turn my light off or whatever it was, the most important thing is that my parents taught us how to pray and they taught us to be kind and they taught us about Jesus. And that is something I will be forever grateful for. Because even though we weren't a perfect family, we always have a chance to do better and to try harder and we always just have so much love for one another. My family might read this and be going, yeah right, you make us sound so great. But seriously, I know that when all of my siblings eventually leave home they won't remember the arguments or the breathing each other's air or whatever either. They will just remember the game nights and the movie nights and the Thanksgiving traditions and the silly videos we made and the love and the Spirit that was in our home. 

Well I'm really glad this is an email and you can't see me, because now I'm crying. Now I'm just really hoping the other Elders don't look over at me.

Anyway, I am so grateful for the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. For the Book of Mormon. And for what that means for my family. Because I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that He loves us all more than we can comprehend. And I know He leads His Church today through a modern day Prophet and modern day Apostles whom He has called, just like He did when He was on the earth. And through the restored truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I know that I will be able to live with my family for eternity, which just brings me so much happiness and joy. 

Well, that's all I've got. I hope everyone has a wonderful day! 

And to quote myself from my email 3 weeks ago:

"Talk to you next week!

~Elder Oswald"

The Week After Christmas

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!

I hope everyone will have a fun time celebrating the new year. A time where we like to take a moment and observe how once again, the earth seems to have successfully made it around the Sun.

Now, I have something I'd like to say about New Year's resolutions. First of all I think they're a great idea. What better time to decide to make changes than at the start of a new year? That's wonderful. However, many people see a year and think, "it's a whole year, of course I'll have time to make changes to my life." The problem is that it is very easy to set long term goals because you are tricked into thinking that it'll magically happen at some point during the year, without actually doing the things that cause the goals to be met. I'm sure many people have had an idea in your mind, a vision of the future you. You think, "oh well of course by then I'll be better at this thing." Except soon "then" comes and future you is still in the future. The thing is that future you will always be future you unless present you starts immediately trying to become future you. It's just really important to remember that if you ever want to change, you have to start right now. Unless of course your resolution is to eat healthier, then you can start after you enjoy whatever treats you have at your New Year's Eve party. 

Also, on an unrelated note, there is a song known as "Ring out Wild Bells" in the Hymn book that we for some reason like to sing at New years time. Probably because it is the one New Years themed song in the Hymn book. Now, I don't know who wrote the music for it. But I have some questions for them. One of them is, why? My theory is that the composer got his songs mixed up. He thought he was writing music for a funeral when actually he was writing music for a song that is supposed to be uplifting and optimistic about the new year. Cause I don't know if you've heard that song before, but it sounds so sad, and it doesn't fit the words. 

Well this last week was good. Christmas was fun. I got to video call my family which was really nice. 

So Dee, the lady we've been teaching, was baptized this last weekend. It was an incredible experience. I don't really know what else to say about that. It was just powerful. 

Also, cool story from this week. We got a phone call from a lady, and she said that she and her family wanted to go to church and she asked what she should do. And we asked if she wanted us to teach her missionary lessons. And she said yes. So we already had one teaching visit with her and her family and it was really cool. Her husband is actually a member of the Church but he hasn't gone to meetings or anything for a few years, since before he was married. He doesn't work on Sundays now though and so as a family they've decided they want to make church a really central part of their lives because they said feel like they've been really missing something from their lives. So they came to church yesterday and we've got an appointment with them tomorrow as well. They're just this super cool family who seems to be really ready to receive and commit to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Well I don't have any crazy or funny stories this week I don't think.

I'll just end by giving everyone who reads this a suggestion for a New Year's Resolution. I would invite all of you to take a look at your personal faith in Jesus Christ, and see where you can improve. Because everyone's faith has room to grow. That's what life is all about. It's developing and strengthening our faith in Christ throughout our whole lives. And I promise you that if you truly want to make your faith in the Savior your number one priority, every single day, your faith will grow, you will find so much peace and so much happiness, and you will feel how much He loves you. 

Well, that's all for today. Talk to you next year!

~Elder Oswald