Week 17

Hey everyone this week has actually been really interesting. We started teaching this 16 year old kid who lives in Panama. 

So far this is story. He somehow found the Facebook page of the missionaries in our city that speak swahili and texted them saying he was interested in our church. However, he only speaks spanish so the other missionaries gave him our number and we started teaching him and he has so many questions about the book of mormon and why we have it and how can it help him in his life.

Background info:

 Some missionaries in Panama had given him a Book of Mormon about a month ago and he had started to read it and he said he just felt peace and felt good when he was reading it so he decided to try to contact some missionaries here in Kentucky and that's how it all started.

 Now he says that he has felt for himself that the things we have shared with him about families being together forever and the plan of happiness are things that are true. The only thing is, his family isnt super supportive of our church :( so that's where we are with him right now and we are just trying our best to help him along the path,  because he wants to be baptized but there are a few obstacles in his way right now. 

Other than that not much has changed we are still doing video lessons and waiting for the time that we can go back out again. 

Please water my plant mom. 

Elder Amata.

2) The members here are awesome they take good care of us 

1) We tried making homemade tortillas and they weren't the worst thing in the world but they weren't the best hahah

Week 16

2 full weeks of quarantine have been.... interesting. Not a whole lot is new with us here in Kentucky. 

We've been trying to keep in contact with people as best we can but when everything happens over technology people sometimes forget that we have lessons scheduled with them. We actually had a few opportunities this week to get our of our apartments. We had to go to the church building so that my companion could do a video of him playing the piano to share online. We've been able to go out for bike rides and we found this really cool trail. 

Also, because all the barber shops are closed our mission president said that the missionaries who can cut hair are allowed to visit the missionaries who need hair cut and so I go to do that this week. 

Other than that its given me a lot of time to think and reflect about a lot of things. We believe that there is "an opposition" in everything (2Nephi 2:11). Meaning that when there is good in the world there will always be bad and when there is bad that there is always something you can gain or learn from it. So especially now with all the bad things that have been happening in the world it's good to be able to see that alot of good has come from all of this. Families have been spending more time together, people have been coming closer to God, we've all been learning to have more  patience lol. From personal experience I know that the times that were the hardest is when I learned the most about myself and those are the times I had the most personal growth. 

Please water my plant mom

Elder Amata 

I don't have a ton of pictures this week.

1) More food !

2) a little clip of one of the days we went on a bike ride 

Week 15 Cuarentena

Hey everyone,

I hope that everyone is doing good and staying healthy. This is our first whole week on quarantine and it honesty hasn't been too bad. We have been doing a lot of teaching over video call and sending people uplifting scriptures and things like that so we've actually managed to keep ourselves pretty busy.

 I hope everyone had a good Easter weekend even in quarantine. Besides being inside all the time not a whole lot is new. We found a pretty cool bike trail that overlooks some really beautiful Kentucky scenery but it's been cold and rainy the last couple days so we haven't gone on the trail a whole lot.

 Also since they are limiting the number of people who are allowed to go into Walmart here our mission president told us to go into the store 5 min behind the other and meet up once you get inside. It was kinda nice to be alone for a little bit after being with someone 24/7 for the last 3 months. 

The members have been really taking care of us when it comes to food. Our fridge is full. I also feel like they think that we haven't had anything sweet in ages because they always bring us treats so we have an abundance of those.

Also Thank you to those who have sent me letters in the mail!

The worldwide fast on friday was really cool to be a part of. We went the full 24 hours and I don't think I'd ever done that before. It definitely kept my mind focused on the reason that I was fasting. We are constantly praying that the families that have been affected by corona will make fast recoveries and that the doctors will have the strength and energy to keep helping people. 

This Easter we have been sharing with people the importance of the fact that Jesus Christ was resurrected and his spirit and body reunited when he arose on the third day. We believe that we must follow Christ and that he was the perfect example of how to live the way that Heavenly Father wants us to live. We believe that like Jesus Christ, one day after we die that we too will be reunited with our body but all of our mortal defects will be perfect. This helps me to know that God has a plan for everyone on earth and that there will be spiritual learning and growth even after death. 

Please water my plant mom 

Elder Amata

1) Doing some shopping by myself 

2)The bobadillas bringing us ice cream and hot cheetos 

3)Thank you to the ward for making us these mask!

4)We took a walk outside and I decided to get a new picture for my Facebook profile 

Week 14

Things have been pretty slow when it comes to missionary work this week. We officially got put on quarantine by the church yesterday.

 General conference was amazing. I really liked the focus on the importance of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith and when his prayer was answered. That this is the church that Jesus Christ established when he was on the earth and that it has been restored. That was probably the highlight of my week so far. 

Also the prophet of our church has invited everyone to fast this Friday. Even people who aren't of our faith are invited to join in this fast of not eating for 24 hours accompanied by a prayer for all of those who are being affected by the corona virus. 

This week I just want to say that I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us in every part of our lives. Over the last couple years I've really seen this especially in the times that have been the hardest for me. In times like that I've realized that I've learned lessons that I couldn't have learned otherwise. 

The best way I can explain this is using my pole vault experiences, so be prepared for a lot of pole vault or sports analogies over the next 20 months, lol but back to the point . 

If I had never been challenged by going on bigger poles and running from farther back on the runway

-I would've never gotten injured, 

-I would've never had back the back problems that I did,

-I would've never fallen back into the box

-or had the gut wrenching fear of being rejected by a pole and falling from 15 feet in the air back to the ground.

BUT, If I never challenged myself

-I would've never broken the records that I did

-I would've never made it to state,

-I would've  been able to help push my teammates

-I would've never learned to push things that challenge my state of mind. 

If we look at Heavenly Father as our coach in life then we start to see that he's not giving us bigger poles and making us run faster to punish us. He wants us to be able to push ourselves and trust him  through the times when we think that the trial in front of us is too hard. He knows our limits and He knows what we can handle but we have to trust that He knows what He's doing. Especially in times like these Heavenly Father is giving us a big pole right now with this virus and if He's telling us to take it and jump then we know that He knows we can handle this.

That's all I have for this week.

Please water my plant mom,

Elder Ethan Amata 

1) sorry I don't have more pictures for this week but this is how we watched general conference because we weren't allowed to go to members houses to watch it. 

2) I made a mask out of a scarf and a shoelace so that we could go get groceries today