Another Epistle from Elder Bolton

Four weeks in, as of today. This first month has proved to be one of the toughest and most rewarding of my life. I have learned a lot about myself and about the gospel. I have seen the outcomes of other people's poor choices, and the outcomes of people changing. Seeing someone realize that there is a Heavenly Father who knows us and loves us brings about a change in their behavior. Knowing that there's a man who suffered for us, who died for us on the cross, and then was lifted up on the third day so that we can do that, too, changes people. It really does. Sadly, there are so many people in this area and in this world who are so lackadaisical to those changes that they can feel what's right and true through the Holy Ghost, but unwilling to do anything about it because they're so set in their ways. That's why here in the CFM we are looking for the "searchers." There are 'searchers' and there are people. Searchers are the ones that want to know the truth, so that they can follow the example of Jesus Christ and do the things which have been asked of them. And then there are people: the ones with whom our time would be better spent talking about sports and weather. Pray for us to find the searchers, and pray for yourselves to find them too. They're out there and we have a responsibility to find them!

 

This last week has been a lot of work. Last Tuesday I was able to go to a meeting with all of the Trainers and all of the Trainees and it was phenomenal. It was so good to see Pres. Gelwix and to see the Elders that I came into the field with; I loved seeing Elder Silva and Castaneda, and Artal. I was able to see Sis Johnson, as well, which was great! We receieved some training on how to better ourselves as missionaries in the moment, and how to continure to grow and progress for the time to come in the next 20 months or so. A thought from Pres. Gelwix I enjoyed was that we, as people and as missionaries, need to use our choices wisely. The phrase he touched on was "use our time wisely," but said that wasn't good enough. We can use our time wisely a million different ways, but using our choices wisely would have the most effect.

 

Mom/Family, thanks a bunch for the package!!! I loved getting those pictures and the snacks came just in time! I could not be more grateful. Also, my companion doesn't like British candy (crazy, right?) so he wasn't even tempted to touch that Cadbury you sent. Love you lots!

 

We had eight baptismal dates last week, then none of our investigators came to Church on Sunday, so all of their dates, except for one, fell through. It was pretty frustrating, but we have faith that four of our investigators will still get baptized this month, so that we can accomplish our goal. We need every prayer we can get, so please pray that we can accomplish 4 baptisms in the Kingsburg Area this month!!

 

Lots of changes are coming to the Hanford Stake and the Selma Ward this week at Stake Conference. I'm not at liberty to discuss them yet, but a lot of changes are being made. I'll let everyone know next week! They closed two wards and a branch this month in our Stake and Selma Ward is huge on the numbers now; there are something along the lines of 650 members in the ward now. Crazy, right?

 

I can't wait until the conference edition of the Ensign comes out. That will be great to read and to study. There were so many good talks. I've been thinking about conference ever since it ended! I couldn't get enough!

 

We've been working on a project in the CFM. It's called the PMG Project. We are to read the whole Preach My Gospel book. Every word of every page, and looking up every scriptural reference. Our deadline is December 24th at 10:30PM. President Gelwix says that this will be "our Christmas gift as a Mission to Jesus Christ" showig our dedication and desire to be the best missionaries we can be. It started October 1st, and I'm about 30 pages in so far. It is a very time-consuming effort, but I've already learned so much! Preach My Gospel is a book everyone can use in their lives. I would exhort everyone reading this to read Preach My Gospel in their scripture studies! It's amazing!!

 

So have any of my friends started their mission papers?! I'm super curious!

 

Well, everyone, that's it for this week. Let me know how everything is going. Letters and pictures are much appreciated. Let me know if there is anything Elder Bolton can do for you! As long as it doesn't take my focus away from the work, I'll do it!

 

Lots of love,

 

Elder Bolton

Another Email

So shocked to hear about the untimely death of Naman. That blew me away. I'm so sad to hear that news. He was such a good guy. I hope everyone who reads this keeps Naman Shah's family in their prayers, I will be.

General Conference was perfect. I loved every second of it. I could not get enough, it seemed. I took so many notes I'm astounded that I had time to still listen. One of our more reluctant to accept the truth investigators joined us in a member's home for the first session. It was nothing short of a miracle, to be perfectly honest. She has been meeting with the missionaries for about two months, and has been slowly opening her heart and changing her life. She was thinking about how strong the Spirit was when Elder Cook talked (who apparently looks a lot like Dad haha) and then was thinking 'I need to get baptized and join this church, but I can't. I can't be  a Mormon, 'cuz then I'd be a MORMON.' She has this negative connotation associated with the tag 'Mormon' and when she was thinking that, Elder Nelson said "You know, 'Mormon' is just a nickname we have, we're actually the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" and she was stunned that God heard her thought and answered them with the words of the apostles. That talk did wonders for her, and she wants us to help her get into Family History. We're going to help her this week with the same family whose house we were watching conference. They used to be the Ward Family History consultants. Coincidence? Nope.

Also, the announcement of President Monson: WHOA! I cannot believe that 19-year old young women are going to be serving now!! I bet that the number of sister missionaries will at the very least double in the next year. I'm so excited for them. And to be honest a little worried for young men. The new age requirement is a wonderful opportunity, but a very big responsibility to prepare now and prepare well. I know there are many who are ready to take the step, but I'm glad that I had to wait a year because I know I was not ready after I graduated. Actually, maybe. But I'm glad I waited. So, are the Howards going to be sending out two missionaries within the next few months? I could see it! I really want to know which of my friends want to serve missions now. Friends, write me if you start your papers, or get your calls!!!

More on investigators: Ray (Manuel) his brother Jay, and sister Lupita are moving out of town this week, they think, and have baptismal dates for the 20th. I'm praying earnestly that the Elders in Fresno can find them and get them baptized; they're so close! We also have a few other dates, with the nephew of a member and his wife, a man named Steve, and a young man named Jeremiah. I mentioned the Campos family in a previous email, and they are progressing to baptism, but we think it might take just a bit longer to get them to agree to a date. But Sis Campos's sister, Biri, has agreed to be baptized this month. We have a total of eight baptismal dates for the end of October and are planning to set more for November.

There is a lot of crazy things about to happen in the Stake, which I'm not supposed to know let alone share, but very exciting and worrisome things are going to be happening in two-three weeks. I'll let yall know about that stuff after Stake Conference. Sorry for the teaser haha.

I'm so excited for Kingsburg and Parlier. We are so blessed to find so many people that really want to follow Jesus Christ and his example, and great things are in store for these people here. Please pray for the people here that they can let us in, and that we can find those who we know are ready.

Stoked for the Pats. Long live the kings, Tom and Bill.

Let me know if there is anything Elder Bolton can do for you all reading this. I'll do whatever I can to help.

Also, friends, send me pics. I get bored on Preparation Day and need pictures to remember good times.

Much love,

Elder Bolton

An Epistle from Benjamin Bolton, the Elder

What a week. Life is just bustlin along in Kingsburg and Parlier. So many crazy things have happened and so many good things, too. I'm writing today because yesterday our library in Kingsburg that we go to to email was closed, and we just had a great Zone Conference in Hanford, so we've stopped at their library to email quickly.

I love being a missionary. There is nothing better than coming home dead tired as if I had been spending the whole day working the bees in Mount Pleasant and planning what else we're going to do tomorrow, cleaning up, and hitting the pillow. It's such a good feeling. Every morning we've been running and we probably bike 5-7 miles in a day, so Elder Bolton has been losing weight. Which is great. The bike works well, and my shoes are just as comfortable as the first day I got them.

Crazy things from the past week: one of our investigators, Juana, was supposed to get baptized on saturday, like I had said before. BUT her daughter just had a baby, and has to move out of town because the Army will only give her 30 days for maternity leave. So she has entrusted custody of her 1 week old baby, in addition to her 4 year old to Juana. Juana has a heart of gold and expressed that she could not get baptized because she can't take care of the kids, or drive and might have to leave, and says she can't keep the commandments right now so she doesn't want to be baptised until she can. Of course, we tried to express that everything could be worked out and we could get her rides and whatnot, but she said we would talk more about it soon. So, please pray for Juana. Another thing, we were out with a woman preparing to go on her mission next month last week and had FIVE set appointments--shcheduled, set appointments--and every single one of them fell through. That was a hard day. Saturday was pretty similar. And we biked about 10 miles out of town to visit an investigator only to arrive, one of their dogs bit Elder Worthen (it didn't go through his clothes) and then have them tell us they don't have time to meet with us or go to church. Sweet.

Good things: we had a miracle on Sunday. We worked our hardest Friday and saturday to teach and do the work, but got nothing done, but the Lord concecrated our efforts and we were blessed to have EIGHT investigators to church on Sunday. One whole family of four the Campos family, two brothers we're teaching, the husband of a member, Javier, a new investigator, Jeremiah. That was so great. Now we have a bunch of investigators progressing to baptism. We set baptismal dates with the two brothers, Ray and Jay, and their little sister, Lupita, but they are moving to Fresno within the next two weeks, so we're hoping that they get taken care of asap in Fresno. We've also found a bunch of really promising potentials and want to get 15 new investigators this month.

Elder Worthen and I were asked to give training in Zone Conference and we taught on how to accomplish goals and I want to share what we learned and taught:

If we're setting goals well, they will be things inspired of the Lord for us to do. And these goals will be like the actions of old in the Bible and Book of Mormon. The accomplishment of those goals follows a pattern, exemplified in the story of Nephi building the boat. There are four common factors in accomplishing goals: 1. Faith, 2. Works/action, 3. Opposition, 4. Obedience.

1 Nephi 17:8-9 --> the goal, or action the LORD would have us do

1 Nephi 18:1-2 --> We must do it the Lord's way, and pray often

1 Nephi 18:3-4 --> Praying often, we check back with the Lord to verify what we're doing is right, and leaning on His understanding, not our own. We will finish, and our goal, our "ship" will have been accomplished/built by the word of the Lord, and not by men. Also, read on page 753 in the Bible Dictionary about prayer starting "The object of prayer..." to the end of the paragraph.

I testify that as we all set goals, we will grow, and if we set goals that the Lord would have us set, and pray often, seeking for His holy guidance, our efforts will be blessed and we will accomplish them.

We've also been doing a lot of service. We have been insulating a members family room and dropping the ceiling. 5 hours of work every weekend probably for another two weeks and we've already put in two Saturdays. Who knows. It's plenty fun. The Ward here loves us, but I don't know if they really like us enough to do more for us. We will see. I love everyone in this ward and am so excited for the next two months at least that I have here.

There are a lot of good things progressing in the California Fresno Mission and I thank everyone for their prayers and letters and thoughts. They make my day every time I get a letter and read it before lights out.

All is well!

Love,

Elder Bolton

Woo! First Week in the Field!

I made it! I made it to the California Fresno Mission, and life could not be better.

 

Wednesday I had an opportunity to go do some Proscelyting in an activity they call "Open Your Mouth" here in the CFM. Myself and Elder Peterson contacted a lot of people, and I had expected most of them to speak Spanish, so I'd start in Spanish and they'd stop me and say "I speak English, I don't know what you're saying." It was pretty funny. That was a great welcome to the mission. We all spent the night at the Assistant's house, and had a great time. There were 19 missionaries, 16 Elders and 3 Sisters that came in to the CFM on Wednesday. Four of us were Spanish-speaking missionaries, and two of the Sisters were, too. We had a lot of fun at the mission home, getting to know each other, and Pres and Sister Gelwix. They are a riot, and a Spiritual Bulldozer. They know how to get the Spirit in the room, and know how to make everyone feel edified and uplifted. It's crazy.

 

Thursday morning was what the CFM calls the Parting of the Sea. Every Elder in the CFM has a part in their hair. Every Elder. So, at the assistant's house, everyone was brought into the tradition and made us a part of the real deal. They had a gigantic drawer full of gel for us to use and other stuff. The Assistants claim they can put a part in anything, including a tennis ball. That whole experience was just great. Then we had a lot of training, meetings, a little snack in between, and met our Trainers. MY Trainer and companion is Elder Worthen. He's so great! It's funny when you finally meet someone you've been praying about for so long. We played musical cars for a while because Elder Worthen can't drive, and we finally made it to my area about 2 hours after our meal appointment.

 

I'm in the Kingsburg, CA area, which includes Kingsburg and a town called Parlier, and we're in the Selma Ward. Parlier is where we do most of our proscelyting, and we have many investigators there.

 

The Ward is great, and I spoke in church on Sunday. I spoke on Missionary Work and how much I hope for this area, and how much faith I have in us Missionaries and in the ward members.

 

We have a baptism scheduled this Saturday with this lovely woman named Juana. She's such a great lady and is a great example to her daughter, who also is planning on getting baptised.

 

Kingsburg/Parlier is going to be full of faithful members soon, and I'm so very grateful to be here. I have faith that through the help of the Lord and through some hard, smart work by Elder Worthen and I, that we will baptise weekly here, and bring many souls back to the Savior.

 

All is well.

 

Also, friends, I'm sorry if I told you to e-mail me and I would write you back. I was wrong. Please don't e-mail me, but send me letters! Thanks!!

 

Love you all,

 

Elder Bolton

I'm here!

 

 

I arrived in fresno!! All is well, we already went out and did some contacting, we got seven referrals! It was an amazing experience. I don't have much time, I'll write more on Monday. I love you so much, it was lovely talking to you! This is where I'm supposed to be, and I know it! :)

 

Love you,

Elder Bolton

Week 6

To start, I could not be more grateful for my super suppportive and loving family. Thank you so so so much. This week has been pretty great! I did a lot of studying, and have been eagerly trying to complete a task in Preach My Gospel. I'm looking for a scripture to relate to every sentence in the lesson sections. It's actually pretty hard for some, but worth it. It makes me think and search really hard.

On Tuesday night we were lucky enough to have Elder Neil L. Anderson come and speak to us in the MTC. He shared 9 things that he said President Monson would say if he had been there. It was also President Monson's Birthday! The nine points were

1) "Follow the Prophet"--The Lord has called us through the Prophet Thomas S. Monson and He needs missionaries. He expects it of us who have been given so much [Mosiah 4]. We must keep ourselves clean, and pure, and worthy. 

2) "Do your duty"--"Do your duty, that is best. Leave unto the Lord the rest" Obedience leads us to the treasures in our lives. 

3) "Trust in the Lord: You will be an instrument in His hands" [Proverbs 3:5-6] We speak of things unseen for things which are seen are merely temporal. We are all required to know what we are capable of, and prepare to do it. We are all instruments in an assembly, we don't always know where we fit in the process. 

4) "Let the Lord shape your back"-- We need not preoccupy ourselves with comparisons. "Whilst we are on the Lord's errand we are entitled to His help." We would never be able to do this alone, only through the help of Jesus Chirst are we able to do this great work.

5) "Smile, enjoy yourself" -- Look for the positive. Laugh. Find joy in life. "Life is not meant to be only endured, but to be enjoyed"

6) "Love the people you serve" -- See Section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

7) "Never ignore a prompting"-- The Lord will trust us the more that we heed His whisperings. Never, never, never ignore a prompting of the Spirit. Follow these promptings and pray for them.

8) "Testify of the Prophet Joseph Smith"--No matte our pre-conceieved notions, never turn down an opportunity to bear witness of the greatest man to ever live, save Jesus Christ. Be unafraid to testify of him.

9) "Become converted to the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: Witness the power of the Savior" Let Christ penetrate our hearts unto the deepest part of our understanding and let him change us. I know He lives. He is risen. As the angel said to Mary when she came to tend to Christ's bodym: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, for He is risen". The Fall of Adam was redeemed through Him. We have the light of His revealed truth. He knows us, He loves us. He has carried our crosses, He has experienced all pain that He may be able to heal us.

District 12A is doing well. We're all getting along for the most part and Elder Morris and I have gotten pretty close this week. I saw Elder Mike Trauntvein yesterday and my friend Elder Spencer Payne. They're both doing well and getting used to the MTC. They have no idea what they're in for yet! haha. I have received many nice letters and DearElders. I pray every night that they don't stop! Shoutout to the lovely Walton fam and all the support they give me! Hope the trip is going well if you're reading this! and the Jane McGill, thanks for the letter! hope the arm heals soon :)

Sadly, a lot of my good MTC friends left this week, but it made me so excited to get out of here. I love the MTC, but the field is white all ready to harvest!

The everday life has been easier this week than last, and I'm sure that is thanks to the many prayers I receive from all you that are reading this. I love you all! Please keep me in your prayers!! I need them.

Anyway, just picked up a nice sack lunch and can't wait to eat this yogurt, so until next week, I love you all and keep the faith!!

Elder Bolton

Dear Dad,

I have heard it's been crazy hot in Texas this last week. I'd love to relax in the evenings. I kind of do after class ends at 8:30, but I still have 14 hours of stuff to do before that. I'm always so ready for bed when it's time for lights out.

It's work. Spanish is work. But I've learned a lot, through the help of the Spirit. There are really only like two tenses, (past and present subjunctive) down. I can teach a lot in Spanish, and I'm loving the language. My companions are great. I love my teachers. One of them knew Elder Doughty from his mission.

I got a haircut today, and I'm not sure how I feel about it, but it is free.

Been studying the Book of Mormon a lot and the first book of Nephi is so great. I love it.

Anyway, Love you lots,
Elder Ben