Ruff Week Arf

Day 537 of the mission...

Today, I have decided to state 100 things I am grateful for.

Why? Well, this week was tough. Really, really tough. And I mean, like, a lot of letdowns and some really hard letdowns. There were obviously many miracles and good times. It's true that the mission is the hardest thing you'll ever do, the most rewarding and fulfilling thing ever. And I have been pondering that. A lot of my missionary friends have gone home now and finished their mission, and I have been able to talk to them a lot. I find a common theme that they say nothing they have done since has been as fulfilling as a mission or has made them as happy as the mission, and I would have to say I agree. But there are hard times and rough times, and I think that's why it's so fulfilling. Nothing in life has greater opposition and miracles from the Lord. Without the bad, you would never appreciate the good. And so it is as a missionary, the biggest letdowns in the world and the biggest joys to ever come.

To be in the mission.

I am grateful for the selflessness that Jesus Christ had in giving his own life to save ours.

I am grateful for the mortal challenges we have here in this life.

I am grateful for my family and the help and support they give me.

I am thankful for prayer, to be able to talk to my Father in Heaven and know He is there.

I am thankful for my mother and her constant love for me.

I am grateful for the temple, truly the house of the Lord. I haven't been for 18 months, and I am so excited to go to one in my mission

I am grateful for my dad and the work ethic he taught me.

I am grateful for my Grandma Susan and the loving relationship I have with her. Knowing she truly loves me

I am grateful for my Grandpa Dennis and his care for others and concern for everyone's well-being. His boldness to stand up for what's right.

I am grateful for my other Grandma Sandra and her laughter when I talk to her.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have served on two different islands in my mission.

I am grateful for the opportunity I have to teach the gospel in the English language. My mission was a Spanish mission, and I got transferred to the Virgin Islands, which is English. I am grateful to teach in my native tongue.

I am grateful to teach in Spanish as well, to be able to learn another language and to see that the gospel and the spirit are the same in every language.

I am thankful that God still talks to us and that we are not lost in this hard day and age.

I am thankful for airplanes and fast travel that allow us to get where we need to go quickly.

I am thankful for the sun that rises every day to warm up our souls.

I am thankful for the mountains back home and the beautiful scenery they provide.

I am thankful for Jose and Marie. They truly changed my life, and they don't even know it.

I am thankful for Algernon and his drive to continue learning, and the wisdom he gave me while teaching him.

I am thankful for Franklin's humility and his desire to follow the Spirit.

I am thankful for the Rojas family and being able to help them all be baptized so they can make it to the temple and be sealed.

I am thankful I was able to meet Remberto on my first day of the mission and to have his baptism bring me hope as a missionary.

I am grateful for Greg and the preparedness he had to hear the gospel and the acceptance he showed.

I am thankful for the opportunity to bear my testimony.

I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be a missionary in 2021-2023, where we have technology every day.

I am thankful and grateful for Carmen del Valle, the love she shows us as missionaries, and her desire and dedication to staying active.

I am thankful for Elder Donaldson and his bravery and boldness, his charity toward others, and the light he was in my life.

I am thankful for the brotherhood I was able to form with Elder Teuscher and the knowledge he shared with me.

I am thankful for Elder Christensen's charity toward his friends and companions, the patience and humility he had with me when I first got to the mission.

I am grateful for Elder Morley and all the jokes he made, helping me realize it's good to laugh and have fun.

I am grateful to Elder Blakemore for his cleanliness and the desire he had to remember the Lord in all things.

I am grateful for Elder Granados and the work ethic and drive he taught me, that there is no time to waste here.

I am grateful for Elder Deer and his laugh. He always laughed at everything I said, and it made me feel good and loved.

I am grateful for the exchanges I was able to have to learn Christlike attributes from other missionaries.

I am grateful for the Atonement and the ability to change and not be stuck in our nature or habits.

I am grateful for the respect and trust President Skinner gives us as missionaries.

I am grateful for the humble situations I have been able to see in Tortola and Puerto Rico, which helped me realize how well off we are.

I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and the power it has on the conversion of others.

I am grateful for the Holy Ghost, purifying our hearts and helping us in times of need.

I am grateful for the sacrament and the opportunity to renew covenants.

I am grateful for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so we can have proper priesthood ordinances.

I am grateful for my Uncle Josh and his loyalty in all things, his loyalty to family, and his loyalty to the Lord.

I am grateful for my cousin Stratton and his friendship, always being my best buddy.

I am grateful for David Rodriguez and his true friendship and dignity to keep his word.

I am grateful for Josh Keller and his ability to listen and understand how you or someone else is feeling, to truly comfort them.

I am grateful for Adrian and his desire to always have fun and laugh, helping us remember that this life is to have joy.

I am grateful for Ryan Jensen and his love for others, his desire, and determination to help them succeed. He truly always wants what's best for others.

I am grateful for my sister Chandler and her constant presence, being there through thick and thin.

I am grateful for my sister Leighton and the ability she has to warm anyone's heart.

I am grateful for the Caribbean.

I am grateful for the people I meet here.

I am grateful for the influence I have on others.

I am grateful for the hard situations I am put in to stand for truth.

I am grateful to bear Jesus Christ's name in all things.

I am grateful for temple garments and the reminder they provide every day of the covenants I have made.

I am grateful for the man the Atonement of Jesus Christ is helping me become.

I am grateful for exercise, to be able to use the body God gave us and feel the liveliness enter our soul.

I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and the ability it has to change anyone's heart.

I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and the character it develops when we abide by its precepts.

I am grateful that the Book of Mormon was able to help me get out of my darkest times.

I am grateful for commandments.

I am grateful for agency.

I am grateful that we are able to experience joy.

I am grateful Adam fell.

I am grateful Jesus Christ was resurrected.

I am grateful for laughter.

I am grateful for smiles.

I am grateful for cars in my mission, so I don't have to bike up mountains.

I am grateful for money to provide for food as missionaries.

I am grateful for the blessings I received while paying tithing my whole life.

I am grateful to invite others to be baptized.

I am grateful to be the Lord's representative.

I am thankful for carpet.rip.

I am grateful for the guitar, even though I don't play it. It is the prettiest thing on the planet and helps me feel close to God.

I am grateful God never gives up on anyone.

I am grateful for the many chances we have to change.

I am grateful for the snow and the beautiful white scenery it brings.

I am grateful to have shoes on my feet.

I am grateful I can read.

I am grateful we are able to talk to others miles away with a simple call.

I am grateful for warm water (warm showers). Rip, I miss them...

I am grateful for doctors.

I am grateful for modern medicine.

I am grateful for the knowledge I have about Jesus Christ.

I am grateful for Joseph Smith's faith to act and ask God.

I am grateful for living prophets and their desire and ability to receive revelation to help us.

I am grateful for Coco Rico (Puerto Rican soda).

I am grateful for Piononos (Puerto Rican food).

I am grateful for pastelon (Puerto Rican food).

I am grateful for el cariño que la gente en Puerto Rico nos muestra.

Estoy agradecido por la oportunidad que tuve para ayudar a las personas con necesidades especiales cuando fui en la high. Ellos me han mostrado tantos atributos de Cristo.

I am grateful to email my experiences with others so they can be a part of my mission.

I am grateful for the testimony I have received.

I am grateful for my spirit brothers and sisters here on earth.

I am grateful for rejection.

I am grateful for shoes.

I am grateful for summer barbecues and hamburgers. (I haven't had a hamburger in so long).

I am grateful for the knowledge we have about the plan of salvation.

I am grateful for patriarchal blessings.

I am grateful for cameras and YouTube.

I wrote this Sunday morning before Church during my Personal study, and I can tell you it helped everything. My whole focus changed. So since the start of my mission, I have kept a journal writing every day. About a year ago, I got transferred and was in the hardest mental situation of my life, and everything seemed to be going wrong. My dad had always kept a gratitude journal, and he asked me if I was keeping one (where you write five things you're grateful for every day). So I started adding five things I am grateful for after I write about my day. My journal entry, I have not written since Monday last week, and so I think that's the cause of the mental block I had Sunday morning. Truthfully, I was so angry and just ready to give up. I had experienced the hardest week of rejection and just disappointment in my mission, and there were so many good times, but without writing about them and putting my focus on them, my mind could only think of the negatives of the week. I am grateful to be grateful and the opportunity I had to give thanks before the sacrament because it really put me in the right mindset for the sacrament and everything else. I'm grateful for the power of the mind and the effect it has on us. I am grateful to change the outcome by giving thanks.

Something we do in the Lesser Antilles North Zone is a family home evening every Monday night. As a zone, we have a Zoom call, and we all have a spiritual thought and a little game. This week we did truth or dare, and the very last one landed on the elders of Dominica. So I said, "I dare you to shave your head," and Elder Elmer accepted the dare. That was the most I have laughed in a long time because of the noises the machine was making with their phone connection, and then it died halfway through, and just the funny things that were happening. Probably one of the week's highlights, to be honest. It was just so funny.

We found a dude this week named Colian. It was a funny experience. We went to this house that has been here since I got here, obviously, but on my first day in Tortola, we went to this neighborhood, and this pastor dude was trying to bash us, so we walked away. Anyways, we went back to this apartment building, and I remembered right when we were about to knock this door. And I told my comp and said, "I don't even know which door it was." And we sat there in front of this dude's door for like 2 minutes. Then we said, "What if they are an elect?" So we knocked, taught lesson one, invited him to be baptized, and he said yes. Feel the fear and do it anyway, I guess.