9/26/2016

A short email to the family is all we got this week. Robert said we could forward it along to everyone.

Dear Mother,

Okay please don't hate me for never sending a email I am really sorry:( haha I hope you can forgive me! Anyways this first email is for the family. I am right now writing this on a Saturday. I have one week left of being trained and it is so unreal like it's already been 3 months!! We have a baptism for Carmen in a couple hours and I am so excited. Elder Prescott is going to baptize her and I am going to confirm her on Sunday and honestly I'm super nervous but also very humbled and excited! How have things been fam!? Tanner I loved the care package it was so helpful and nice to get! I still need a letter from you and James you little stinkers! You guys do me a favor and listen to Mom and Dad okay? Love you guys. Lauren and Alisa my amazing sisters I hope you both are doing well! Mom and Dad and everyone else I just have to say the things I'm experiencing out here and learning is in real. Like just going off of evidence and facts I know this church is true. There is a talk given called 'What is the Blueprint of Christ Church?' And it is very good! It was given in the 2014 world wide devotionals for the young adults. Another crazy story is about these 15 theological scholars and like religious experts that wanted to discover the truth and so they made 15 key points from the Bible that they decided had to be done to be Christ official church and the only church on the earth that followed all 15 points was the LDS church and so they all got baptized haha it's way cool! Now besides all of that just the things I've experienced and felt for myself is unreal, the testimony I thought I had before leaving is nothing compared to what it is now but that's a good thing so I am very happy!

I love you guys!

Love Elder Litster

 

9/19/16

No email from Robert this week, he didn't have much time, but he sent us a few quick pictures:

Hail!

 

9/12/16

Hmm...  So says the lion "from whence came the sparrow?"  And the sparrow doth respond "from whence I came no man knoweth, but if thou wouldst ask my brother, he would make known unto you that which was not known before".  Therefore the lion journeys to find the brother of the Sparrow. Upon finding the sparrow’s brother, the lion enters into a state of confusion, for the Sparrow's brother was not a Sparrow like unto his brother, but he was a horse.  The lion says "horse, I beseech thee Knoweth thou from whence came thy brother, the sparrow?"  The horse says "Nay."

This is what Elder Donovan sent me and said to use as my opening pitch haha

Dear mom,

So this week has been insane!! We had to deal with a lot of Cancels, but you know that's fine.  We just need to work harder to make up for that.  What made the week crazy and amazing was the Mission Tour we had.

So the mission tour happens once a year and they do it twice; one for all the missionaries in Colorado, and then one for all the missionaries in Wyoming.  So I have some pictures from that.  I'll explain more in the email to everyone, but we had a 70's member come speak to us for 7 HOURS!  Yes, it was long but way helpful with the advice and all that was shared.   And guess what?  I got to have an interview with Elder Grow, of the quorum of the 70.  He wanted to interview a greeny, a District Leader, a Zone Leader, someone almost done, and a few others.  I was the new guy he picked, so that was way cool.  He asked about all of you and then at the end of the interview he asked if I'd ever had an interview with a general authority.  I said “no,” and then he said he wanted me to tell you that, “I looked into your son’s soul and saw a very motivated, righteous, good-hearted young missionary.”  That was so cool hearing that from him, it totally made my week.

So how my week went…  Monday for P day we drove to Laramie. I kind of wasn't supposed to, but we were trying to pick up Elder Prescott's IPad and see the other missionaries.  So it was fun playing basketball with all of them, and being in an actual city.

So Tuesday was a really good day.  We first had our studies and then got in 2 hours of service at the Rec Center which was fun.  After that was had lesson after lesson and got in 6, so I was very pleased with the work we put in.  All in all it was a great day.

Wednesday was a little tough because every single lesson we had planned cancelled, but what was cool was that an investigator of ours, (Josh, the pastor at another church that wants to learn more,) called us and asked us if we wanted to join his flag football league at the Rec.   We said if we could get lessons in and it didn't interfere, then “yes.”  So yes, we are getting a chance to play football.  So it looks like I need to get some cleats from Ross, haha.

Thursday was a busy day of writing talks and driving.  We were told to write four different talks because at the mission tour we were having on Friday, random Elders and Sisters were going to get called up to speak.  We were supposed to have a variety in case someone wrote the same talk as us.  After that preparation and our dinner, we drove out to Laramie to meet the other Elders gathering there.

Friday we had the mission tour in Cheyenne which is where we listened to different speakers for pretty much all day.  We listened to talks on how to be a better missionary and how to be more helpful to people.  It was very insightful.  I actually got a chance to meet with the speaker for a little bit too, and that was very cool.  He was such a wise, intellectual guy.

Saturday we spent most of the day driving back, and by the time we got back it was dinner time.  We were fortunate to get a lesson in with Jason May, a recent convert, afterwards.

Sunday night we had a lesson with Carmen and I invited her to be baptized.  She accepted and is so excited, and her date is next Saturday! This is going to be legit.  I'm so happy for her.

All in all, this was a very fun week and I was able to recognize lots of different blessings and I am very happy right now.  I hope you all are doing well too. If any of you have pictures of us together, please send them.  It's like receiving therapy, haha.  Anyway, I love you all!

Elder Litster

PS.  So we are getting another 30 missionaries on October 4th, and I found out that one is from Camarillo and another is from Thousands Oaks.  And, there's a sister I came out with that is from Ventura, her name was Hermana Zimmerman. (She is called Spanish speaking.)  And, there is someone else from Ventura so my goal is to find out who these people are, because you know, Ventura County Pride!  Haha, I'm totally playing, but I just thought that was interesting.

Our District

Our Zone with Elder C. Scott Grow

9/5/16

Hey friends and family,

So yeah it's starting to get cooler out here so I'm starting to get ready for the winter mentally haha. Just to let you know what my schedule is like.  I wake up at 4:45 and get to the Rec Center with Elder Prescott at 5 and work out till 7.  We then shower and eat and I am doing my personal/companion study by 8.  That goes till 10 then I get extra training since I'm new till 11.  Then we have lunch till 12, and then it's go time!  It's crazy the amount of stuff I get done before 12 now, haha.

Anyways this week went by so fast I didn't get a good chance to take down notes so I'm sorry everyone! 

So last P Day me and Elder Prescott got permission to get memberships at the Rec because President McMurray knows we love to work out.  So we went over and worked out a deal and now have free gym memberships in return for two hours of service a week. Pretty sweet right!? Anyways so that's why we now wake up so flipping early. 

On Tuesday we went contacting to all the referrals.  We set up a bunch of appointments with them and see a few real potentials which is sweet. We then had dinner with the Arnolds and got to hang with them and their kids for a bit which was really fun. A lot of this day was spent driving, but it's all good.

Wednesday we had district meeting with the two new elders Elder Pennington and Elder Vosika, Elder P is the District Leader and Elder V is the newest greeny haha.  Later in the day we got a couple of lessons in with Grant Rothenburger; his wife is a member and really wants him to be baptized.  We also met with Brother Helm.  

Thursday was a good day we taught a recent convert, Jason May.  We also taught Carmen who has been progressing a ton these past two weeks.  We also taught the Allens who are somewhat inactive, but we get to them once a week to try and encourage their prayers and scripture study. 

Friday was an interesting day because the whole time Elder Prescott was super hyper and being goofy haha.  We are currently trying to write a song using my Uke and the guitar I bought, so maybe one day we'll share it with y'all. He is also teaching me the Haka, but also teaching me the different types and the meaning behind them. Throughout the rest of the weekend we got like 6 more lessons in which was sweet, and we are just looking to build upon that this next week. 

I'd really love to hear how you all are doing and what's happening in Cali. Again send pictures of anything fun.  It's always nice to see y'alls funny faces haha.  Anyway, I love it here and love being a missionary and love each and everyone of you.

Love Elder Litster

8/29/16

So this week has been super fun!

First off, being companions with Elder Prescott has been awesome! We have a lot of similar interests and get along very well. So the first couple of days of the week we spent helping three different families move. This was super tiring, and my back is killing me. A blessing though is that we picked up a new investigator who actually came to church yesterday and loved it. We then went and taught her some more and she wants to learn more and come to church again. So we are excited for her.

I think we had 8 lessons this week. Not the most ever but they were all really quality ones, so we aren't too worries about it. There is so much work to do out here, so we are just embracing it. My knowledge of the Book of Mormon and the Bible has increase so much this last week. It's kind of crazy; it is stuff I just wish I'd know my whole life.

This email isn't going to be as long because I'm kind of short on time but next week will be good. Don't worry!

Elder Litster