Week of Service! ~ 10.25-17

My caption says it all!! 

This week has been so full of just crazy service! We got up super early one morning and went to the Branch President's house and built chicken coops, fed the animals, a bunch of other farm work and then they fed us breakfast before we had to move onto the next service appointment!!

The next thing we did that morning was dig a 3 foot hole that was 20 feet long by 15 feet wide..... and the dirt was basically as hard as concrete haha Welcome to Texas! That literally took FOREVER and I think should have been counted for the exercise for the whole week😅  

We also went and cleaned up a bunch of garbage for a members house... the same one me and Elder Brower rebuilt the first couple weeks I was here!!

And on Saturday...... We mowed some Less Actives lawn.... and It literally took us 6 hours. Between the lawn mower being super old, the grass being literally up to my belly button, and having to fix the engine like 4 times.... It was one long day!!! Not much else to say!

Hope everyone is remembering Christ in your lives and striving to be like him! Pray for missionary opportunities and they will come!! Also please Pray for the people in Fort Stockton to have their hearts softened and be willing to hear the message that we have to share with them!!

Love you bye

-Elder Rose

Me and my fav goat

Chunkin up.... gained like 15 since I've been here😂

Beautiful Sunrise

Midland/Odessa Zone Conference - This was on President Hales instagram account on 10/24/2017
Elder Rose looking good!

10.16.17 ~ Christian Rappers

Howdy Howdy.

This week has been a pretty good one out here in big ol Texas. At the begining of this week we got a Bible request for someone here in town!! We kept stopping by, but nobody was ever home so Wednesday we tried for one last time and the whole family was there!! We started talking to Hector (the father) and he was the one that requested it! He was started telling us why he wasn't home! About a month ago he had a seizure on a family vacation and apparently has a lump in his brain which they don't know if it is cancerous yet or not! We kept talking and asked if we could do anything for him and his family and he asked us to Pray with him and his family! We got talking to the Wife more and more and about 3 weeks before Hector had his seizure, they had a son-in-law pass away in a freak work accident. We taught them the Plan of Salvation right on the spot and they wanted to learn more! We have an apt. with them Wednesday! So please pray that the Pacheco Family will have their hearts softened and be willing to accept what we have! 

I know that this Gospel will bless their lives greatly!!

This week we also got to go up to Odessa on Exchanges with the Zone Leaders. It's always a good time going to a big city to Knock some doors to talk with people about Jesus Christ! We only got told to get the _______ off someones porch once so that was an improvement from last time haha! One door that we knocked on this dude opens it up and he is telling us that he is a very religious guy.. so I ask him what he believes in and this dude tells me that his religion is sitting on the couch watching movies and seeing all the good in them.... haha so we keep talking and then he starts telling us that another part of his religion is Christian Rap😂 so naturally I ask him to drop a beat ha this guy went off haha it was one of the best door knocking experiences I've had yet!! 

And also while we were on exchanges we got surrounded by like 5 dogs... bout had to shank one haha but after kicking them a few times they left!!

On Saturday we went out to a members Farm to help him out with some stuff!! We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into until we were there because he had a stroke about a year ago and can't talk very well haha so we show up and he makes us pick all the apples off of his 2 acre Orchard.... and there were wasps in every single tree.... ha got stung like twice and I was the lucky one out of the companionship ha!! We also cut down like 30 trees with chainsaws and split the wood so that they will have firewood for their wood stove.

Hope y'all have a great week and try and remember Christ throughout your week!! By kneeling down every morning and night and having a constant prayer in your heart, it truly makes a difference in how great your day is!! I know that it really has blessed my life out here in Texas and know that it will do the same for all of you guys  also!! 

This church is true without a doubt in my mind!! 

LOVE ELDER ROSE

My boy Elder Moline (Zone Leader)

Typical Texas pic

Find fun in the little things

Notes to his Momma Rose today:

-I asked about a man that Elder Rose had mentioned meeting that he told his sister that this guy has pecs bigger than Elder Rose's head :)  -this was his reply to me...

"I took two brand new missionaries Knocking for the first time and we met Matt... He is an oil field worker and a SUPER nice guy!! He noticed how we were missionaries and he invited us back because we weren't trying to shove it down his throat. He told us he won't be baptized but that we are welcome to his house and to talk with his family whenever we have time!! And if we ever need anything to tell him!! He told us he would beat people up for us haha!!"

-I have got to thank whoever has taught our son, Elder Rose, how to make homemade ties! This is his response about me asking for a pictures of the ties he has made so far!

  "Just a heads up I will probably never need to buy another tie in my lifetime ha!! It is SO  cheap to make and doesn't take very long!!"

10/10/17 ~ What a week.

This week has been a great one!!! Don't have much time to email, and sorry I didn't get to yesterday. The people of Fort Stockton take Columbus day very serious and closed down all the school... and even the Library!! Who knew haha.

This week we did TONS of service... What's new right? Haha, but I got to mow 2 lawns, work on a couple farms and Teach a lesson!!! Those were the Highlights of my week... Oh and we got to go to Big Bend again yesterday because there is nothing to do here in Fort Stockton for fun on PDay!!

Not much to say besides the work keeps getting better and better out here. Sorry for not a long email! Next week will be better!! Thank you for all the prayers and support y'all show me!! The power of prayer is amazing!! 

Love y'all and hopefully the pics describe more than my 2 paragraphs haha

Love Elder Rose

The BOM

Look for Beauty in everything

God's gifts to us

Cruisin in the Buggy

Feeding Cows with a members Husband that looks like what I picture God to look like

Mowin some Dirt

Mowin actual grass

The Reese's... senior couple that went home today 

The District

Fort Steezy Elders

Trust in the Lord - 10/2/2017

Permian High School... Friday night lights

This week has been a great week here a mile past the middle of nowhere ha!:)

The newspaper from last week!!

This week was transfer week and me and Elder Brower found out we were getting another Elder down here in Fort Stockton. So Tuesday we took the drive up to Odessa to pick up Elder Sawney! It's always kind of different going to the city and see all the people there cause there isn't even close to half of the people out here haha!!

Also learned a new skill while I've been out here.... I learned how to make a tie!! So we went to Hobby Lobby when we were in Odessa to get some material to make some sweet ties!!:)

So after going to Odessa on Tuesday we got back at like 9:30 that night had a packed schedule on Wednesday and found out we had to go up to Odessa again on Thursday for a trainers/trainee meeting!! It was great and I learned quite a bit for a possible time when I could be a trainer!!

Friday we went down to Alpine to help the Elders from Alpine out with some service for this lady that is starting up a dog shelter.... and boy was that the adventure!! I was mixing and pouring concrete for like 2 hours until that was finished and then we were digging a trench to run some hot and cold water outside... long story short we hit a water pipe and it knocked the water out on the whole side of the mountain.... so we were messing with every possible way trying to figure out where the valve was that we could shut the water off.... me and Elder Chicoski were finally like, "Lets inquire of the Lord!!" So we said a prayer asking to shut the water off and helping us finish this project with safety. Right when we said amen the water shut off... It was such a testimony builder!! Crazy how much Heavenly Father cares for us!! Also, not 10 minutes less than that we were messing with the wires in her house that got ripped out some how... and I got shocked!! My whole arm was locked up but nothing else happened!! Don't know what would have happened if we wouldn't have asked for safety,and to keep us out of harms way, in the prayer we said 10 minutes before that!!

Conference was great!! What I mainly got out of it was that we all need to put more faith in Jesus Christ and the Lord!! When we have trials that stand in our way, Heavenly Father will help us!! When we stand with faith and a firm foundation, our faith will diminish our doubts and fears!! Faith always defeats fear! Fear comes from Satan. There were also many talks that were on Service!! When we serve others we forget our problems and come closer to Christ and walk the path that He did. The Book of Mormon is true; studying it every day has helped me in every aspect of my life and I promise that it will do the same for everyone of you guys if you prayerfully study it everyday!! You will find answers to questions you have been pondering and You will be blessed for your efforts to become more Christ-Like.

Love you all and hope everyones weeks go great!!

-Elder Rose

When it rains... IT pours... been rainy all week

The boys

Everything is bigger in Texas... 

Note to his Mom this week: "Elder Swaney is doing good! He is from St. George. He ran XC and Track so we kind of have some things in common. This week was kind of different..... it flew by and feels like we didn't get much done in our own area. But this past week we went and built some new pig pens for President Hinkson, killed and skinned some more chickens, and went down to Alpine to help Elder Chicoski and Brandow with some of their service because this lady is putting together a dog shelter and it ha to be done by Monday...... But I mainly was laying concrete and I did some plumbing too!!

The branch Is doing so much better from the first week that I got here!! It's crazy. They are definitely moving forward and progressing!"

September 25, 2017 ~ Might as well be a Celebrity

Howdy Y'all

To start off, I'm finally becoming more fluent in the language... picking up all the y'alls, fixin too's, it's been a minute's, and muy pocito Spanish haha!! I've said this before but West Texas has some of the most interesting things, bugs, animals, and people I have ever met haha!!

This week was a great week!! To start the week off we were in the newspaper..... pretty neat if you ask me;) We always go to the Senior Center here about 2-3 times a week and I love the people there haha even though every once in a while you have to dodge a punch from a psycho lady in there:) I have never made a cup of coffee until my mission.... but I guess now I'm a pro if you ask all the little old ladies in the Sr. Center ha!! But this last week was Mexican Appreciation month or something like that so they had a huge party and Meledy (the lady in charge) gave us some recognition in the newspaper so that was pretty sweet to get our name out there and show that we don't only knock on people's doors and tell them about Jesus!!

This week we also had a Branch BBQ that me and Elder Brower planned and threw for the branch to get everyone out and do something fun!! It was very successful and we had a TON of people show up and then crazy thing happened... all the people that came to the BBQ came to Church also, so yesterday was the most people I have seen at church here in Fort Stockton!! It was also fast and testimony meeting and there were some great testimonies shared that helped me strengthen my testimony also!! There are some awesome people here in our Branch! Every week we drive out to Mcamey, another town in my area about 30 minutes aways from FS, to go eat dinner with a member and her husband! The own 12 sections of property... and 1 section is like 10 miles.... so they own over 100 sq miles of property!!! CRAZY ha! But the farm a ton, and we will probably going out there some time soon to catch some of there sheep, it'll be sweet!! While we were over at the McDonald's house we shared a spiritual thought and it was one of the most eye opening experiences I have had yet!! She told us her conversion story and bore strong testimony!! The spirit was so strong... and during the middle of it all I heard a voice that said " Forget who you are, for who you can become." And that hit me so hard!! I have already seen myself change so much!! I know that by coming closer to Christ and doing everything that we can, everyone can change! And that change can change other people's lives also! This gospel is amazing and so true!! How could a 14 year old boy with no education translate the Book of Mormon without the help of Heavenly Father..... There is no way!!! I know this church is true and love it with all my heart!! 

Hope Y'all have a great week!

Love you bye

-Elder Rose