From Sept. 30th

Hello how is everyone this week?
So I've been reading Alaina and Kylie's emails and compared to theirs, I sound like I'm depressed and unmotivated...that is not the case! I'm just a guy so don't judge. Anyway, this week was another great week with some great experiences. In our area, a "village" technically North of Buffalo called Kenmore, we've started to teach a lot of families. Really solid families. I think the gospel of Jesus Christ really hits people home when they have their families to experience it with. The whole reason we are in families is to increase our happiness and knowledge and be able to experience the same joy that Heavenly Father experiences. He is the ultimate example of a perfect father. We can look to him with any concern and He has a perfect answer because He is the perfect Father. We love to show a certain Mormon message online to people that pretty much compares the role of an earthly father to the role our Heavenly Father plays, it's a cool one. This week we've also had the wonderful opportunity to teach an entire household of people straight from China, who really have no Christian background at all. It's funny because they have a Chinese name (which you could listen to 50 times and still not remember a minute later) and then they have an American name, which they basically make up on the spot haha funniest thing to see their process of making up their own name, or occasionally forgetting their own American name, and then asking their other Asian friends to remind them of it. You can tell family is important to them. It makes it considerably hard to teach though when everyone else you've taught has a somewhat concrete idea of who God is, yet now we're teaching people who yes have heard of God, but don't really know what people believe about God or who Jesus Christ is. So it's a new experience, but so cool to get a new perspective on culture and religious background! The great thing is that you can love anybody, regardless of which country they came from or what they believe at square 1. The first step to teaching people and helping them change their lives is to love them. That's how God does it (God is no a respecter of persons) and that's the way it will always be. Speaking of which, thank you so much for the letters, packages, emails, it's so great to be surrounded by the prayers and cares of my family and friends. So another thing we started doing this week was think OUTSIDE the box. It's about time, right? Because really it doesn't make a difference in OUR personal lives if you come to church or not. We know it will help your family, it will make your week less stressful and more insightful, and really it helps you grow spiritually and just feel good! That's why it's so frustrating. Because people bail on themselves...deep. Anyway so we got a hold of some of the local sister missionaries and they helped us out with a little craft day. We decided to make the posters that are attached to this email, and then we took a picture of us holding the pictures. We put magnets on the back of the pics and made them into little refrigerator reminders to COME TO CHURCH! Basically church helps you regardless of what you're feeling. The most common excuse for not coming to church? I can't wake up on Sundays...ha. That's funny because Matthew 11:28says Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. So really the excuse is not there. We hope that these little reminders will help people see the need to go to church and partake in the spiritual feast that goes on there. I really have come to appreciate church (as a 19 yr old punk people) and I end up looking forward to it every week because I have recently left church the past few weeks really feeling my Savior's love for me and what I'm doing here in Buffalo. I may not be in the exotic foreign country I thought I would be in at this point, but people are in need in every country and community. So as long as I can open the doors of invitation to the gospel of Jesus Christ, I'm ok where I am. I can't focus on going to Brazil because I can't take my focus off the people in Buffalo who need us now.