I Dont Even Know What To Title This One...

Hello Hello Everyone :)

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas yesterday and I hope all you families with missionaries out had a good time talking with them as well. Its been a very good past week. Better than the previous few for sure so thats always good. Im a little burnt out from the past few days so this email is probably going to be even more so...feel free to skim of this email if you want :) haha We spent most of our time like we did the week before; Finding New Investigators. We pretty much contacted just about every former and their dog and tracted up and down Bentonville with little success buttttt theres "No Effort Wasted" the ever so famous words of truth. So its all good. Just gotta keep plantin those seeds. Anyways, here was our week...

 

Tuesday December 18th: Today was a decently packed day. We met with a return missionary who served in this mission in 09' and his wife. His wife isnt a member so we had taught her a lesson and had lunch with them. Shes met with missionaries in the past but I guess some bum Elders turned her off from the church so she lost intrest in learning about it. I guess shes slowly increasing her intrest. After that we went and visited the Sohse family and read some scriptures with them. Teaching kids is most definately a lot harder than teaching adults but its a lot funner teaching the little ones. Primary Callings with for sure be accepted when I get home Bishop haha. That night we went and saw the Gifford family and did some family scripture study with them as well as enjoyed a Christmas story. I guess today wasnt that packed...haha

 

Wednesday December 19th: Well, Wednesday I went on exchanges with my future Business Partner, Elder Jared Bartschi. We didnt have that muched planned for the day except an appointment with Sister Hale. We went over and read some scriptures with her. Theres not a whole lot left to teach her since shes been taught everything so we decided to just finish the Book of Mormon. Shes in Alma now so. Still a lot left to read for sure but we'll get there. Elder Bartschi and I contacted a few formers that day and went down to "The Square" downtown and just talked to people. Kind of a lame day but It was good to see my boy Elder Bartschi.

 

Thursday December 20th: Started the day off with a District Meeting with our Zone Leaders.We exchanged back and Elder Smith and I went about doing what we do best; Contacting Formers ALL DAY haha We had an appointment with Sister Hale but we didnt have another male with us so we couldnt go inside and it was freezing outside so we cancelled and rescheduled for tomorrow. We went and read some more with Sohse's and went out tracting some more.

 

Friday December 21st: Pretty Dece-Ave day today. Started off with an appointment with Brother Ingram and we took Brother Wright from the ward with us to teach him. We disscussed a lot of important things that hes caught up on. 2 of the main things are Authority, Priesthood Authority and a modern day Prophet and the keys that he holds. Some pretty deep stuff that we've been trying to get over since we first started meeting with him in November but we'll keep pushing. We tried to set another date in January since hes supposed to get baptized tomorrow (22nd) but he was thinking more of in April... O_O haha we didnt get a new date set so. Still working on that one there. After dinner that night, we went over to Sister Hales again with another member in the ward and decided to teach her all the lessons again, sorta like a review. We've been instructed by our Mission President to teaching shorter, more spiritually powerful lessons. So we only taught a few points of the restoration. I think it worked out pretty well...

 

Saturday December 22nd: Today was our "Oh my gosh...all we do is contact formers, lets get them done" Day :) We spent seriously the whole day going around to see all these people. From 10 am till 5pm thats what we did. Only 2 people answered their door. One was nice and said he wasnt interested and the other was a little bit more on the mean side and told us to..well...i cant type those kinds of things so :) Use your imagination haha that night was probably the greatest thing in the world. We spent the evening with the Erickson family and celebrated an early Christmas with them since they werent going to be there for Christmas. They got us all presents and I got the sickest tie! It was an awesome night Im going to miss them while they are in Utah for Alli's wedding. Congrats to you and Davey Boi!!! :) I love you all!!

 

Sunday December 23rd: Man. Im starting to think all my sunday entries are all the say. I should copy and paste every sunday entry under what I did on sundays haha same old same old. Went to church and had some pretty epic lessons about Families and Elder Hollands talk from this past conference, probably one of the greatest talks of all time about The First Commandment; Loving God. It was awesome. But for real...that was our day haha went and visited some less actives who werent trying to see us so it was more like seeing their front door close haha its all good

 

Monday December 24th: Christmas Eve-A!!! (shout out to Wall-E) Today we had a boss Zone Outting at the Stake Center. President Shumway approved G-Rated Disney Movies for us to watch on Christmas Eve and Christmas so we spent the whole date having a pizza/movie watching party at the church on the projector in the cultural hall! It was sick. Gotta love those tender mercies. That night we had dinner with the Trudo family and they contacted all of our parents to ask what our favorite desert or food was and they made it for us! Such nice people :) haha

 

Tuesday December 25th: MERRRRRRY CHRISTMASSSS!!!!! Hope everyone had an awesome Christmas. Spent a good sold 2 1/2 hours skyping my family! and then we went over to the Conovers and hung out with them all day. I dont know what else to write about this day except that it was good to talk to everyone I got to talk to. My boys Alex and Travis. AJB ;) and DJKD! It was awesome. I miss and love you all!!!

 

I covered 8 days pretty quick haha...I guess since theres not much detail to go into about em, its all good :) I wanted to thank everyone who sent me an envelope with my moms "25 Days of Christmas" package. Those will be memories and treasures for sure. I cant remember whos all I opened over the past 2 weeks but thanks regardless, you know who you are :)

 

Rest In Paradaise Aunty Faavae Tupuola. Love and Best wishes go out to my family up north, Rita, Berta, Cathy Silipa & Kavika . Im glad i was able to see you before I left. Your words of encouragement and support will always be in my head :) Im glad to know that because of Heavenly Fathers Plan of Salvation, we will all see you again soon :)

 

Well...I love you all :) Hope you all have a good Holiday season.

 

Take Care & God Bless

-Elder Isaac Asiata

Oh These Times Are Hard, Yeah They're Makin Us Crazy

Well...they arent really that hard haha :) This past week...well, if you look at it from a lesson stand point...it was weak haha but if you look at it as a tracting and contacting formers perspective, beast mode. Haha We spent the vast majority of the week going through a stack, well a few stacks of former investigators, i counted about 200+. We didnt even put a dent it it haha It was good finding week for sure. But it was another one of those weeks that is dry so sorry in advanced for a dry email haha Here it goes...

Tuesday December 11th: Happy Birthday T-Still!!! Today we had a couple of lessons set up mixed with what i like to call, "Spirit Walking" :) haha its pretty much mobbin around and talking to EVERYONE haha It was fun. We went by Sister Hale's and read with her. We had another lesson that bailed which was all bad...but its all good. But yup...that was Tuesday haha

Wednesday December 12th: Today was our last day with One Cent Elder Worthington (Credit for One Cent goes to the Erickson family who i love so dearly) so we had a District Lunch with Elder Worthington, Elder Bryant, Sister Magness, Sister Blocker, Smitty and I. Some other things happened today but they are confidencial and will be released at a later time. Hahaha How was that mom? ;) haha That night we had dinner with the Erickson's! They introduced me to a new board game; Wahoo...Im hooked haha Hello Erickson Family. I know you're reading this. I love you all :)

Thursday December 13th: TRANSFER DAY!!!! We spent the morning at the Transfer loop saying Goodbye to Elder One Cent. He will be missed. I got to see my boy Elder Auzie Lee!!! Hola! He's speaking Spanish. I also got to see and old Childhood friend Elder Eyre but i knew him as Preston Rattigan!! It was good to see him! I've been trying to find him all mission long and I've seen the name Elder Eyre every where haha But low and behold there he was. Hes home now so if you're reading this, whats up man! Haha That afternoon we went by Sister Hale's and read some more with her. We've read from Mosiash and we're halfway through Alma haha Shes doing great. We did some tracting and then headed to Sister Page's that night. We read a chapter in the book of mormon and then talked about the plan of salvation. It was awesome to see her point out "A Burning Heart" after Elder Smith and I bore testimony of the Holy Ghost and the Plan of Salvation. We told her that the Holy Ghost is what that "Burning" is. She was taken back by it haha Thats always some prime teaching moments :)

Friday December 14th: Today was what i like to call "Contacting Day" ...Pretty epic huh? Just made it up. We spent the entire morning Tracting and Spirit Walking and then spent the Afternoon after lunch from 1pm-6pm contacting former investigators. The vast majority avoided us like the Plague but we had a few nice people who at least said "PLEASE go away" haha That was today though...Friday's just arent like they used to be...haha

Saturday December 15th: Flippin through my planner to see what we did today and It said from 10am to 3pm "Spirit Walk to Narnia" haha jogged my memory and i remembered we walked almost 15 miles haha we, both Smitty and I with Elder Bryant and his new comp Elder Robinson who we called Robin, mobbed all the way to the other side of Bentonville and Back...all bad. haha Not a good idea but we did pick up some Potentials!!! That night we had our ward Christmas party...Im not baggin on our ward when i say this but compared to Provo 10th Samoan Ward or even our entire Poly stake...we ran out of food at our ward christmas party in like 5 minutes haha Poly wards on the other hand... :) haha Food Coma for days!!! Haha That was saturday though.

Sunday December 16th: Oh ya know. Just another lovely sabbath day haha. We had no lessons set up for the day just church and contacting Less-Actives and Formers...One lady we went by, walked to her door, saw us and acted like we werent there haha. Missionary Swaggggg haha :)

So there was my super dry email. I warned you haha. Nah, just goin with the punches and finding the positive out of all the negative; theres a lot :) Im grateful for every day im out here and couldnt be happier :)

Wanted to Tell My Little Brother Isaish Asiata Happy 14th Birthday...gettin too old my dude. I love and miss you bro! Keep up those beast poly designs...maybe you can design my tat when i get home... (^_^) haha just kidding...or am i...? (._.) haha Love you Saiah.

Alright people. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. Feel free to go to my house next week around noon if you wanna skype with me and my family. I'd love to see you :)

Take Care

-Elder Isaac Asiata

When It Rains...

Well...I guess Elder Smithers and I were long over due for a bad week haha Cause...this past week was off haha. This past week was rough on all fronts. We stayed positive and got through it though. Everybody has em so its no big deal. Just gotta F.I.D.O and move on. Dont worry, we're all laughs and grin on this end...just a lot of Kid Cudi Bummer Zone's and all haha Here was my week though.

 

Tuesday December 4th: Did our every day normal routine. Wake up, run, eat breakfast and study. Then we contacted a few people and tried to set appointments up but everyone was either Busy or didnt answer their phone. That new hispanic guy, Antonio, dropped us cause he joined another Christian Church or something like that. Its all good :) At least he found God like he wanted. We'll stay posted on that for sure. The vast majority of the afternoon was spent trying to fine new investigators but we hit road block after road block and it was a drag but at least we got to see my favorite little children; LJ & Sue Ann Sohse! We started their new member lessons today and read from the Book of Mormon. They really love the story of Nephi and its hilarious cause they use all the scriptural words when we stop and ask what just happened, like instead of, for example "Laman and Lemuel beat up Nephi" they'll say "Laman and Lemuel smote Nephi" haha its hilarious cause they're like 9...i crack myself up. :) haha After that we had dinner with The Bigham family and they introduced us to some former Investigators; The Sypes. The husband was gone but she was there and shes a really nice old lady who said she will come back to church soon with her husband. So theres some hope there :) That night we went on splits with my boy Jared Conover! We took him tracting and just as you would expect, he was petrified haha Towards the end he was warming up to it though. Although he knocked on the door and ran and hid behind us, he still knocked on the door haha. We...well let me repharse that, my boy Elder Smitty bible bashed pretty hardcore with this Pastor dude...he was pretty mean man. Haha but I think Smithers won the bash haha

 

Wednesday December 5th: The first lesson we taught today was to a very nice old lady whos a member but cant make to church due to medical reasons. She hilarious! we shared a Christmas message from the Book of Mormon (Luke 2 is cool and all but...i guess you can say we're hipsters haha) with the Abrams and then we went and saw Sister Hale! We read out of the Book of Mormon with her too and went over Tithing, Fasting and Fast Offerings. We said that next time we were going to talk about Chastity and she said "Oh, dont worry, Im Chaste" haha she awesome. So we covered that right then and there and tried contacted a few other people before heading to the church to meet with Brother Ingram. We got there and helped some member set up for the Nativity & Noel that was going on this weekend. Brother Ingram never showed so it was a bummer but he did get a job so thats a plus!!! We had dinner with the Shepard Family which pretty much ended our night. Cheyenne Shepard, if you are reading this, he said he is related to you haha.

 

Thursday December 6th: A better day lesson wise. Weekly planned in the A.M. and Headed out to see Sister Hale. We were only able to read wit her today cause she had other things going on so we read a few chapters in Alma before heading back to the church to meet with a member whos preparing to go on a mission. We told him the importance of studying Preach My Gospel and becoming familiar with the Scriptures so that was that. Afterwards we had a super gormet dinner made by yours truely...I call it, The Broke Elder Meal. It consist of (2) Top Ramen Packets and Water. Haha that was our dinner haha Nothing like Simini to fill you up! haha We had a lesson with Sister Page that evening and found out she had been reading the Book of Mormon on her own!!! Huge step! She is awesome! We read a couple more chapters with her and then had a F.H.E/Christmas thingy. That finished off our night.

 

Friday December 7th: The vast majority of the day was spent at a Zone Training Meeting. Elder Smith and I had to do some intruction on setting baptismal dates. There really isnt a whole lot to it. Just having that faith and confidence to invite an Investigator to be baptized no later than the 2nd lesson. We have a good Zone though that works hard so we werent too worried. After Zone Training we had some lunch and then headed out to see Sister Hale one last time before her scheduled interview tomorrow. We went over the baptismal interview questions and she passed with us so all was good there. Afterwards we went to the Sohse's house and taught them our awesome Rubix Cube-Restoration lesson. They love it haha. Blows their minds when its completed but its awesome how well visual lessons help them obtain and remember information. We had dinner with The Giffords and then headed to the Nativity & Noel thing we had at the church. What it is, is a Multi-Denominational Christmas Program where we invite a bunch of different churches over and each church does a musical number of some sort, its pretty sweet. And the nativity is this awesome live natvity where they re-enact the nativity video. Its a live replay every 10 minutes of pretty much what happenes in Luke 2. And theres a bunch of different Nativity set ups from around the world...There wasnt any from Samoa :'( haha

 

Saturday December 8th: Very very slow day haha. In the morning, Sister Hale had her baptismal interview and she passed with flying colors so shes good to go on the 15th! The rest of the afternoon we spent planning and trying to visit formers/less-active members with no success. It was a bummer for sure. And we couldnt set up any appointments up with anyone so we spent most of the day trying to find people. That night we went to the Nativity & Noel and it was another great success again. Oh and transfer calls were tonight. Elder Smith and I are staying together for another 6 weeks but Elder Worthington is going to West Plains, Missouri :( lets just say we were a wiii bit upset about this change...

 

Sunday December 9th: When It Rains...It Pours haha it was a great sabbath day like always but only one investigator showed up to church. Then we found out that the Sohse's were moving to Rogers so i wont be able to teach them anymore :( AND THEN we caught a snag with Sister Hale and she may not be able to get baptized saturday anymore.... (.__.) Like It said, when it rains...it pours haha Rough sunday.

 

So that was my past week. The transfer ends this upcoming Sunday so we're looking to finish things off strong. Can you believe I hit 8 months on Christmas?! its a bit of a shock to me too. Not a whole lot of time I know but still, I feel like I just left the MTC haha. I just wanted to thank everyone whos Envelopes I opened this past week for my 25 Days of Christmas thing my mom set up for me. Thank You Ms. Becky!!! The Greatest Person, In My opinion, at SFHS (Next To Coach C of course...Legend right there). Thank you Baby Destinee, your drawing is awesome...I know its not Christmas yet haha Aunty Taofi and Family. Thank you Farnsworth & Taele Family!!! Jessie...I think you drew the best drawing of the U i've ever seen. Christian...get ready for your mission haha cant wait for you to share your abilities and talents with whoever you are called to serve. Bridget, Terrance & Saiah thanks for you jokes and letters haha needed that this past week. "You know what they say! A day without SUNSHINE is like...The NIGHT..." Haha.

 

Before I forget, Shout out to my Uso for so many years and best friend Travis Brian Still! Happy Birthday Big Uce!!!! Haha I miss you man. Enjoy your birthday present!!! Work hard this off season. Love you dog!!!

 

Something, real quick before i kill this email, something that has stood out to me this past week is the Book of Mormon. Im still reading it to finish it cover to cover right now and im making slow progress cause I've started over a million times through out these past 8 months but the importance of the book of mormon manifests day in and day out. When i first got out here, everyone was like "Scrap it...people only care about the bible and the book of mormon gets them no where" FALSE!!!! Haha I've invited numerous people to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if its true. I promise EVERYONE the same thing that Moroni promised and share the same invitation we learn from the Introductuction:

 

"We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost... (See Moroni 10:3-5)"

 

It true. Moroni's promise stands true, that if you read this book, no matter what you may believe from Athiest to Catholic, and all the way back, if you really read the Book of Mormon wanting to know if its true, I promise you he will tell you the truth of this book and you will gain a knowledge and testimony of it. I bare my sincere Testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and I havent even read the whole thing!! I didnt have to. There are scriptures contained in this book that i've found through trails and challenges I've faced in my life and by praying, opening and searching the scriptures, I have found time and time again, scriptures through which the lord answers my prayers and confirms truth. The great thing about having a testimony of the Book of Mormon is that it goes hand in hand with knowing that Jospeh Smith was a true prophet of god. I know he was and that he lived and died for those truths. I am forever greatful for him and all that he has done. I know that god lives and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the same church of our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ, restored through that same Prophet and that Thomas S. Monson is a true and living Prophet who leads and and guides this church as directed by the lord. I bare solemy testimony of all these things, In the name Sacred name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

Take Care & Happy Holidays

-Elder Isaac Andrew Asiata

I've Got Soul, But Im Not A Soldier

TIS THE SEASON, TO BE JOLLY!!!

 

FA LA LA LA LA. LAH LAH LAH LAH.

 

:) Yes Sir! Its that time of the year. CHRISTMAS

 

Its weird being in Bentonchill, Arkansas around the Holiday but the members here are so good that it makes everything just fine :) The Members in this ward help out in EVERY aspect of missionary work. From Feeding us like Kinds to Being the best family in Bentonville and hanging out with us (Shout out one time to the Erickson's. I see you!) This past week we got our lessons back up, 2 more than the previous week, regardless of, in my opinion, the best Zone Conference i've ever attended. I swear President and Sister Shumway are the best Mission Parents in the world! Anyways, here was my week boiiiiiiiiiiiii

 

Tuesday November 27th: I went on exchanges with one of the Elder's in my apartment, Elder Worthington from Mesa, Arizona. I call him 1 Cent though (His names Lincoln. Get It? Penny? 1 Cent? I kill my self haha)  Anyways, we hit up the 3 lessons we had set for the afternoon. First with Sister Hale. We discussed the Plan of Salvation but werent able to get all the way through it. Its okay though. Shes doing AWESOME! After that, we met with Grandpa Heinz. Discussed more deeply the Restoration and the Book of Mormon with Brother Abrams. Both went VERY well. After that we met with Brother Ingram at the church with Davey Boy Jackman. We talked about the importance of church. He didnt want to join a church, because he wants to preach the gospel to people so he didnt think church was important because everyone there is saved so, valid reason. BUT I told him about Home Teaching and about how sometimes, people fall away from the church, like me. And its because of the members in the ward, that they can find those lost sheep and bring them together. He didnt know that and was really excited to become a home teacher. So, Home Teachers reading this letter....100% on all your routes! ;) haha Later that evening, we met with the Sohse kids and read some more from the Book of Mormon. They are set to be baptized this upcoming Saturday December 1st.

 

Wednesday November 28th: ZONE CONFERENCE!!! So...there were 3 Zone at Zone Conference today, Springdale, Rogers and Joplin. My homie and Teammate Elder Austin Lee came through from Springdale and my Uso for life Elder Justin Park came through from Joplin! I hadnt seem Park for months! Good to see him for sure! This was a different kind of Zone Conference though. We talked mostly about Christmas and the true meaning behind it and what it should be centered around Christ. It was sweet :) I'd go into more detail but it would take forever haha. After Conference we went with Brother Vanslooten to visit first, the Sohse's. We planned out their baptism and all that details. After that we met with Sister Hale at the Vanslootens house and discussed the Word of Wisdom. We are always iffy about this because we know its a rough thing for people to follow, but Sister Hale handled it like a champ and agreed to live by it :) God is Good.

 

Thrusday November 29th: Well, Last night we gotta call from a member about a guy who wants to turn his life over to the lord and asked us what we could do....YOU ALREADY KNOW THOUGH!!! haha We headed over today to teach Brother Gurrero. He had no concept about the Jesus Christ or God. He just knew that there was something there. and he wanted to find it. He spoke little english so it was hard to teach him. BUT!!! Imma give a shout out ot my high school Spanish Teacher Senor Rogers right quick because I could decently understand what he was saying in spanish. All that conjuegemos paid off after all haha. Later that afternoon we went and read a couple of chapters in Alma with Sister Hale. Afterwards, we met with Brother Ingram at the church again with Brother Dragovich from our ward. It was a good time. Brother Ingram is slowly grasping the concept of the gospel and what it means to him. We gave him a triple combination the week before and hes reading in Doctrine and Covenants, as well as in the Pearl of Great Price. Hes moving a long just fine. OH! He also wants me to baptize him but he wants to be baptized in a river on December 22nd....smh haha Im DOWN!!!!! Haha Cold for daysssss...

 

Friday November 30th: Started the day off by helping Brother Gifford put up some Christmas lights then did some weekly planning when we got home. Met with Sister Hale and read more from Alma. Her baptism date in December 15th. Shes been taught everything so we're kind of just, teaching to needs. We were suppose to meet with Brother Ingram afterwards but he got wrapped up in some things so we had to reschedule. Tonight we had Dinner with my favorite family in Bentonchill, The Erickson's. We had some 5 Guys and Andy's for desert. And then proceeded to talk with their Oldest Daughter Alli about how embarassing the Male race can be when it comes to dates...she told us about all the lames she dated growing up and how weak their dating game was. Who takes a girl to dinner and uses a BUY ONE GET ONE FREE ON THEMSELVES. Haha. I am so sorry Alli. Especially for the wanna be gangster...shout out to @Stunnaz22 hahahahahahahhahaha I love you Erickson Family.

 

 

Saturday December 1st: HAPPY DECEMBER!!!! Started the month off right with 2 baptisms! :) Lj and Sue Ann Sohse got baptized today and it was so emotional for me. Dont ask me why but i was crying like a baby during Lj's baptism prayer. I got to baptize him and Elder Smitty got to baptize Sue Ann. It was awesome :) That pretty much took up our whole afternoon. Afterwards, we met with Brother Ingram at the church again and talked about our Savior and how we have to follow his example. Perfect scripture reference; 2 Nephi 31. The Doctrine of Christ. Amazing. He loved it!!! Good Saturday.

 

Sunday December 2nd: Always gotta love Fast and Testimony Meeting. The testimonies of the members in the Bentonville 1st Ward are so strong. You can feel the spirit moving around the chapel as member after member bares their sincere Testimony. :') haha We went by and visited with Sister Hale for a little bit then went and saw the Ovandos. We watched Jospeh Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration and i swear that movie never gets old!!! After dinner we went back to the Erickson's and watched the Christmas Devotional. I cant believe I've never seen one before!!! It was awesome :) Cute Old Guys...I love our first precidency. President Eyring's was my favorite for sure though. Imma have to snag that wooden toy box idea for me and whoever I marry...haha Swag Jackin haha

 

Well Boys and Girls :) That was my week!!! I love my mission so much. I've hit a lot of tough spots along these past 7 months (Not even that long. SMH.) but Its time like Saturday, when people become baptized and you see how happy they become and how happy their families are, that make it all worth it. I love seeing how happy people can become, whether they were sad or even thought they couldnt be happier, The Gospel of Jesus Christ can make you even happier.

 

Before I end, I want to invite everyone who reads this to check out the new Mormon.Org/Christmas website that has been put up and I invite you all to share it with a friend. Whether they be a member or not, its an awesome way to share the message about the saviors birth and the true meaning of christmas.

 

Oh, I heard that Our Dons made it to the Finals at state!! Congrats! But i also heard we lost :( I dont care!!! Ya'll beast moded that and took it somewhere we aint never been! Shout out to the 2012 Dons football team and coaching staff. Way to work hard. Take it back and get that Ring Next Year. Shout out to the Las Chalitas Drill team this weekend for State? Or Region? I dont know haha Good Luck and Good Luck AJB :)

 

I also want to Thank, First off my mom for putting together this Bomb 25 Days of Christmas thing I got, And Then the people who's presents and letters I've Opened. Gabe Reid and his Family, Tau and Terrance Taumua (xGSCx Beastin haha) The Pulu Family and The Jackson's. Thanks so much! I love you all and appreciate your letters and kind words!!!

 

HAHA I re read all that and felt like I was giving a Grammy Speech or something haha. Im done I swear. I'll thank everyone else next week. Till then.

 

Take Care & Happy Holidays

-Elder Isaac Andrew Asiata

GOBBLE GOBBLE

I guess the best way to start this email off is by saying how messed up my body is apparently haha I went to the Chiropractor this morning and he told me i had 3 ribs out of place and A LOT of scar tissue build up in my neck...thanks STAR. Haha Gotta love football. But its all good. He readjusted my ribs and is working out all the scar tissue build up I have. Its no big deal so im Good. Anyways, I hope every ones Thanksgiving was good! I had some good times with some great families, The Van Slootens and The Erickson's...probably the coolest family in my area. The week teaching wise was slower than the past 2 but we still got off a decent amount of lessons. Here was my week...

 

Tuesday November 20th: Got a lot of lessons in today. We any saw that one lady who told me I was going to be a prophet haha Shes a really nice lady. We talked about the Restoration and about the Articles of Faith. Shes a really open minded lady so it was fun to discuss the similarities of our beliefs. After that we went and saw an Elderly Man we called Grandpa Heinz. We taught him with one of our members Bro Abrams. We talked about the Restoration and it was funny to hear that the majority of the time that he ran into members of the church, everyone was nice and helpful and he said that he loves the "Family" aspect of the Latter Day Saints. And that he cant wait to be apart of that family. We werent able to set a specific date with him but he did commit to be baptized. After that we went and saw Brother Ingram with Our new homie Dave Jackman. He's marrying one of the Erickson's daughters, that awesome family in our ward. Anyways, we went and saw Brother Ingram and his wife and talked aout the scriptures, specifically 3 Nephi. He found that the book of mormon is true just from reading that book. A really good meeting. Just answered a lot of his questions and all that good stuff. We had dinner after then headed over to my favorite little families house; The Sohse's. We only met with them breifly and read from the Book of Mormon with them. They're understanding it a lot better now that they have that picture book. We finished the night off by meeting with Sister Page. We talked about the Tithing, Fasting and Fast Offerings. And then watched, one of my favorite movies, 'Treausure's in Heaven: The John Tanner Story' She loved it. Relateed it back to the Word of Wisdom and shes going to pray about it. Shes still on track to be baptized next month.

 

Wednesday November 21st: District Meeting Wednesdays. Elder Smith instructed mainly on Goals and How to Achieve Goals set as a District. We gota a pretty legit plan as far as goals go. I got to do a little instruction myself :) haha I talked about Unity of the District. How we have to perform as a family and think of eachother in that aspect. We have Sister Missionaries in our District so I asked the Elders what they would be willing to do for their sisters back at home and how they would treat their sisters and told them to treat our Sister missionaires the same way. And the say thing was asked of the sisters.It was a good response I guess. The next thing we did after was visit with Sister Hale. We went by and finished reading Mosiah with her and started Alma. She's doing great! She loves the Scriptures and loves coming to church and the ward has done an amazing job with fellowshipping her. Afterwards we went over to the Sohse's and taught them the dreadedly awkward Law of Chastity....we asked their parents to go over it with them but the kids wouldnt sit down to listen haha So, we pushed through the awkward Turtle and taught it to them haha It was...meh haha a lot easier than we expected, but still awkward. After that we had dinner with The Erickson's, the dad, Dave, is a huge Ute fan and gave me this super dope Utah Tie. Shout out to Dave One time. Haha I know you're reading. But that was our night.

 

Thursday November 22nd: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!! Started the day off right with the wards annual Turkey Bowl. It was a pretty good turn out. Had a lot of guys show up to play. Our team lost by 2 touchdowns but yours truely scored 4 Touchdowns. So worth the soreness that followed haha We had our 1st dinner of 2 at the Van Slooten's. He's our ward mission leader and works for Pepsi. He told me I've got the hook up to work with him after my mission, just call him haha Another family was there, The Johnston's and the Dad works for General Mills and he told me the same thing haha. It was a good Thanksgiving Dinner. A ton of food! Oh! Our investigator Sister Hale came over for dinner too! Thats always fun. Afterwards we went to our 2nd destination, The Erickson's. We busted out the greatest and my new favorite card game, Killer Bunnies, and taugh them how to play. We went and got some slushies and then came back and I gave one of the kids from the ward, Jared Conover a sharpie Tattoo for his football game the following day haha Hope everyone elses went good too. For my first Holiday away from home, Im glad I got to spend it with the people I was able too. I love this ward :)

 

Friday November 23rd: Today I went on exchanges with our Zone Leader Elder Nick Urban from The Veg, Nevada. He serves in a town called Little Flock but we called it Little Wocka Flocka. Haha We spent the majority of the day contacting former investigators before we went to dinner....We had dinner with these Veagans...If you've ever seen Scott Pilgrim vs The World, the way they depict Veagans in that movie...150% true haha. Samoans were not meant to be Veagans haha Afterwards we went and visited some Less-Active to close out the night.

 

Saturday November 24th: Spent the majority of the day weekly planning and catching up on our Area Book. It really does take an entire day which is crazy haha. So, not a whole lot to say for today.

 

Sunday November 25th: A really good sunday. 5 of our investigators came to church, Including Brother Ingram! I was glad he was finally able to make it! He really enjoyed it. We gave him a Triple Combination and A bible so he could do some referencing. Had dinner with The Clive Family. The Wife grew up in Salem but Graduated from Spanish Fork and she said she knows the Inoke's! Haha Inalei, she said she knows you! Haha that was nice. We ended the night by seeing The Ovando family. Talked about prayer and how to Trust in the Lord. :)

 

Alright, that was my week I guess. Nothing too big but nothing too small. I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that all my boys around the globe serving were able to have a good one too. Can you believe its December this weekend?! Its already been a year since we were getting ready to play Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl...I cant believe. I guess 2 years really is going to fly by haha Speaking of Utes, I've been catchin a lot of flack from people about our season this year. FIDO. Only the team knows what that means. Get ready for next season. Beast mode the offseason and pull that family together. Good luck this offseason.

 

Thank you to everyone whos been writing me and making all the Elder's in my apartment jealous haha I appreciate the letters though. Love hearing from everyone. I guess this is my low key, not trying to sound desperate way of saying WRITE ME. haha :)

 

900 N.W. A Street

APT A.

Bentonville, Arkansas

72712

 

Take Care & God Bless

-Elder Isaac Asiata 

Happy Thanksgiving!!! (In 3 Days)

This past week in Bentonchill is what going on a mission is all about; seeing lives changes and hearts coming closer to the lord through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, for me that's how it is anyways :) I could not believe how powerful the spirit of the lord manifests the truthfulness of this gospel. I feel like since i got to this area, week after week is better than the past. Obedience to EVERYTHING has led to the abundance of blessings received this past week.

We were able to get off 18 lessons this past week and set baptismal dates with 5 investigators. 5 dates set in the month of December. One for every Saturday with the exception of the 8th...for now at least :) Its been amazing to see people gain the faith to want to be baptized and follow the example that Jesus Christ set for us all. Im just happy to be along for the ride. Anyways, here was my past week.

 

Tuesday November 13th: Well, today was the last time i emailed but the afternoon is what was huge. First this we did was go see Sister Hale. We read some scriptures with her and talked about the restoration of the gospel. At the end of the lesson the spirit was so strong and we invited her to be baptized. She was always iffy about baptism when we talked to her before but this time she said it feels right and she wants to do it!!! We set the date for December 15th. After that we visited another investigator, Brother Ingram, who we've been having trouble with. Not anything bad just trying to get him to believe the teachings of this gospel. He is all about the bible and loves the savior like us and has nothing against the LDS chruch but he just wants to know what he needs to do to achieve the kingdom of god and find wisdom about the saviors. We talked about some questions that have been on his mind but left not being able to see eye to eye on things so we left him an invite to read the book of mormon and to pray about it. Skipped dinner so we could hit another appointment with the SOHSE kids, Sue Ann and LJ. Its not Sosi like i typed up last week. My Bad :) Anyways, we taught them about the Plan of Salvation and all that awesome post portal stuff and they loved it. They all said they want to get married in the temple!! Notice i said all....when we go over there to teach theres about 7 or 8 kids running around including sue ann and LJ all ranging from 4-11 haha They are awesome. Always a fun time being there.

 

Wednesday November 14th: A very long day filled with meetings and interviews with President Shumway. It was cool to see everyone in our Zone. We have 22 missionaries. Including 4 spanish Elders, a senior couple and a set of Sisters. Our Zone Pretty much puts this mission on our back though...so much determination!!! haha Nah but for real, we have an amazing zone that works hard. We go to work...true winners. haha Okay im done. Anyways. We just discussed how to be better Elders and Sister and set new goals for transfers. What numbers we want to achieve for the transfer per week. Good things to work towards. After Zone Training I had an interview with President Shumway...I swear hes one of the greatest guys i have ever met. There is soooo much love that just emanates from that man. We talked about how my new area was and all that good stuff. Ya'll dont need to worry bout the rest...smh...nosey haha just kidding. After that we had a awesome District Leader Training meeting. My companion is a District Leader so I got to attend. That night we had dinner with a Member who used to be a Mission President in the Philippines from 99'-02'. Hes a funny guy. After that we went and saw this awesome family in our ward, The Ovandos. We've been working with them to get them to come back to church on sundays. They work so its all good but we still like to visit with them every so often.

 

Thursday November 15th: Today was the most epic and jam packed day ever. Started my day off feeling like P. Diddy and went and got a hair cut. But this wasnt any ordinary hair cut ladies and gentlemen. For all you members who have gone through the temple, I got my hair cut by Eve herself today! Haha the lady who plays Eve, Blonde hair Eve not Brunette Eve, cut my hair. Yes...I know, a mile stone not many people achieve. Be jealous. Oh and her husband plays Adam!! Whos in real life is working with THEE Bear Gyrlls. I've touched greatness ladies and gentlemen. ANY WHO :) After that we came home and finished up some weekly planning and started off the teaching day by meeting with a Lady who was very nice and supports anything that believes in the savior. She even told me that i was going to be a Prophet (O_o) ...dang. haha It was funny. Shes awesome though. After wards we went to this place called "The Fly Burrito" and i dont know if theres a giant sign around my neck that says "Feed the Fatboy" or something but as soon as we walked in there, the member we went with got me the biggest burrito that they had... (.__.) The thing was the size of an infant child haha Butttttttt im not complaining because i slammed it down and it was bomb. d=(^_^)=b haha After din din we went on splits with members in our ward. I went with our Ward mission leader Brother Van Slooten and Elder Smith went with the 1st Counselor in the Bishop Rick, Brother Clark. Both the are awesome. Brother Van Slooten and I first went to see Sister Page, the mother of a Recent convert and planned on teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ but ended up answering some questions she had as well as the famous "Magic Underwear" question haha. It went great. The spirit was so strong and I invited her to be baptized when she finds these things to be true and she said yes. We didnt set a solid date just yet but we did (2 days later) After that we headed over to see LJ and Sue Ann. I bought a Book of Mormon stories book to better help that understand the book of mormon. Its awesome...i use it when i do personal study cause im handicapped in that area haha. But that was Thursday. We taught 5 Lessons all together in this day. Elder Smith had great success on this splits with Brother Clark. Blessings, every single one of them.

 

Friday November 16th: Today we had service with the other Elders who live with us. It was different service for sure. Picking up rocks...? Hahaha Yeah...random but it was entertain for the first hour but the 2 and half after that wasnt. Haha We came home and got ready to go out and teach. We went and saw Brother Ingram again and his wife was there this time. We discussed some of the Plan of Salvation before we had to jet but he got some answers to some questions but there is still a lot of things in the air that hes stuck on. We had dinner and then headed over to the Sohse's again to teach them about the the Gospel of Jesus Christ but more importantly, celebrate Sue Ann's 10th birthday!!! We went to Wally World and got her a chocolate cake and i walked up and down the girl toys aisle trying to figure out what you get a 10 year old girl who doesnt like Justin Bieber (There is hope for the future...haha) Well...I ended up getting her a Red Scooter and it worked out just perfectly! She wanted one for a while. It was a fun time :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUE ANN!!!

 

Saturday November 17th: Had some more morning time service with my hopefully future Ute Teammate Jared Conover and his family and his homie Darrian. Cut some wood and stacked it. No big deal, nothing too new. That afternoon we went and taught Sister Hale and Brother Ingram with some member from our ward, Brother and Sister Dragovich. They both went amazingly well and we had dinner and a lesson with the Ovando's afterward. That evening we had a VERY good lesson with Sister Page. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and set a date with her to be baptized on December 29th! Looks like imma have a pretty Dece Ave 20th Birthday haha.

 

Sunday November 18th: Always gotta love the Sabbath right? G.O.O.D Sunday. We met with Brother Ingram...for 2 1/2 hours today. Granted, an hour was dedicated to watching The Joseph Smith Movie but every minute was worth it. After struggling for the past 2 and a half weeks to get somewhere with him, we were finally able to following the prompting of the spirit and invite him to be baptized and set a date for December 22nd. It was crazy! Elder Smith and I talked afterwards and I told him that when I got prompted to invite him to be baptized, I opened my mouth to speak and He said exactly what I was going to say word for ward. I felt like i was talking haha. And then he told me he felt that prompting to invited but didnt know what date to set. I was the one who set the December 22nd date with him as soon as he finished inviting him. AHHH!!!! It was crazy! haha Hard to explain and i feel like what i typed doesnt do it justice but it was awesome. We also got a new investigator today, Brother Heinz. An very nice elderly man whos parents were converts. After we taught him we ended the night teaching the Sohse kids about the Word of Wisdom and Tithing.

 

Pretty hectic and busy week but i enjoyed every bit of it!!! I've learned the truth behind Moroni's promise to every in Moroni 10:3-5. Specifically for the Book of Mormon but is still so true about everything else. Know Joseph Smith is a Prophet and everything after that. The Holy Ghost is HUGE when it comes to teaching because without it, we cant do ANYTHING. Missionaries around the world never TEACH a single thing to anyone. We only PREACH the Spirit does the teaching. I've learned how hearts can be soften and change and how lives and desires follow in suit right after it. This is why i came out on a mission. I saw the happiness and joy that i've wanted to bring to people through this gospel be manifested by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 

My timer is winding down for how much time i got left on the computer but i just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and to tell you how thankful i am to have each and everyone of you in my life! From my Family to my Lost Boys and their families to Close Friends and Lost Friends. I love you all!!!

 

 

Happy Turkey Day!!!

Take Care

-Elder Isaac Asiata

A Deep and Inspirational Subject...

I think one of the hardest thing to do in a weekly email home is figure out how you're going to start or open up that letter...luckily for me, I've already dont that by talking to myself...

 

HELLO :)

 

haha Ah man this past week was pretty crazy man! Low key though, probably the most successful and fastest week of my mission so far. I cant believe its already Tuesday of the following week! Nah but for real, this past week was jam packed with things. We taught a grip of lessons and people were giving us referrals left and right and feeding us every night! Ah man! ....I love this place :) haha Here was my week though

 

Tuesday November 6th: Happy Birthday to my Uce Deuce Caboose Elder Pj Inoke. Started the day off right with....a cancelled appointment haha It was all bad. But oh well. The guy we were supposed to go see had some things come up so we ended up Tracting round our neighborhood for a bit then had some lunch before we headed out to my Doctors appointment. Found out my knee is alright. Just gotta go get a knee brace for it (We'll get to awesome part 2 of this story in a minute :) ) After my appointment we headed to our first appointment of the day with Sister Hale. We read more from Mosiash and then discussed some other things. Expectations she wants from us and some of her concerns and wonders. It was very spiritual meeting for sure. After that we got into contact with a few Less-Active families then headed to dinner. I found out im not alone out here :) The family we had dinner with tonight were HUGE Ute Fans. The thought i was Matt haha "Well...I remember you from the 09 sugar bowl game...you've gotten a lot bigger since then.." .___. dangg....hahahaha No sir...that was not me. That was the one who actually had ball handling skills haha. After dinner we went and met a recent convert family; The Giffords. Went over planning on starting their new member lessons and ended up with a new investigator; Sister Giffords Mom Debbie! She had a lot of questions about the gospel and the after life (spirit world) all that jazz so we talked about the Plan of Salvation. That one is always the lesson that strikes close and personal to everyone. It was a very spiritual meeting.

 

Wednesday November 7th: District Meeting Wedneday. Feels good to be in a new zone. See new faces and such. Except that theres only 2 other Elders in our distict and they live with us and the other 2 are Sisters so....Small district. Ha. We talked about "How to Begin Teaching" from Preach My Gospel and all that good stuff. Then we got some instruction from our Zone Leaders about Faith and instilling faith in your investigators. Good times. After that we all went out for lunch and apparently, If you pay for the Sister Missionaries lunch, you're automatically flirting and you get chewed out from your Zone Leaders...Oh im sorry, My Mom just raised me right and I call that being a Gentleman. Haha Shout out to my Mom for raising me right haha. Anyways, Spent the vast majority of the day finishing up weekly planning from the past week and contacting Less Active families.

 

Thursday November 8th: A pretty packed day. Began another sesh of Weekly Planning for the next week, mix that in with some lunch and that was our morning. That afternoon we met with Sister Hale again and read some more out of the Book of Mormon. We've pretty much read the entire book of Mosiash with her haha She loves it. We invited her to a relief society party that was going on at the church that night and she was soooo excited! We've been trying to get all the Siters in our ward to fellowship her. Just so she knows other Sisters in the ward. After that we had dinner with the Giffords and met with her mom again and watched The Restoration movie. Not the super awesome long one but the super awesome short one. Regardless, she loved it. Her daughter invited her to go to the relieft society party too and she went! We  out they enjoyed it ALOT. After we met with them we headed over to this Part Member families house; The Sosi's. They are from Pompei and everyone is baptized and members of the church except for 2 of his youngest. LJ, 9 and Sue Ann turns 10 this month. We taught them The Restoration but Elder Smith and I threw a twist in there and made it an object lesson using a Rubix Cube. Yes, i have aquired the anchient Asian Technique of the Rubix Cube haha It was pretty sweet. Im sure if you think about it long enough, you could get the jist of why it works so good haha

 

Friday November 9th: Service Day today. Headed over to this awesome families house to help rake leaves and mow their lawn. Really really nice less active family that we're working with to get them back to church every sunday. Good times though. That took up the majority of our day though. After that the Sisters asked for a blessing so we gave them one and then headed to dinner. Had some pizza and felt so great about our newly self created Restoration lesson that we shared it with the family we had dinner with haha Found out from them that a less active family that lived down the street were die hard Ute fans!!! Went to go meet them after dinner and they werent home (Found out that they flew to Utah for the Utah vs Washington game) but they had a huge Ute flag flying in their front yard. :) Utes in Arkansas, Love it.

 

Saturday November 10th: Pretty dece Saturday for sure. We had some lunch with members and then hit our afternoon appointments. Headed over to see Sister Hale and Invited her to be baptized!!! She said she needs to pray about it but feels its right :) yeyyyyy buddy! haha. After that we went and saw a bunch of less active families and some other ward members. Had an appointment with the Sosi's but somethings came up and they rescheudle for a different time. Ended the night off with an amazing lessong with Debbie. Wont go into too much dets but we had a member there with us and he was goooood haha He is one spiritually in tune man thats for sure.

 

Sunday November 11th: Best Sunday EVER. Haha We had 4 Investigators come to Sacrament and they all loved it! After sacrament we had a Ward Mission Meeting with everyone who is in charge of the Ward Mission effort. Discussed a few things. I love how organized and how helpful our ward it! they do such a good job with making sure we as missionaries are taken care off on EVERY level. Food, Housing, Exchanges with Members, Rides. All that good stuff, they're on top of their game! That evening we had a special youth fireside with President and Sister Shumway. I think its the first Fireside i've been too in years...haha Oh well. They did a great job! Talked about missionary work and addressed all of youth tell them to prepare now for their missions. They're both amazing people!

 

 

Well...thats my week I guess. It was a lot better than i typed it up. I dont do it justice. haha

 

Before i end this i wanted to talk about a little bit of the fireside last night and something that Presiden Shumway said that really struck me. He was talking about how Satan wants to drag all of us down with him and wants us to be sad and do all that he can to make us miserable like him. He Said

 

    "There are only 2 teams in this ball game. The Saviors and Satans. We're already in this game pretty far. But I'll tell you something, this ball game is already one. You are all on the Saviors team right now so congrats; You're winning. The only question that remians, is whos team will you be on in the final inning?"

 

So much can be drawn from that question. Thats a question I invite you all to think about. My sorry attempt at a spiritual thought i guess :) haha

 

Take Care

-Elder Isaac Asiata

Bentonville Chillin

So.....when did all the mormons from Provo migrate to Bentonville? Haha I swear I've seen byU stickers and lincense plates EVERYWHERE!!! Its all good cause I got a Utah flag hanging in our bedroom window so...you know what it is. Haaa Oh, shout out to the Ute Fam for puttin in work against WSU

 

Anyways, Bentonville is crazy dope!!! So much going on and so much to do, we are hardly ever home! We got a pretty dece teaching pool right now but picked up a few new investigators over the past 4 days that we've been here. Its crazy how much the lord blesses you when you're, what our mission likes to call, "Fanatically Obedient" haha. But for real, I've made some little changes in that regard and have seen soooo many blessing because of it. My new companion, Elder Parker Smith, is pretty much the epitome of what that is so, its like a multiplyer low key haha. Anyways, here was my past week! A lot better than the past few. Ohhh HEREWIIIKOOO!!!

 

 

Tuesday October 30th: Today I was still in Aurora so we went and said goodbye to everyone. We spent the whole day with Bro. Moss and his family. Helping around his house, hanging out but mostly just saying some goodbyes. Matt and Laura came over for dinner and I said the first part of my goodbyes to them...sad story haha. Whoa what a short tuesday..hmm

 

Wednesday October 31st: So...I didnt even know that today was Halloween haha For real. We spent the vast majority of the day cleaning the house, packing and getting the area ready for the new Elders (Oh yeah, both me and my companion got transferred to a new Area. The guy who i replaced in Bentoville just swapped with me so) so we didnt go outside much. It wasnt until someone knocked on our door, which made my heart stop because NO ONE knocks on the missionaries doors, but there were trick or treaters there! Surprise surprise! haha We didnt have any candy so i gave them Book of Mormons and some pass a long cards hahaha Best Trick Ever! haha Later that night we went and to Matt and Lauras to say goodbye to them and the kids. :'( Hate goodbyes

 

Thursday November 1st: TRANSFER DAY!!! :) As much as I love Aurora, it felt good to finally leave and see a new area. OH!!!! I got to see my boy Elder Austin Lee at transfer points too! He's still reppin that Ute Nation all day haha It was good to see him. I met my new comp, Elder Smith and the 2 other Elders we share apartments with today too! They're all crazy dope! Elder Smith, Elder Bryant (From SLC) and Elder Worthington. Feels good to not have to deal with the awkwardness of just you and your companion haha gotta love it. Well, got to the rich city life of Bentonville and got settled in and went to a really nice families home for dinner.

 

Friday November 2nd: VERY Busy day. We went over the area book because me and my companion were shotgunned into the area (we're both new) so we had to compile a huge list of everyone that we had to teach from current investigators, formers, recent coverts, and less actives and then we hit the road. Started off by tracting a few houses then we visted a very nice lady named Judy. Shes a current investigator and we just read the book of mormon with her. Next we went to see another investigator named Brian and talked about the Plan of Salvation. Pretty dece lesson I'd say. Later we had dinner with the Stewart family and they have teh 2 cutest little daughters in the world! One is 6 and the other is 4? But the 6 year old speaks spanish better than the spanish speaking elders in our zone...and shes white hahahaha Its amazing!! They're hilarious too! Such an amazing family :) We finished off the night by visiting a Recent Convert family, the Doug, Candace and Joey. They are sweet! We talked a little bit bout their baptism then read scriptures with them as a family. Good times :)

 

Saturday November 3rd: Started off fresh with our first meet with our Ward Mission Leader. Hes a really nice dude! Brother Vanslooten. The missionary work is soooo much more organized in this area. Good Ward Members=Great Missionary Success. Its incredible how organized it is. Anyways, after that we had lunch and tracted for a few hours and came home and went over the area book again. Finished up some weekly planning and continued to build up a solid teaching pool.

 

Sunday November 4th: I swear everyone in Bentonville is rich hahaha Everyone pulled up to church in their super nice rides and we pull up in our bomb Ford Fusion... YOU KNOW!!! haha broke status. Its all good haha Church was insane. Had, in my opinion, one of the best Elders Quorum meetins I've ever had! and then it ended :( Haha After church we hit the ground running and started contracting all the names we put together on a list. Went and read with Judy again and then went back over to Brians. This time we talked about the Restoration and his wife joined in on the discussion for the first time! She was really interested and we picked her up as a new investigator. After that we went and had dinner then headed over to see the Giffords again. This time, the ladies mom had a few questions to ask us! We talked about the Plan of Salvation and Baptisms for the Dead and ended up getting her as a new investigator as well! Pretty fresh sunday if i say so my self.

 

 

Alright! That was my week. I would've went into more and better detail but the computer im using has a time limit and its all bad. Shout out to my TLC teachers at Spanish Fork Middle School for teaching my how to get 92 words per minute! Haha Yupppp. People around me keep looking over at me because the sound of the keys on the keyboard are really loud especially in a library! Haha

 

Real quick, wanted to give a Happy Birthday Shout Out to my Uso Elder Pj Inoke!!! Happy 20th Birthday Old Man!!! Haha where did the time go? Miss you big uce!! I already know you're slayin it out in Nicaragua (YEY!!! I GOT IT!!!)



Shout out to my mom for the picture. Gotta Love It :)



 

One more thing, I heard Christian's doing a little bit better!!! Great news! Love you toko! Keep fighting! And everyone keep praying! #BelieveInCT

 

Stay Safe Everyone

I Love You All :)

Take Care

-Elder Isaac Asiata

isaac59asiata.blogspot.com

HEY! Mr. Rager! Mr. Rager! Tell Us Where You're Going, Tell Us Where You're Headed!

Well Kid Cudi...I'll tell you where im going my friend. Im headed out of Mizzou and headed down to Razorback Country down in Arkansas! Haha YUP!! Im finally leaving! After being in the same area for the past 6 months, like Barack Obama said "Its time for a change.." (I voted for Romney. I voted. HIGHFIVE!) haha Anyways. Im pretty stoked about that! Apparently its a huge city...all the small towns out here hate on it because its Wal-Mart Headquarters. Haha What the heck is a "Wal-Marts?" thats what they call it out here haha.

Anyways, for sure looking forward to that. But this past week was crazy. Cause it was cool and all but filled with a lot of nothing-ness...well...yeah, nothing-ness haha Here was my past week :)

Tuesday October 23rd: Hit it hard this morning and got lumber jacked out and cut down a few trees. Then we split that mug into a million different pieces so that the great peoples of the Aurora ward have need of no fear for the upcoming winter cold.. :) Just read that and it sounded pretty legit...if you ask me at least. :) Anyway, We spent the whole day helping our good ol chum Andy Moss around his place. It what we do every Tuesday. Then Matt and Laura came over and we played Rumey (by the way, that games pretty fun haha All the girls i grew up played that game all the time...i had no idea what it was. I DO NOW! :) ) and thats about it. Ate dinner with all of them over there and called it a night.

Wednesday October 24th: Started the day off with a journey and a half to Joplin for a leadership meeting. It was pretty dope :) Found out that the number of applications for missionaries a week went from 400 to 4000 a week! Whaaaa?!?!?!? Okay Young Men and Young Women!! I see you!!! Thats so crazy though! Oh and our mission is receiving a HUGE increase in missionaries over th next year. 182 as of now to 250!!! Bout to be some young guns up in the OTM. So crazy! Anyways, the meeting went well. Learned how to be a leader and all that good stuff. But year, that meeting was all day long...Pou, you werent kidding when you told me about meetings haha Take ALL DAY....haha

Thursday October 25th: Today we had 2 lessons planned but ended up switching them to the weekend. So we went to Matts house and tore up all the carpet in this room and hall way. Acting like we knew what we were doing haha But thats we did all day really. Helped them take up carpet, tack board and a billion and a half staples ha. Im on that Extreme Makeover stuff.

Friday October 26th: Spent the morning cutting even more wood. And did that for a little while longer. And then some. See, this is what you do when you have 2 progressing investigators haha. Anyways, later that afternoon we picked up a new/old investigator; Tom. Pretty stoked that his testimony has been increasing and hes decided to investigate again. Just sad that i wont be able to be here to teach him. Oh well, hes in good hands. After that we went home and walked around town for a bit but stopped by the Skate Park to talk to a few kids i've become friends with over the last 6 months. We talked about how everyone has assumptions and pre-judgements about skaters and all that i was like "Hey...people think that about mormons too :)" haha True story hansel, thanks olaf.

Saturday October 27th: We spent pretty much the whole day walking around town. Walking down back allys and taking streets i've never been down. Pretty adventurous times if i dont say so myself. Anyways, later that night we met with Paul and Beth. Beths baptized but Paul isnt. We decided that November 24th will be his baptism date and he sounded pretty stoked about it haha Later that nigth i found out that im going to Bentonville, Arkansas! All i know is that its a city and i love me some city!

Sunday October 28th: Last sunday in Aurora. Pretty sad time at church. Didnt really realize how attached i was to the ward. Some pretty heartfelt and sad goodbyes. im going to miss it for sure. Met with little Zach right after church one last time before i dipped out. Hes a good kid. His baptism is scheduled on the same day as Paul's; November 24th.

So, I just re-read through my email and it sounds like im having a conversation with myself haha Sorry that you had to read that but thanks for your efforts. :) So Utah beat Cal this past weekend during our black out and I heard Travis Wilson laid out a nose tackle...?!?! So...Travis Wilson just lays out defensive lineman like its nothing...? Hmmmm....GO TO SLEEP! haha Great job Utes! Keep it up. Good luck with Washington State. Wish i was there playing with my Ute Fam but Im on the Lords team for another 18 Months. OINCE!! haha

Alright, well thats about it I guess...I heard theres a lot going on in Bentonville so hopefully my emails will stop sounding like a boring journal entry haha. Heres my new address. Dont send anymore mail to Aurora...

900 N. W. A Street. APT A
Bentonville, Arkansas
72712

N.W.A haha no, its not what you think it is . its 900 N. WEST A Street. haha

Im Out

Take Care and Stay Blessed

-Elder Isaac Asiata

isaac59asiata.blogspot.com

Pray For Christian Terry. #BelieveInCT

Ups and Down in the past week. Haa

 

On The Up and Ups...

 

-Week went by faster than the last

-Got to go on an exchange with my homie Elder Ryan Church from the MTC.

-Lost 9 lbs (Stuuuuuuuuuu!)

-Got to talk to the homies DJ NN2k aka Nicky Jam, Springville's finest; Marcus Case, and future teammate Austin Lee

and

-Saved a baby turtle from death on the road.

 

On The Low...

-Taught close to nothing worth of lessons this past week cause people cancelled

-I might be leaving Aurora (low key okay with it though...)

 

 

Thats about it...Haha. I guess the Good outweighs the Bad. So, thankful for that. At the end of the day, I wouldnt want to be anywhere other than serving the Lord. I love it so hard right now :) This past week we did more service than we did lessons cause 1) Our teaching pool is low. and 2) Those who we are teaching keep cancelling or rescheduling. I think it may or may not be a sign for me to bounce from this area and its on to the next one, ya feel me?? Oh well, "I'll go where you want me to go, dear lord" We'll see. But here was my past week...

 

 

Tuesday October 16th: Had a good time getting my Paul Bunnion on (did i spell that right...? Too lazy to hit spell check haha) Delivered a few truck loads of wood to some families in the ward and cut some more. For those of you who were like me in Utah and never had to worry about cutting wood for your stoves or fireplaces for the winter, its a serious work out haha going ape with an axe and splitting maul for the good of the members in your ward? What more could you want!? :) haha its become a very very good habit haha I was able to cut a tree down with just an axe! Took me a good 45 minutes or so but i still got the job done!!! YOU KNOW!!! Shout out again to Coach E up in SLC for the Strength & Conditioning. Haha Muscle memory is beautiful thing :) We do this pretty much every Tuesday so...sorry for the repeat from last week haha

 

Wednesday October 17th: Started the day off right with some Chastising from our District Leader as always for District Meeting haha I think only missionaries and Return Missionaries know what im talking about here. Basically every District Meeting, you get chewed out for things you're not even doing haha IM OVER IT! After i went on an exchange with my good ol' chum Elder Ryan Church. Caught up on how mish life has been over the past 6 months on the ride home and had PLANNED 3 lessons for the day...but as i said, that didnt happen haha. We ended up at my 2nd families house (The Alms) for a bit and for din din. That was the extent of today...

 

Thursday October 18th: Had a day full of service with another member planned for today (Yes...cutting wood) but other plans for him came up so the idea got scrapped. Couldnt set up anything else with our investigators or potentials so instead of sitting in our apartment all day, we went over to my 2nd families house and helped out around there for the day.

 

(Sorry that my email's not too entertaining haha continuing...)

 

Friday October 19th: Said my goodbyes to the Homie Church and exchanged back today. After exchanges we headed over to a members house to cut up some more wood. Now you must be wondering..."Elder Asiata, how does cutting wood help missionary work" Well let me break it down to you like this. When you're in service to others, you're in service to the lord. Theres a scripture reference right there but i dont know it exactly haha but we helped cut wood for the members neighbor and ended up getting a new investigator out of it. :) Isnt that something!? Funny how that works. Now, all the people who email me and ask why i waste my time doing service on my mission (Names withheld) There IS NO EFFORT WASTED. Some areas and missions teach a million lessons. Some baptized a million people. Well, thats not my mission or my area. And in my area, Service is what we do. It may or may not change when i leave but for now, thats what we do. So dont worry bout it! Haha Okay, im doing venting...moving on :)

 

Saturday October 20th: Me and my Comp Owsla (his last name is Ostler but it sounds like Owsla which is the name of Skrillex's record label; quick trivia for the day!) went and knocked on a few doors, talked to a few people and visited a few less-actives during the day and all that good stuff. Nothing too special to report except some homeless guy complimented us on looking good in our church clothes (SWAG) so we gave him 5 bucks and a book of mormon haha. After that, we went and had dinner with the ALMS.

 

Sunday October 21st: Just another run of the mill sunday :) Gotta love the Sabbath, right? After church we met with our investigator Zach and got things figured out on where to go and when he should be baptized. We're thinking sometime in November...? Oh well, hopefully im here. But thats really how i sunday went. Studied until dinner.

 

 

So, pretty exciting week right?? Haha Im sorry my emails havent been up to par on the entertaining level but as boring as my email sounds, Im enjoying every minute of this mission :) A few years ago, its the last place i Picture myself but i feel beyond blessed :)

Last thing before I end this email is im asking please for your Prayers for my good friend Christian Terry. Keep him and his family in your prayers, please. I love you homie! Pull through and keep fighting. I believe in you uso.

Till Next Time
-Elder Isaac Asiata
isaac59asiata.blogspot.com

 

 

Weep Little Lion Man

Low Key...Dont even know where to start with this email..haha some P-Days im like, yeyyyy boiiiiiiii! Got so much to say and not enough time! Others im like....yup...this bout to be a 15 minute email sesh haha. Anyways, past week was the for sure the longest week of my life. Almost got hit by a Tornado, Rained for a good 9 hours straight, Did close to nothing and almost cut my leg off splitting wood with a splitting maul...haha crazy week. Not a lot of lessons but more service. Just one of those weeks when you're like...Is it P-Day yet...? Haha anyways, im done complaining. Every day my family sacrifices for me to be out here is a blessing. Im still enjoying it greatly. Here was my past week though...

 Tuesday October 9th: Only had one lesson today; Isabellas last New Member lesson. So we hit up Brother Moss' house and taught her about The Gospel of Jesus Christ. After we spent the whole day cutting wood. I've found it to be a pretty legit work out and new hobby. I split like...2 ricks? Or whatever that is or however you measure it. Thats what he said. I was out there for a good 5-6 hours. I found that you go into some deep thought while cutting wood...(o_o) kinda weird but whatevers. Thats what we did the whole day...just cut up wood for him and other members in our ward.

 Wednesday October 10th: Started today off with District Meeting with our District, Zone Leaders and Assistants. Talked about "Finding" and how we could better apply that to our areas. Low key...its rough out here in the OTM. We lead all the other missions in our surrounding area in Baptisms and Lessons but are wayyyyy behind on finding newp people. For every 1 person we find we baptize 7. But when we only getting that number once a month...its all bad. Heres to finding more people haha. After we went and taught Paul and Beth. His wifes baptized and we've now set another date in November. He was supposed to get baptized on 20th of October but we had to change it so its all good. Right after we headed to The Harringtons and taught them The Plan of Salvation. Went pretty good. They really liked the idea about Baptisms for the dead. After we jetted home for a bit before heading out to the church to teach Zach but when we got there he bailed on us so we just went to institute. 

 Thursday October 11th: Woke up feeling like death...its been gettin cold out here, but im good. Ha After we headed over to Bro. Echols property to cut more wood. We cut down like 4 trees and chopped em all up. They used a wood splitter and i used a splitting maul. Yup, like i said, almost cut my leg off haha. I swung the maul and missed the log and hit my leg Haha No Coordination, i swear haha. I kinda just stood there for a second...and then was like..."Well, Im not bleeding..." Haha I only had a huge bruise and it was swollen for days!!! I guess missionaries are really blessed haha. Thats what we did the whole day though...lots and lots of cutting wood.

Friday October 12th: Had planned to go cut more wood at Bro. Echols but the rains started coming in so he called and cancelled. Luckily, Matt called us and asked if we wanted to come over. And you already know though...We went and hung out at his place all day. Helped him out with some service around their place and...thats about it haha

 Saturday October 13th: So...this whole week we've been carless so it meant we either bike, walk or call members for rides to lessons. Well, a huge relentless storm decided to hit us today with Tornado warnings all over the place. We tried walking to one of these people we visit and the sky turned like...green-orange..?! Haha Tornados. So we went back home and were stuck in the apartment all day long (-___-) Such a long day for real! I could careless about walking around in the rain, but when you hear those Tornado sirens...im straight on that one all day hahaha

Sunday October 14th: Always good to go church on sundays :) The sun came out but it was still like 60 degrees out. A wee bit chilly for sure. Didnt have too much going on today though either. Went and picked up the car from the missionaires we share it with and had dinner to end off the day.

So...if you got through maybe half or even the whole letter if you're dedicated but still got bored...thats how my week was haha Just one of those weeks i guess. I really really REALLY hope i dont have another one like last cause...man it was soooo long and we didnt have anything going on which was a first for sure. Oh well, theres people in the world going through worst, im just happy to be on a mission, ya feel me? :)

Oh yeah, one last thing. Heard we lost to UCLA last saturday...Oh well, what can you do? FIDO. The Ute Fam knows what that means. Congrats to Travis Wilson for his first start. Like i tell everyone out here who are all byU fans by mormon default and have never left the state of Missouri and seem to think The University of Utah is Sodom and Gomorrah, I'd rather be going head up with USC and ASU in the PAC 12 then dropping bombs on CSU and SDSU in the Mt. West. Its all a process and we're just getting started. Utes^ all day.

 Okay, im done now haha Now im just blabbering on about nothing. Thank you all for your support. :) Love you all!

Take Care

-Elder Isaac Asiata

isaac59asiata.blogspot.com

Believe In CT

This the first and last time that Im posting on this blog. My mom runs it but i decided that I'd chalk this one up for the homie Christian Terry. I found out last week what happened and a week later and I hear hes doing better than he was. I love you dog! You've always been the dopest homie in the world haha Keep fighting uce! The lord is by your side and is walking with you back to your recovery. Looking forward to the "Facebook Photoshoot 2: Exclusive" with you me and Eric. Shout out one time to the homie Eric Guerra!
Anyway, my whole mission is behind you on this one. The OTM has got you in their prayers and in their thoughts. See you when my service for the lord is over.

#BelieveInCT. #PrayForCT

One Love Uso

-Elder Isaac Asiata

https://www.facebook.com/#!/BelieveInCt