My Christmas Testimony!
THE PATH IS LIT
Life is a path. A Path to our great goal of eternal happiness. The
Path is happy and safe, but narrow and anything but easy. It is
constant and inconsistent. Trials accompany us and our faith is
challenged. But all we know is that if we make it, it will be worth
it. Before,,, the world walked in darkness and obsurity with little
lighting the path. We have lost our way at times and fallen. The way
was dimmed by the darkness of the world. But it was a star. The Path
was illuminated by the Star of the coming of the messiah, the son of
God. The light and life of the world came to be our shepherd. The
Path never had such light, hope, and happiness. With Christ as our
guide we will surely arrive. He showed us what we all could do with
our own light, our own faith. We could heal the sick, give sight to
the blind, and even raise the dead. The world and its people were
illuminated by his pure love and example. He lead with his light
until death. The sinless brother carried the pains and afflictions of
the sinners. A God gave his life that we might live again. How could
we ever forget such love, such light. But we did. We blinded
ourselves. We as a world were once again lost in our own way. The
dark apostacy overcame the light of the Path. We felt abandoned, we
felt forgotten, we felt alone. But the light would be found. In the
spring of 1820 a young boy of 14 years walked into a grove and knelt
down and prayed. It was a Pillar of Light. A beauty beyond wards.
Joseph Smith saw the God of Endless Love and Christ the Light of the
World. With this Pillar of Light, the Path has never been brighter.
And it is everlasting. My dear family with this i share this
testimony. That on this Path of life. We WILL forget and we WILL
surely fall. But i testify that in these moments of loneliness we
must fall to our knees. God will never abandon us. We are never
alone. In the words of Elder Cook,"we are save in his loving arms".
In this Christmas season may we be reminded of the Light in our life.
the living Gospel of Jesus Christ. May we remember the Star and the
Pillar. I know that Christ LIVES and THE PATH IS LIT.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
The Best Week Yet: 11-15-10 Elder Laws
Mom and Dad,
This week has been one of the best weeks that I have had so far in the
mission. Probably THE best. But first how are things going at home?
How is work going and the girls? How are they doing in school?
Thanks for the emails. I love hearing from you guys. Whats been
happenin with the family lately? Hope everything is going awesome.
Well just like the everyweek in the mission. Things have there ups
and downs. Luckily this week had some sick good times. But we
started out with a lame P day. Everyone wanted to do something
different and so me and my comp just bailed out to the peatonal. We
didn´t really buy anything but we still had some good times. But
tuesday was a rough day. All of the leaders had a big training with a
member of the seventy, Elder Aidukaitis. So me, Elder Gardner and
Elder Nuñez were stuck in a trio. Trios royally suck out here due to
the fact that you appear like a mormon army clapping at your door.
But we some stuff done anyways. We went and visited Unc Ronnie´s
converts Irma and Mercedes. They showed us the place that Ron used to
live and they talked and talked and talked. Their brother mago showed
us some lame magic tricks. But we took some sweet photos and stuff
with them. But we decided to try and program their brother for
baptism. He rejected on the excuse that none of the members of the
church have money. He thinks that people should be instantly blessed
with riches which was pretty sad. Anyways this week we had a goal to
reach the standards of excellence since we had a baptism set up.
Standards are rough to get but very worth it. So going into wednesday
we didn´t have what we needed to reach our goals so we had to
basically kick butt without a failed appt to make it. By the time
thursday came we were pretty far behind our goals and pretty
discouraged. But thursday we had a half day meeting with elder
Aidukaitis. The man was freakin unbelievable. So in tune with the
spirit and knew exactly what we needed to hear. He started off by
saying that he was proud of the fact that we always had our purpose in
mind. But he said that he is disappointed in the fact that he is not
so sure that we have our purpose in our hearts. He then began to talk
about faith and works. James 2:14-18. He tore us up a bit. But then
he asked us something that i absolutely loved. "Elders and sisters,
do you weep when you don´t baptize everyweek? Because God and the
Angels in heaven do!" It hit us all pretty hard. He taught us how to
program people and to set goals. At the end of the meeting he dropped
cane again by telling us that we are not going to reach our goal as a
zone to get 18 baptisms this month. We all took that as a challenge
and said oh yes we are. When we left that place we were so pumped to
go out and work that we set up some teams up to get more work done.
We ended having a bomb night and programming a couple people for
baptism. We were on a high. That next day was also an awesome day.
We work our butts off to get our goals and we ended up the day hitting
all of our daily´s. But what happened that night was just awesome.
We talked to these people drinking mate outside their house. They
gladly invited us in and said whats up. We began to tell them a
little bit about the plan of salvation and how we can be truely happy
in the faith of christ if we fallow him. One lady named Noelia
stopped us and said. "chicos, before you got here. I was sitting
here with my 1 year old daughter thinking about all of the fake
happiness the world has in material things, i began to pray to God to
tell me how I can be truely happy with my daughter." at this point
she was crying and said," and you chicos just show up out of no where
and tell me the answer that I was looking for." Later that lesson she
committed to baptism. It was awesome. One of the greatest blessing
of being a missionary is being an answer to people prayers. People
really need what we are carrying. But wait the week gets better.
That saturday we had a baptism of Yael Farias. She is 13 and an
awesome girl. She is the sister of Hermana Retamal and our
investigator Noelia Farias 26(not the same noelia). So at her baptism
we had investigator in Carlitos, Noelia, and Yael´s mom. I had the
amazing blessing of preforming the ordinance. When we came back and
heard some of the testimonies of Yael´s member friends we looked back
and saw Noelia and Carlitos Crying. They were feeling it. We talked
to them after and they are so ready to take the step in for
themselves. They committed to gettting married and getting baptized.
Its amazing what a change in attitude can do. If you go after
something and bust your butt. The Lord is gonna come through. We had
a great week because we had faith AND WORKS. I love this work. Love
you all have a great week.
Elder Logan R. Laws
This week has been one of the best weeks that I have had so far in the
mission. Probably THE best. But first how are things going at home?
How is work going and the girls? How are they doing in school?
Thanks for the emails. I love hearing from you guys. Whats been
happenin with the family lately? Hope everything is going awesome.
Well just like the everyweek in the mission. Things have there ups
and downs. Luckily this week had some sick good times. But we
started out with a lame P day. Everyone wanted to do something
different and so me and my comp just bailed out to the peatonal. We
didn´t really buy anything but we still had some good times. But
tuesday was a rough day. All of the leaders had a big training with a
member of the seventy, Elder Aidukaitis. So me, Elder Gardner and
Elder Nuñez were stuck in a trio. Trios royally suck out here due to
the fact that you appear like a mormon army clapping at your door.
But we some stuff done anyways. We went and visited Unc Ronnie´s
converts Irma and Mercedes. They showed us the place that Ron used to
live and they talked and talked and talked. Their brother mago showed
us some lame magic tricks. But we took some sweet photos and stuff
with them. But we decided to try and program their brother for
baptism. He rejected on the excuse that none of the members of the
church have money. He thinks that people should be instantly blessed
with riches which was pretty sad. Anyways this week we had a goal to
reach the standards of excellence since we had a baptism set up.
Standards are rough to get but very worth it. So going into wednesday
we didn´t have what we needed to reach our goals so we had to
basically kick butt without a failed appt to make it. By the time
thursday came we were pretty far behind our goals and pretty
discouraged. But thursday we had a half day meeting with elder
Aidukaitis. The man was freakin unbelievable. So in tune with the
spirit and knew exactly what we needed to hear. He started off by
saying that he was proud of the fact that we always had our purpose in
mind. But he said that he is disappointed in the fact that he is not
so sure that we have our purpose in our hearts. He then began to talk
about faith and works. James 2:14-18. He tore us up a bit. But then
he asked us something that i absolutely loved. "Elders and sisters,
do you weep when you don´t baptize everyweek? Because God and the
Angels in heaven do!" It hit us all pretty hard. He taught us how to
program people and to set goals. At the end of the meeting he dropped
cane again by telling us that we are not going to reach our goal as a
zone to get 18 baptisms this month. We all took that as a challenge
and said oh yes we are. When we left that place we were so pumped to
go out and work that we set up some teams up to get more work done.
We ended having a bomb night and programming a couple people for
baptism. We were on a high. That next day was also an awesome day.
We work our butts off to get our goals and we ended up the day hitting
all of our daily´s. But what happened that night was just awesome.
We talked to these people drinking mate outside their house. They
gladly invited us in and said whats up. We began to tell them a
little bit about the plan of salvation and how we can be truely happy
in the faith of christ if we fallow him. One lady named Noelia
stopped us and said. "chicos, before you got here. I was sitting
here with my 1 year old daughter thinking about all of the fake
happiness the world has in material things, i began to pray to God to
tell me how I can be truely happy with my daughter." at this point
she was crying and said," and you chicos just show up out of no where
and tell me the answer that I was looking for." Later that lesson she
committed to baptism. It was awesome. One of the greatest blessing
of being a missionary is being an answer to people prayers. People
really need what we are carrying. But wait the week gets better.
That saturday we had a baptism of Yael Farias. She is 13 and an
awesome girl. She is the sister of Hermana Retamal and our
investigator Noelia Farias 26(not the same noelia). So at her baptism
we had investigator in Carlitos, Noelia, and Yael´s mom. I had the
amazing blessing of preforming the ordinance. When we came back and
heard some of the testimonies of Yael´s member friends we looked back
and saw Noelia and Carlitos Crying. They were feeling it. We talked
to them after and they are so ready to take the step in for
themselves. They committed to gettting married and getting baptized.
Its amazing what a change in attitude can do. If you go after
something and bust your butt. The Lord is gonna come through. We had
a great week because we had faith AND WORKS. I love this work. Love
you all have a great week.
Elder Logan R. Laws
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
June 14th, 2010
Dad,
hey i hope that you got the letter that i sent acouple of days ago.
Everything here is pretty much staying the same. We had planned to
challenge dean studer to baptism this last saturday. But when we got
to his house some lady answered the door in tears saying that they had
a family issue and now was not a great time. So i waited until last
night to call them and ask how they were doing. We found out that
their son dean(12) went on a camping trip with 2 friends and a lady.
She over corrected on the free way and the car flipped 5 times. Dean
came out of it alright but one of his close friends was ejected and
killed. dean has been in the hospital and just got released. We are
going over there tonight to visit him and give little dean a blessing.
Hopefully the lessons we will teach about the plan of salvation will
touch their lives. Other than the studer family we have a couple
people that are hesitant to move forward. But we keep on keepin on
and let the lord take care of the success. I hope that i will be able
to go to argentina soon. i have found out that my future mission pres
in arg is also waiting for his visa. So i am in good company. But
mean while i love the people here and especially the members. if
there is anything that i can do for any of your then let me know. I
love you so much dad.
Elder laws
hey i hope that you got the letter that i sent acouple of days ago.
Everything here is pretty much staying the same. We had planned to
challenge dean studer to baptism this last saturday. But when we got
to his house some lady answered the door in tears saying that they had
a family issue and now was not a great time. So i waited until last
night to call them and ask how they were doing. We found out that
their son dean(12) went on a camping trip with 2 friends and a lady.
She over corrected on the free way and the car flipped 5 times. Dean
came out of it alright but one of his close friends was ejected and
killed. dean has been in the hospital and just got released. We are
going over there tonight to visit him and give little dean a blessing.
Hopefully the lessons we will teach about the plan of salvation will
touch their lives. Other than the studer family we have a couple
people that are hesitant to move forward. But we keep on keepin on
and let the lord take care of the success. I hope that i will be able
to go to argentina soon. i have found out that my future mission pres
in arg is also waiting for his visa. So i am in good company. But
mean while i love the people here and especially the members. if
there is anything that i can do for any of your then let me know. I
love you so much dad.
Elder laws
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
May 15th, 2010
hey dad, mom
Its good to hear that Nick is home and doing well. You gonna hook me
up with Pres Martineau's Address? email. This week was perhaps the
hardest for me and my comp in this transfer. We struggled to get any
appointments. Got some of the most outrageous door exchanges. And
most of everything fell through. On top of that. Visa won't becoming
very soon is what president told me. But the most heart breaking
story... Dillion and Deserie have been ready to be baptized and they
are so excited for it and so have her mom and step dad. We have been
asking the bishop to get their real dad's permission for the last 4
weeks. he finally went over to his house last night. Bishop told him
that his kids had expressed the desire to be baptized. The dad
Quickly Answered "that will never happen, you get off my porch and
stay in your church and don't come back"!! My and my comp were heart
broken. So sad. But someday they will be baptized. Just not by us.
Hopefully the lord will soften that mans heart. We have been doing a
lot of tracting lately and we are hopeful for a couple of people.
People weren't lying when they said a mission is hard. It takes more
of a toll mentally and emotionally that anything. But Alma 26:12...
We will do as Joseph said about enduring well..we will trust in God
and go on!
I don't have much time but i love you and miss you.
Elder Laws
Its good to hear that Nick is home and doing well. You gonna hook me
up with Pres Martineau's Address? email. This week was perhaps the
hardest for me and my comp in this transfer. We struggled to get any
appointments. Got some of the most outrageous door exchanges. And
most of everything fell through. On top of that. Visa won't becoming
very soon is what president told me. But the most heart breaking
story... Dillion and Deserie have been ready to be baptized and they
are so excited for it and so have her mom and step dad. We have been
asking the bishop to get their real dad's permission for the last 4
weeks. he finally went over to his house last night. Bishop told him
that his kids had expressed the desire to be baptized. The dad
Quickly Answered "that will never happen, you get off my porch and
stay in your church and don't come back"!! My and my comp were heart
broken. So sad. But someday they will be baptized. Just not by us.
Hopefully the lord will soften that mans heart. We have been doing a
lot of tracting lately and we are hopeful for a couple of people.
People weren't lying when they said a mission is hard. It takes more
of a toll mentally and emotionally that anything. But Alma 26:12...
We will do as Joseph said about enduring well..we will trust in God
and go on!
I don't have much time but i love you and miss you.
Elder Laws
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Elder Laws was Transfered to Billings, Montana
hey mom,
what ya up to mommy. i am just chillin here at Montana State
university on my first p day in the field.. I have loved the lessons
that i have taught and i love the people that i have come into
contact with. But i won't lie. I am a little discouraged. I was
really looking forward to heading down to rosario. I will just try
and put my trust and my fate in the lord. the problem is being happy
with the outcome. My new mailing address is 1848 Rimrock Rd.
Billings, MT 59102. I can already feel myself losing some spanish
skill and i am trying hard not too. i study really hard and i do it
day and night and i always have sttudy materials with me. I just hope
that i am still at least half as much when i get down there finally ya
know. I love that you have passed the test. So tell me what you are
going to do. Is there still a job wainting for you. come on come on
tell me. Whats been going on at home anything cool. How did kenzie's
surgury go? does she look good? i am not gonna lie to ya mom. I
have tried to put all my faith in the lord and trust that i will be
happy. But i am still a little lost. i hate feeling this way beacuse
i know that i should serve wherever. But argentina has been my dream
for a long time. Ever since ronnie went i have wanted to be there and
i am not ya know. but i will still try as hard as i can and try and
give these people heaven haha. Love you a lot mom. Hope to hear from
ya next week.
Elder Laws
what ya up to mommy. i am just chillin here at Montana State
university on my first p day in the field.. I have loved the lessons
that i have taught and i love the people that i have come into
contact with. But i won't lie. I am a little discouraged. I was
really looking forward to heading down to rosario. I will just try
and put my trust and my fate in the lord. the problem is being happy
with the outcome. My new mailing address is 1848 Rimrock Rd.
Billings, MT 59102. I can already feel myself losing some spanish
skill and i am trying hard not too. i study really hard and i do it
day and night and i always have sttudy materials with me. I just hope
that i am still at least half as much when i get down there finally ya
know. I love that you have passed the test. So tell me what you are
going to do. Is there still a job wainting for you. come on come on
tell me. Whats been going on at home anything cool. How did kenzie's
surgury go? does she look good? i am not gonna lie to ya mom. I
have tried to put all my faith in the lord and trust that i will be
happy. But i am still a little lost. i hate feeling this way beacuse
i know that i should serve wherever. But argentina has been my dream
for a long time. Ever since ronnie went i have wanted to be there and
i am not ya know. but i will still try as hard as i can and try and
give these people heaven haha. Love you a lot mom. Hope to hear from
ya next week.
Elder Laws
Monday, March 22, 2010
A bit from Elder Laws weekly email.
Its interesting because we talk about all the time in class how we work all week long
just to see people come to church on sunday.Sunday is pay day for
our labors. Church is the best way for new converts to feel the
spirit and become fellowshiped by the word. It is also important for
an investigators family to see that their children learn about how god
loves them from even a young age. There is so many blessings from
church. This last week me and my comp taught a member of our branch
presidency about the first vission and the book of mormon. He said
"wow that is the best i have ever heard in the MTC" he started to
tear up a little bit when i was quoting the first vision and it was a
really awesome experience.
just to see people come to church on sunday.Sunday is pay day for
our labors. Church is the best way for new converts to feel the
spirit and become fellowshiped by the word. It is also important for
an investigators family to see that their children learn about how god
loves them from even a young age. There is so many blessings from
church. This last week me and my comp taught a member of our branch
presidency about the first vission and the book of mormon. He said
"wow that is the best i have ever heard in the MTC" he started to
tear up a little bit when i was quoting the first vision and it was a
really awesome experience.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Missionaries are Protected!
Below is a letter from a Missionary in Chile, sent to his parents (my boss and his wife) after the earthquake in Chile. Humbling and comforting to know that our missionaries are divinely protected.
Family,
It´s 3:30 A.M. the 27th of February 2010. The annual Festival de Viña (AKA drug, sex and rock n´roll/sinfest) has just finished. I wake up to a weird noise. I look up at the ceiling and see it moving as if I was playing with a piece of Jello on my fork. EARTHQUAKE!!! I jump out of bed and run out the sliding door to the deck to make sure that there is nothing over my head. I look out across Viña and see on the other side of the hill explosions everywhere and then the next second the light in the whole city goes out. It is just pitch black everywhere. For about 30 seconds the earth sounds like a bunch of slamming doors. After, the air is polluted by the noise of car alarms throughout the entire city, gangsters yelling and whistling to each other and the sound of frightened drunks that have procrastinated the day of their repentance. We climb back in bed when soon after we hear the phone in our room ringing. My companion Elder Albrecht answers the phone to President Gillespie´s voice saying that he is on his way up. We all throw our clothes on and go out to meet him. We try calling the zone leaders but our phones arent working so he tells us that we will have to divide and conquer to make sure all of the missionaries in the mission are fine. Elder Reid, Elder Adams and I hop in the truck and we start of for Valparaíso. Ok, remember how I said that the "Eat, drink and be merryfest" just ended? Everybody was out driving and there was absolutely no power in the whole city. So here we are driving around going through intersections trying to dodge people, dogs and cars with none of the traffic lights working and with it being pitch black everywhere our headlights aren´t. We drive along the coast from Viña to Valpo which was the most amazing sight. All that could be seen was the outline of the enormously steep hills of Valpo meeting the sky and the water´s edge with the giant orange moons reflection on the harbor full of boats. As we come around the corner, it looks like we are just driving into an huge dungeon of darkness. The only thing we see are cars here and there driving around in the hills. We enter into Valpo and see debris all over the sidewalks from walls of buildings that had fallen from stories above and crushed to pieces all over. There are fallen power-lines hanging down in the roads so we have to juke those everywhere. We pick up the zone leaders from Valpo Oeste and have them take us around to all the missionaries in their zone to make sure that they were all ok. Everyone is fine so we go over to the other zone leaders house. They live on the 8th floor so we run up and the whole way up we just see cracked walls and fallen light fixtures everywhere. Huge chunks had fallen out of the walls and entire walls were just laying on the ground. We get up to the their apartment and it looks like a tornado had swept through it. Imagine a house full of mission materials, books of mormon, pamphlets, give-away cards, personal scriptures and everything in between. Now imagine that spread all over the floor. haha It was hilarious! haha A closet full of clothes had fallen over and all the tiles in the bathroom had been shaken loose and were laying all over in the tub. That pension was so stinking dirty and unorganized I couldn´t help but laugh. So we go around with these zone leaders to all of their missionaries as well and thankfully the earthquake didnt cause any damage to them. So we head back to our apartment and shower up. Our apartment building is amazing. We were probably the only people in Viña that had hot water and light. Almost nothing happened to the building except a few pieces of stucco fell off at the very top. Not even our iron fell off the ironing board. The only thing that I realized had fallen over was my water bottle in the fridge but literally everything else was fine. Then we went down to the office and it looked like a bomb had gone off in there. All of the drawers of the cabinets had opened and fallen over. Our big printer was just in pieces all over the ground but Elder Adams, el computín (computer geek), put it back together and now it works kind of. Every single picture had fallen off the wall except the pictures of Jesus Christ. They hadn´t even been touched at all. For the rest of that day and even until now we have been having aftershocks all the time but nothing to big. We were without electricity until Monday night. All the grocery stores were closed down. They shut the water off throughout the whole city for a few days. It was weird cause that was the first time in my life when I was literally starving. We had no food or back-up water in the office. There was nowhere to buy any food or anything. For 3 days I turned into a scavenging beast looking for food but to no avail. It was weird to think that I was suffering from the effects of a natural disaster and was literally starving and thirsting. I learned a lot from this experience. I learned how much we take for granted on a daily or even hourly or minutely basis. It was miserable without light or water. I´m so thankful for this experience I have had to go through this catastrophe. It has been a really humbling experience and has taught me that living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important thing in life. I love this church and am so thankful for all that it teaches us. I´m grateful for the priesthood and the hope that it brings into this life. I love you all and I pray for you often. Thank you for your love and support. Just so you all know, our mission was not effected at all like Concepción was. Valparaíso was hit pretty bad but there was only a few deaths there. There were no tsunamis or anything. It was pretty crazy when it happened but we didnt get it very bad. There was a pretty eerie feeling of confusion throughout the rest of the weekend though. It was a great experience and am thankful to have been through it.
Elder Owen
I loved his account on his experiences with the earthquake. I had to share what I thought was truly a miracle. I know that Elder Laws will be protected and cared for. He is doing the lords work and that gives me comfort knowing that the Lord is watching over him.
Roni Laws
Family,
It´s 3:30 A.M. the 27th of February 2010. The annual Festival de Viña (AKA drug, sex and rock n´roll/sinfest) has just finished. I wake up to a weird noise. I look up at the ceiling and see it moving as if I was playing with a piece of Jello on my fork. EARTHQUAKE!!! I jump out of bed and run out the sliding door to the deck to make sure that there is nothing over my head. I look out across Viña and see on the other side of the hill explosions everywhere and then the next second the light in the whole city goes out. It is just pitch black everywhere. For about 30 seconds the earth sounds like a bunch of slamming doors. After, the air is polluted by the noise of car alarms throughout the entire city, gangsters yelling and whistling to each other and the sound of frightened drunks that have procrastinated the day of their repentance. We climb back in bed when soon after we hear the phone in our room ringing. My companion Elder Albrecht answers the phone to President Gillespie´s voice saying that he is on his way up. We all throw our clothes on and go out to meet him. We try calling the zone leaders but our phones arent working so he tells us that we will have to divide and conquer to make sure all of the missionaries in the mission are fine. Elder Reid, Elder Adams and I hop in the truck and we start of for Valparaíso. Ok, remember how I said that the "Eat, drink and be merryfest" just ended? Everybody was out driving and there was absolutely no power in the whole city. So here we are driving around going through intersections trying to dodge people, dogs and cars with none of the traffic lights working and with it being pitch black everywhere our headlights aren´t. We drive along the coast from Viña to Valpo which was the most amazing sight. All that could be seen was the outline of the enormously steep hills of Valpo meeting the sky and the water´s edge with the giant orange moons reflection on the harbor full of boats. As we come around the corner, it looks like we are just driving into an huge dungeon of darkness. The only thing we see are cars here and there driving around in the hills. We enter into Valpo and see debris all over the sidewalks from walls of buildings that had fallen from stories above and crushed to pieces all over. There are fallen power-lines hanging down in the roads so we have to juke those everywhere. We pick up the zone leaders from Valpo Oeste and have them take us around to all the missionaries in their zone to make sure that they were all ok. Everyone is fine so we go over to the other zone leaders house. They live on the 8th floor so we run up and the whole way up we just see cracked walls and fallen light fixtures everywhere. Huge chunks had fallen out of the walls and entire walls were just laying on the ground. We get up to the their apartment and it looks like a tornado had swept through it. Imagine a house full of mission materials, books of mormon, pamphlets, give-away cards, personal scriptures and everything in between. Now imagine that spread all over the floor. haha It was hilarious! haha A closet full of clothes had fallen over and all the tiles in the bathroom had been shaken loose and were laying all over in the tub. That pension was so stinking dirty and unorganized I couldn´t help but laugh. So we go around with these zone leaders to all of their missionaries as well and thankfully the earthquake didnt cause any damage to them. So we head back to our apartment and shower up. Our apartment building is amazing. We were probably the only people in Viña that had hot water and light. Almost nothing happened to the building except a few pieces of stucco fell off at the very top. Not even our iron fell off the ironing board. The only thing that I realized had fallen over was my water bottle in the fridge but literally everything else was fine. Then we went down to the office and it looked like a bomb had gone off in there. All of the drawers of the cabinets had opened and fallen over. Our big printer was just in pieces all over the ground but Elder Adams, el computín (computer geek), put it back together and now it works kind of. Every single picture had fallen off the wall except the pictures of Jesus Christ. They hadn´t even been touched at all. For the rest of that day and even until now we have been having aftershocks all the time but nothing to big. We were without electricity until Monday night. All the grocery stores were closed down. They shut the water off throughout the whole city for a few days. It was weird cause that was the first time in my life when I was literally starving. We had no food or back-up water in the office. There was nowhere to buy any food or anything. For 3 days I turned into a scavenging beast looking for food but to no avail. It was weird to think that I was suffering from the effects of a natural disaster and was literally starving and thirsting. I learned a lot from this experience. I learned how much we take for granted on a daily or even hourly or minutely basis. It was miserable without light or water. I´m so thankful for this experience I have had to go through this catastrophe. It has been a really humbling experience and has taught me that living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important thing in life. I love this church and am so thankful for all that it teaches us. I´m grateful for the priesthood and the hope that it brings into this life. I love you all and I pray for you often. Thank you for your love and support. Just so you all know, our mission was not effected at all like Concepción was. Valparaíso was hit pretty bad but there was only a few deaths there. There were no tsunamis or anything. It was pretty crazy when it happened but we didnt get it very bad. There was a pretty eerie feeling of confusion throughout the rest of the weekend though. It was a great experience and am thankful to have been through it.
Elder Owen
I loved his account on his experiences with the earthquake. I had to share what I thought was truly a miracle. I know that Elder Laws will be protected and cared for. He is doing the lords work and that gives me comfort knowing that the Lord is watching over him.
Roni Laws
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
March 2, 2010
Dad,
Hey dad. how are things going back at home. Anything cool happen. Tell Jr. thanks for the Sports illustrated. Its keeping me alive. This last week has been a really hard one. The language started coming to me really well and then we started teaching in solamente(only) Espanol. Then i realized how much i don't know. I don't expect to be a pro. But the only time i am way happy is when i am teaching. But it is very hard trying to express myself and my feelling and follow the spirit when you can't speak very well ya know. And things just haven't been as fun as they usually are. Oh and this week the president called me to be district leader for the duration of the MTC. Its not a hard just but i realized that i now have to set an example for everyone in my district and even for the new people coming into the zone. I've been praying for guidance and i hope an answer comes soon. I miss you guys a lot.
Elder Logan Laws
Hey dad. how are things going back at home. Anything cool happen. Tell Jr. thanks for the Sports illustrated. Its keeping me alive. This last week has been a really hard one. The language started coming to me really well and then we started teaching in solamente(only) Espanol. Then i realized how much i don't know. I don't expect to be a pro. But the only time i am way happy is when i am teaching. But it is very hard trying to express myself and my feelling and follow the spirit when you can't speak very well ya know. And things just haven't been as fun as they usually are. Oh and this week the president called me to be district leader for the duration of the MTC. Its not a hard just but i realized that i now have to set an example for everyone in my district and even for the new people coming into the zone. I've been praying for guidance and i hope an answer comes soon. I miss you guys a lot.
Elder Logan Laws
Friday, February 19, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Week Two for Elder Laws
hey moms,
what up. i love my comp he is a good guy. He looks like sqints from sandlot. he's awesome though. I need your home address and i need! karlee poulson e mail address. Will you get it from kenzie i lost it and i am pissed... Will you also get me kizz's home address so i can write her. Its easier to write letter's here. I am loving the mtc. It is getting really fun... the funnest time is when we teach. I am happier then than ever! I miss you mom. Expect a letter pretty soon. It'll be sent to dad
Love you Mom!
Elder laws
what up. i love my comp he is a good guy. He looks like sqints from sandlot. he's awesome though. I need your home address and i need! karlee poulson e mail address. Will you get it from kenzie i lost it and i am pissed... Will you also get me kizz's home address so i can write her. Its easier to write letter's here. I am loving the mtc. It is getting really fun... the funnest time is when we teach. I am happier then than ever! I miss you mom. Expect a letter pretty soon. It'll be sent to dad
Love you Mom!
Elder laws
Monday, February 1, 2010
Logan's First Email
Mom and Dad,
Hey i don't have very much time to write my first time so i will be short just this once. The MTC is an awesome place with an awesome spirit to it. I am still having a hard time adjusting to the atmosphere, schedule, and living conditions. But spiritual growth and language growth is awesome. My companions name is elder syndergaard. he is a great guy. What is happening back at home. Nothing really here. Just classes everyday and stuff. Gym once a day for 50 minutes i love that. This first sunday was a musical fireside where we just sand a bunch of hymns. One of the best sundays ever. I love you both mom and i can only write email once a week but ill send letters. I need stamps bad though so if you could send some that would be sweet.
Love and Miss you both
Elder Logan Laws
Hey i don't have very much time to write my first time so i will be short just this once. The MTC is an awesome place with an awesome spirit to it. I am still having a hard time adjusting to the atmosphere, schedule, and living conditions. But spiritual growth and language growth is awesome. My companions name is elder syndergaard. he is a great guy. What is happening back at home. Nothing really here. Just classes everyday and stuff. Gym once a day for 50 minutes i love that. This first sunday was a musical fireside where we just sand a bunch of hymns. One of the best sundays ever. I love you both mom and i can only write email once a week but ill send letters. I need stamps bad though so if you could send some that would be sweet.
Love and Miss you both
Elder Logan Laws
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Getting Ready to Drop off my Missionary
This will be short. I am getting ready to make breakfast for my son Logan for the last time before he leaves to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah where he will learn the Spanish Language serve for 24 months in the Rosario, Argentina Mission. I really can't tell you how I feel right now. Probably just numb. Doesn't really seem real. All I know is that I am so proud of him. He was set a part last night by President Thredgold. It was an amazing blessing. One thing that stood out in my mind about the blessing was, "He earned the trust of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ," What a priviledge and what a responsibility he has. I am so extremely impressed and inspired and proud of Logan and his decision to go on a mission. Later, I will talk about his journey to get here, for now, day one is about to begin for Logan, for our family, and overall, THE NEXT TWO YEARS, start today.
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