Friends!
What's up guys? Hope it's nice and warm out on the west coast because I was SWEATING MY BRAINS OUT yesterday. Not even kidding, I lost 5 pounds walking around yesterday. Straight up disgusting! So, first off, I have a shout out to some people. First, Shout to my boy Chase Lindsley for completing your mission! My mom said your homecoming talk was amazing! I have two things to say, I hope you didn't get too trunky and, even though your mom has you home, as a missionary, I know that you would rather be out here! Stay frosty! Next shout out goes to my friend Taylor Jeffery for just bein' a supreme boss!
Now, for the fun stuff! It has been an amazing week filled with scares and fun! We taught Brother Echevarria about the temple and he is so excited to be baptized for his dad and his brother. He is even going to do the paperwork for his Jehovah's Witness mother. He is such a boss! It has been amazing to be able to just work hard, even though the heat makes it really "wet" work! By the way another props to my little brother Dylan who turns 15 in a couple of weeks! HOLLA at ya boiiiii! Man, Newark is really starting to wreck my vocabulary.
So, during district meeting yesterday, we watched a Mormon message called "Mountains to Climb". I'll tell you what, that hit me hard. I didn't realize until yesterday that I am a perfectionist and when I fail, I beat myself up way more than I should. When I watched this video, I understood something very important. Heavenly Father does not expect me or my life to be perfect, so why should I expect that? I am finally gaining an understanding that my Heavenly Father loves me regardless of my sin, regardless of my mistakes. His love is always there for me, even when I make a mistake. All I have to do is pray and let him in.
Sorry guys, kinda short today. Love you guys! Talk to you next Tuesday (Memorial Day cuts out the emails).
Elder Rodeback
Elder Rodeback
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
May 13, 2013 Update & PICTURES!!!!!
Hermanos y Hermanas......buenas DIAZ y feliz dia de mama.
Yo soy bueno y mi compeneros es MUY Bien! el trabaja en mi area es ......PSYCHE!
HaHa! What's up guys! It's been a ball this week here in Jersey. I had to throw some Spanish your way to make sure y'alls are still alive and kickin! We had the craziest week! The funniest thing was that we were invited to Brother Canada, the hispanic guy in the picture I send home, for a bbq. We get there and everything is awesome. He showed us his massive dogs, speaking of which, I have a crazy story to tell you about the dogs. Anyway, he tell sus that he has to go pick up his girlfriend and would be back in like 20 minutes. He left 7 missionaries who speak no Spanish with a bunch of Hispanics! The only Elders that spoke Spanish were Elder Hernandez and his companion Elder Diaz. So, while we waited for him, this drunk as can be, Puerto Rican at the bbq walked up to us and started to show us magic tricks! I kid you not! There is nothing funnier than watching a drunk hispanic man do magic tricks! We laughed for an hour watching this guy do his stuff. When Brother Canada got back with his girlfriend, he introduced her to us and we all shook her hand, but on the very first shake, she goes in to kiss Elder Garcia (He is the Philippeano in the picture). We were all saying, "NONONONONONO!" Man it was so funny!
Now, the story about those dogs. Brother Canada's dad was walking the dogs one day and out of no where, this Pit Bull came through a gate and started charging Brother Canada's dogs. These two dogs are HUGE! One is a full bread Rottweiler and the other is a Rottweiler mix. He takes them on a 5 mile run and only feeds them meat. They are just big bricks of muscle. When the Pit Bull charged at them the Rottweiler juped out and bit the Pit Bull on the mouth before it could bite anyone. Then the Rottweiler mix clamped down on the Pit Bull's neck. Brother Canada's dad grabbed the dogs and threw them against the fence. Because the dogs are super obedient, they didn't move.
Well, now my less that I learned this week that has changed me. The monthly focus here in the NJMM is prayer. I have been studying and working with that. In Gospel Principles class yesterday, a man asked this question, "How can I grow my relationship with God when I don't have time?" The first thing that popped into my mind was, "make time." and as I pondered on that a little bit, I realized something really cool. God can't just say POOF, here is a relationship with me. If we want a relationship with anyone in the world what do we do? We talk with them, we spend time with them! It is the same thing with Heavenly Father. If we want to have him with us and actually feel like he is our Heavenly Father, we need to treat him the same way we treat our earthly parents (unless you are disobedient and disrespectful. If you treat God that way, you will get stuck with lightening) Guys, you wanna feel Him with you? You wanna feel his comfort? Here is three easy steps to do so, 1) Go to church. 2) Pray. 3) Read your scriptures. Each of which require you to give Him time. Pray with sincerity and love. Attend churc to take the sacrament worthily and Read, seeking His spirit.
I love you guys, keep up the good work!
Elder Rodeback
Elder Rodeback, Elder McEwan, Elder Thatcher & Elder Hernandez
Elder Pires & Elder Rodeback
Elder McEwan, Elder Thatcher, Brother Echavarria & Elder Rodeback
Elder Smith & Elder Rodeback
Yo soy bueno y mi compeneros es MUY Bien! el trabaja en mi area es ......PSYCHE!
HaHa! What's up guys! It's been a ball this week here in Jersey. I had to throw some Spanish your way to make sure y'alls are still alive and kickin! We had the craziest week! The funniest thing was that we were invited to Brother Canada, the hispanic guy in the picture I send home, for a bbq. We get there and everything is awesome. He showed us his massive dogs, speaking of which, I have a crazy story to tell you about the dogs. Anyway, he tell sus that he has to go pick up his girlfriend and would be back in like 20 minutes. He left 7 missionaries who speak no Spanish with a bunch of Hispanics! The only Elders that spoke Spanish were Elder Hernandez and his companion Elder Diaz. So, while we waited for him, this drunk as can be, Puerto Rican at the bbq walked up to us and started to show us magic tricks! I kid you not! There is nothing funnier than watching a drunk hispanic man do magic tricks! We laughed for an hour watching this guy do his stuff. When Brother Canada got back with his girlfriend, he introduced her to us and we all shook her hand, but on the very first shake, she goes in to kiss Elder Garcia (He is the Philippeano in the picture). We were all saying, "NONONONONONO!" Man it was so funny!
Now, the story about those dogs. Brother Canada's dad was walking the dogs one day and out of no where, this Pit Bull came through a gate and started charging Brother Canada's dogs. These two dogs are HUGE! One is a full bread Rottweiler and the other is a Rottweiler mix. He takes them on a 5 mile run and only feeds them meat. They are just big bricks of muscle. When the Pit Bull charged at them the Rottweiler juped out and bit the Pit Bull on the mouth before it could bite anyone. Then the Rottweiler mix clamped down on the Pit Bull's neck. Brother Canada's dad grabbed the dogs and threw them against the fence. Because the dogs are super obedient, they didn't move.
Well, now my less that I learned this week that has changed me. The monthly focus here in the NJMM is prayer. I have been studying and working with that. In Gospel Principles class yesterday, a man asked this question, "How can I grow my relationship with God when I don't have time?" The first thing that popped into my mind was, "make time." and as I pondered on that a little bit, I realized something really cool. God can't just say POOF, here is a relationship with me. If we want a relationship with anyone in the world what do we do? We talk with them, we spend time with them! It is the same thing with Heavenly Father. If we want to have him with us and actually feel like he is our Heavenly Father, we need to treat him the same way we treat our earthly parents (unless you are disobedient and disrespectful. If you treat God that way, you will get stuck with lightening) Guys, you wanna feel Him with you? You wanna feel his comfort? Here is three easy steps to do so, 1) Go to church. 2) Pray. 3) Read your scriptures. Each of which require you to give Him time. Pray with sincerity and love. Attend churc to take the sacrament worthily and Read, seeking His spirit.
I love you guys, keep up the good work!
Elder Rodeback
Monday, May 6, 2013
May 6, 2013
Good morning people of the West!
It has been a glorious week out here in the NEW-ARK! We had transfers last week and guess what???? Elder Thatcher and I are going three rounds! Woooo Wooooo! On top of that President Jeppson asked me to train a new missionary so Elder McEwan stepped up and is THE Italian Stallion! The three us of have been pounding pavement, working hard and we were fortunate to see Brother Echevarria get baptized yesterday. We have been working super hard and it has been amazing. It was hilarious because Brother Echevarria chose Israel Israel God is Calling, as the opening hymn because it was on the movie Blazing Saddles! When I heard that I about died cause I was laughing so hard. Man, Elder Thatcher and I have had some amazing times. We didn't get off on the right foot, but we have become really good friends and we are super stoked to welcome Elder McEwan into the dream team. He is a Visa waiter going to Brazil, but we don't hold that against him. ;) J/K He speaks Portuguese very well.
I have been struggling a little bit the past couple of weeks. My body just felt trashed and I felt like I was losing a battle with Satan. I felt like I had been fighting his spirit destroying arrows for so long that my defenses were starting to weaken. I had no idea what to do. I would get down to say my prayers and just have no idea what to say or what to ask. I would just get there and......nothing. Last week we had Zone Meeting and the answer to my prayers came. I realized that my prayers had been trash for the last couple of weeks. I realized that because of all the people I wanted to pray for and to help, that I wasn't able to really give my heart and soul to God anymore, and I missed that relationship that I had with my Heavenly Father. During that Zone Meeting, we were given the opportunity to go and offer up a heart felt prayer to Him. When I finished, I felt so bad that I had lost something so precious to me. It was then that I vowed to Heavenly Father to never lose it again! This is what I wanted to share with all of you. It is only through prayer that we gain a relationship with our Heavenly Father and nothing should ever come in between that precious and sacred time to converse with Him. When I say converse, I mean it! If we give up our everything in a prayer, and just say everything, it is then that we are able to hear and feel this Godly messenger who brings us answers to all of our prayers.
I love you guys! Take it easy!
Elder Rodeback
Elder Thatcher, Elder Rodeback, Daniela Sartore, Elder McEwan
It has been a glorious week out here in the NEW-ARK! We had transfers last week and guess what???? Elder Thatcher and I are going three rounds! Woooo Wooooo! On top of that President Jeppson asked me to train a new missionary so Elder McEwan stepped up and is THE Italian Stallion! The three us of have been pounding pavement, working hard and we were fortunate to see Brother Echevarria get baptized yesterday. We have been working super hard and it has been amazing. It was hilarious because Brother Echevarria chose Israel Israel God is Calling, as the opening hymn because it was on the movie Blazing Saddles! When I heard that I about died cause I was laughing so hard. Man, Elder Thatcher and I have had some amazing times. We didn't get off on the right foot, but we have become really good friends and we are super stoked to welcome Elder McEwan into the dream team. He is a Visa waiter going to Brazil, but we don't hold that against him. ;) J/K He speaks Portuguese very well.
I have been struggling a little bit the past couple of weeks. My body just felt trashed and I felt like I was losing a battle with Satan. I felt like I had been fighting his spirit destroying arrows for so long that my defenses were starting to weaken. I had no idea what to do. I would get down to say my prayers and just have no idea what to say or what to ask. I would just get there and......nothing. Last week we had Zone Meeting and the answer to my prayers came. I realized that my prayers had been trash for the last couple of weeks. I realized that because of all the people I wanted to pray for and to help, that I wasn't able to really give my heart and soul to God anymore, and I missed that relationship that I had with my Heavenly Father. During that Zone Meeting, we were given the opportunity to go and offer up a heart felt prayer to Him. When I finished, I felt so bad that I had lost something so precious to me. It was then that I vowed to Heavenly Father to never lose it again! This is what I wanted to share with all of you. It is only through prayer that we gain a relationship with our Heavenly Father and nothing should ever come in between that precious and sacred time to converse with Him. When I say converse, I mean it! If we give up our everything in a prayer, and just say everything, it is then that we are able to hear and feel this Godly messenger who brings us answers to all of our prayers.
I love you guys! Take it easy!
Elder Rodeback
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