Dec 19, 2011 Letter

Merry Christmas!!!

It's an exciting time of year. The best time EVER to be a missionary. I love the spirit that you get to feel around this time of year especially. Everyone has a new glow about them. You can see that the light of christ is reawakened in people that have gone without it for pretty much the entire rest of the year. Somehow the love that is in the air just seems to be contagious. I was very happy just being at Wal-Mart this morning and getting some groceries. We each bought a bottle of Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice for Christmas Eve! We are going to have such a sweet week! The Tarvin's are amazing! Wow guys, there is a line in my patriarchal blessing that tells me if you work harder than you have ever worked "you will be able to search out the honest in heart, bear your testimony to those you find and it will be carried to their hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost.... They will bless YOU because YOU came."  That line as I was pondering upon it yesterday during church finally clicked for the first time. These people, staring clear back in West Chester almost 2 years ago have had more of an impact on my life then I have had on theirs. I am giving what I can, but truly I am indebted to them. They have helped me to find my Savior.. " A testimony is found in the bearing of it"  Being able to see how honest in heart they are, that they truly care about this whole life thing, that they honestly believe in their Savior Jesus Christ and that all they want to do is follow Him has made me look inward. I never asked myself what the purpose of life was, what happens after we die, how do we know who God is, does He love us? I never really even thought about those questions until I met these people. The fact that they cared enough to think about it helped me to think about it and realize how blessed I have been all along. I have had the truth and I took it for granted. Still do sometimes. All of the answers that have been given to me since primary, they have spent their whole life trying to find. Since I've been able to teach them the doctrines that I had been taught, I have come to find out along with them that these aren't just wishes, or popular ideas, these are eternal truths. Nothing is more valuable than knowing for yourself an eternal truth. When the fact that Jesus Christ was born in a manger in Bethlehem, that He lived a perfect life, that He suffered for us in Gethsemane, and was crucified at Golgotha, that He rose again on the morning of the third day, that in each one of His scars our names were imprinted somewhere, that He knows us personally and saw our faces when every odd was stacked against Him. that He ascended again to heaven, clothed in His immortal body, to retrieve His throne on the right hand of the Father. The same throne He descended from to appease the demands of justice on our behalf. When these eternal truths move from our heads to our hearts that is when we are converted and that is when we "become the children of Christ." I've seen the miracles that came after the trial of my faith. I believe it with all my heart and that makes this Christmas the most special one of all. It's hard to be away from you guys because I love you all so much that it kills me inside, but I know that one more Christmas is a small price to pay so that others can spend eternities with their families. Brooke was baptized by her father Kevin, (who was recently reactivated) He came home after 5 months on his mission and has been away from the church for about 20 years now. It was so awesome to see him come back and baptized his daughter! The Tarvins are just doing incredible. They have overcome it all. There is no way you woulda thought the first day we met them that they would be baptized so quickly, but it's gonna happen the 31st is set. They asked Elder Cannon and I to baptize one of them and one of the children each, but we had this idea to have one of us baptize Brother Tarvin, then to confirm him font side and give him the Aaronic Priesthood so he can baptize his wife and kids. I hope that is what ends up happening! Nothing would be cooler to see him baptize his kids. Also Scott got extremely sick this week (those darn trials of the adversary so we decided based on teaching purposes to combine his baptism with the Tarvins. Judy isn't getting baptized on the 24th. She told us again that it's going to happen soon, she just needs to do more study to feel 100 percent confident in her decision. Personally I feel she getting alotSmuin is our new comp. He is from vernal Ut and he is a STUD! I love this guy! Cracks me up, he has alot of energy, but he is actually normal for a change! Played Baseball, and Football in High School. Loves talking about College football, loves country music. Super easy to get along with, and he came pre-trained. He is skilled and loves the work so Im sure president just put him with us to give him a pre training to become a zone leader. We are gonna have super fun couple of transfers. I know that I will almost guaranteed finish these last 2 transfers with these same companions. Pres. Nilsen likes to leave missionaries in areas A LOOONG time. He also loves 6 month companionships, some have even gone 7 or 8 months if they are performing well together. Thanks to the blessings of the Lord and His tender mercies Elder Cannon and I have been leading the mission in baptisms ever since we got together and with all the people that are going to be baptized this upcoming transfer and the prospects we have for February Pres. Nilsen pretty much flat out told us he refused to break us up. We've had our rough patches, but all three of us get along great now so it should be great. Well family, I better get a going. Life is awesome. We got to give Elder Smuin his first hard core bashing experience with some Germans when we went tracting for the first time with him on Thursday. They invited us right in and were all smiles, then came the hammer and I knew it was coming, because the Spirit told me instantly when we walked in that they weren't sincere. Well we stayed for a bit anyways just to give him the experience but boy do these people drive me nuts sometimes. Telling us we've been brainwashed and they fear for our souls doctrines we teach contradict the bible. "The bible is the only authority we have in this world" it's a common phrase we hear alot out here. They said they were genuinly concerned for us and they hoped good people such as us would "free ourselves from the band of a cult" haha. It's crazy because all it does is strengthen my testimony and there were plenty of times i just gave them a grin and said. "With all do respect we are here to tell you this because we know it's true and we are messengers of our Savior and it is his will that we share the truth with you, and if you don't mind I will go ahead and let him stand as my judge and we suggest you do the same" Whether you are willing to accept it or not we have offered you truth and that is all we have in our power to do. Pretty intense for his first time. ha. Love it! Well fam I gotta get going! I love you all and can't wait to talk to you on Sunday! have a great week and enjoy the season! It's the best time of the year by far!

Elder Ingy

December 5 &13, 2011 Letters

Rob didn't have much time to write last week so I just posted these letters together.  I also just posted a letter that I missed from November.  Now I should be all caught up until he writes today! 
Dec. 5 Letter
Fam!!!

 

So we just had a really sweet experience this morning. We know a member who used to be an officer at the hamilton P.D. He just took us there this morning and gave us a tour and we got to take a mug shot and all of that. It was super hilarious. He said i looked the most natural at taking a mug shoot when i got my tough guy look on my face so that was a compliment somehow i guess. Ill tell you a crazy story to start off. I got to go down to Cincinnati. Westside, like the legitimate hood of all hoods on exchanges this week. We went to the second most dangerous neighborhood in all of Cincy. It was sweet. All projects. 99.9% african american. Well we were walking around looking for an investigator we had to get back in contact with and three big black guys that were all done up in their Krypt (blue bandanas) stopped us and asked us if we had some christmas money for them. We said no, because we really didnt have any cash on us. They said "Next time you guys come around here you better bring us some christmas presents." We just said alright and walked off and they just stared us down. Well we got in the car and drove right up next to the house we were looking for so we didn't have to walk back far after dark and the guys followed our car into the little neighbor hood and when we parked they all 3 started walking briskly towards us. We were kinda maybe a tiny bit scared at this point i'll admit ha. Well the investigator was about a 28 year old black girl with attitude and she saw what was happening and she came out of her house with a colt .45 in the front pocket of her jacket and walked right towards them and they scattered and we ran inside the house! We almost got jumped! How crazy is that!! My street cred just boosted by about ten thousand. We were on exchanges with the A.P.'s. The one I was with was named Elder Muir and he is alot like me. Same type of personality so we were both scared but at the same time had alot of adrenalin like it was something we were both always wanting to at least happen once on our missions. We even got outta there without getting punched which was an added bonus because I still have a good taste left in my mouth about the hood. "No blood, No Foul" right? Anyways that was a a little bit of news for you. Other news is scott sawyer is doing great. Eric Michaels (his Less active friend) is now officially reactivated and he is going to be getting the aaronic priesthood on sunday and then baptizing scott the following saturday. the 17th. The Tarvins are doing so good. They are getting SOOO much anti and it's scary, but they keep just ignoring it and moving forward. Brooke Tarvin actually got a phone call from a random excommunicated member of our church that lives out west who she doesn't even know that was trashing on us and said we are all "Helluva good Salesman" in her words. It was pretty cool that Sis Tarvin actually defended us and they all were upset that someone would say that about us because they know we believe what we teach and that we are sincere. I think the real reason they aren't on date yet for certain is because even though they know it is true they are dealing with some bad influences from Brooke's Mom. She really doesn't like that they are investigating as well as a lot of their friends and they are afraid they will lose their family and friends if they commit is what it all boils down too. They are very close though and don't be surprised to get an email that just says they are getting baptized on saturday out of nowhere because they are right on the brink of it. Judy is doing okay. She has been really really sick though. Her fellowshipper Bro and Sis Thompson had a tragedy. Sis thompson died after about 3 battles with cancer and that has been hard on Judy's progression in the gospel. She fasted yesterday for a firm confirmation that this is the path she needs to take and prayed about her date for the 24th. Please keep her and Mike in your prayers. We have just so many cool things going on. The Bishop of our ward, Bishop Foister has a brother that is totally inactive. He went on a mission and came home after 5 months and ever since just completely lost all drive to be apart of the church for the past 20 years. Well, we recently have started going over to his house and he has been coming back to church for the past month and we are now teaching his 2 daughters Autumn and Brooke. One is 8 and the other is 10 i believe and They both want to be baptized as well. They love the church everytime they have gotten to go and so it's amazing to see him being reactivated. Bishop Foister is really happy about it obviously. I think it has helped us build tons of extra trust with him. I really don't want to leave Hamilton. I love the people here and I feel like if I leave Ill have to start over in a new place where it's completely dead and I won't even have time to build trust with the ward. That is where all the success has come in my mission is really just gaining relationships with ward members and working hard on our own and then we find prepared people. In the first 3 months you are in an area there are miracles that can happen (the Cunninghams), but generally if that area is dead and your doubled in or something it takes a month or two just to build a foundation solid enough to have success. Im gonna lobby president to let me stay. We will see what happens. Either way ill try my best to do everything I can for either area im put in. We have zone leader council tomorrow so maybe we will figure out some stuff about transfers there. Hey well I hope everyone has a great christmas season. I hope everyone has a great week and Im glad to here about the free publicity the store is getting. That is great for the holidays and should really be a blessing. I love you all very much and am looking forward to talking with you soon! Be safe!

 

Love,

Elder ingy Dec. 13th letters
So yesterday was our christmas devotional and it was also our preparation day so we have literally no time to write this week, but I real quick wanted to say hello and just let you all know that I love you and that it's been a great week. Tarvins are set on date for the 31st for baptism. They came to us like we told ya they would and said they knew it was true and they were ready. Scott, and Kevin Foisters daughter Brooke get baptized this weekend and Judy set for the 24th. I don't know about transfers yet. Pray for me that all goes as planned. I love you all.
Love, Elder Ingy

Hey Fam real quick update while we have a spare minute today, just wanted to let you know that IM STAYING IN HAMILTON!!! WAHOO! Ill get to die here now im almost positive of that! Also some other crazy news to get to ya........ Elder Cannon and I are staying together for another transfer, Elder pearson is leaving, but guess what we are still going to be in a tripanionship because President called and asked us both to train a brand new missionary! Im gonna be a papa for the 4th time haha. This time I have a spouse helping me raise this one. lol. It's exciting, kind of frustrating to think that we are gonna have three again, but I think we have finally figured out how to really make this work! It should be a fun way to finish up these last 2 transfers. All of the baptisms the new missionary will get to be a part of this month and the ones we will have in the coming months. The lord is really blessing us. Im shooting for 20 baptisms in my 7 months in hamilton.  By the end of December we will be at 16 so I know we can do it with hard work and ample help from Heavenly Father and his ministering angels. That is the goal. Im gonna pray harder, work harder, and live more worthy of the lord's referals so we can see lots of amazing miracles to finish up. Love you! MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Elder INGY

November 21, 2011 Letter

Apparently I forgot to post this letter so sorry it's a little out of order.  I am really behind but I am working to get caught up again.

Hey Greatest Family EVER!

 

Im glad you got the video this morning! That is great. haha she started filming us last night at dinner and then she asked for your email to send it and i was like oh mom is going to love this! lol. So in the spirit of thanksgiving I want to share with you guys a little poem that I wrote yesterday while I was taking the sacrament. I was reflecting alot on my life and about (funny you bring this up today in your letter dad) the pre earth life and things that were said about it in my patriarchal blessing. I spent only about 15 minutes on this so it's nothing great, but it potrays the thoughts i have for my savior and I want you all to know how much I am grateful for him and for my heavenly father.

 

"WHAT IM MOST THANKFUL FOR"

 

His Mercy Extended to Pay my debt

My sins of the past the Father now forgets

There is nothing that I've done, which merits such grace

Yet for atleast one drop I know he saw my face

Why would he suffer for someone weak like me?

Please remove this cup was his only solemn plea

Still the will of Father was his truest pure desire

and with each and every stripe we all are lifted higher

The Devil, his angels, Damnation opposed

Despite the opposition to the occasion he arose

The Father's perfect plan pointed to this sacrifice

Oh my brother, lord, and savior, holy one, jesus christ

Though my sins be like scarlet, they may be white like wool

I will give place no more....For the enemy of my soul.

 

 

That is what I am most grateful for this thanksgiving season and because a prophet counciled us never to neglect the father I could also say without the father we would never have had a savior. So I am most grateful for loving heavenly parents. They allowed me to have the best earthly parents, and family that I could ever ask for. It's a blessing to be a missionary and know the gospel is true for myself. That knowledge is priceless, and it's the greatest gift I have ever been given. It's been a great week. Companionship problems are still a little rocky. I have tried to just do what I was doing last transfer and just accept that I am part of the problem and It's only a short period of time so there is no need to stress about it. He really is a great guy and a great missionary. He is having problems at home as well, his dad is really seriously sick and it's making him even more edgy and I think he just takes that out on me sometimes, but understandably enough. I would most likely be the same way. I am here to help him with his trials he is going through not make them worse so im trying my best to do that. The work is amazing! Carolyn and Noah were baptized saturday!!! I will send you a picture of it this week. It was a really great experience to see it! WoW! Noah was just beamin and Carolyn was too she came up to me after and said that she knew the lord sent me to her to help her overcome her addciton and she loved me for that. Nothing feels better in life than to here those words. Not even winning a state championship or scoring 40 points in a game could even come close. The Raiders Super Bowl is even on a complete lower level than that. The Tarvins are doing great! They are coming to the bishops tonight for family home evening and are very close to being baptized I can feel that for sure. Judy Rimroth is amazing! She said she knows the Book of Mormon is true and Jospeh Smith is a prophet and she accepted a baptismal date for Dec. 24 ( christmas eve obviously ha) We put it off in the future a little bit even though she is ready, because idealy we want her husband mike to be baptized with her and he hasn't gotten his answers that he is looking for from the spirit he says so we will keep working with him! hamilton is just a great area I couldn't be more blessed. The work is fun! That is the best part. Dylan coming out EAST!!! YAH!! That's so sweet. I wouldn't trade my stateside mission to the ohio for anything in the entire world! He will love it in New York. you baptize alot more out here than you would going foreign anyways. People are so prepared and what better place to preach the gospel than in the same places the prophet joseph preached. There is a special spirit in Ohio, New York, Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania. All of these places have so much church history and you know the prophets and apostels of the early church walked on these same grounds. God and Chirst were aware enough of new york that they appeared there together which you can't say that about anywhere else aside from the apostle stephen that is basically the only account we have of them both appearing. It must be a pretty sacred place. Man Im so happy for him! Best decision he will ever make and couldn't think of a sweeter place (besides Ohio) to go! lol. Congrats! Love ya dyl! Youre the man! So im running really low on time today, but I love you all so much. I got the letters and I loved them and Ma Im gonna try extra hard to get that stuff done. I just honestly have no time to do it on the computer so i will have to hand write it. If i don't get accepted till the fall so be it. It's in the hands of the lord anyhow. Ill be on the track that he feels will be most beneficial to me when im going to one of his schools. Ill try my best to get it back to you soon though k? I love you so much and thanks for all you do! Im happy that the family is growing so much and i think about how much of a blast it's gonna be to see my nephews and nieces and sisters and parents and cousins quite often. Almost enough to get me slightly trunky then i slap myself in the face and remember to finish strong and remember how important this work is.. Finally i just wanna send off by saying GO RAIDERS!!!! Life just couldn't get any better! HA! Yes. Love you all. Have a great week.

 

Elder Ingy

November 28, 2011 Letter

Family!!!

 

 

Sounds like everyone had an amazing thanksgiving! Im glad mom didn't really get ran over by a reindeer!!!! Don't worry Avers I woulda cried to if I woulda saw that on the tv! Your a champ! That must have been fun over at the G parents! Lots of cousins were still there like you said!! Im glad Dylan is excited about his mission call. I gotta say that you just can't really understand how great it is to go stateside until your out here. Sure you don't learn a language, but think how lucky I am... I can go back to my mission pretty often if I want to. It's almost like a second home out here. This place owns half of my heart so i don't wanna have to leave it and never come back. As far as Im concerned I was born in Cincinnatti. ha. This is where my life really began! I can't get over though how awesome it's gonna be to see all the little nieces and nephews here soon! Like you said though dad there is tons left for me to do. Rob was definently right before I left when he said as soon as you get down to about 2 transfers left it's a lot tougher to focus, but I feel great today, I feel ready to go out and see lots of sweet miracles and I don't think it will be a problem. Heck 3 months basically for the rest of my life! ha well that is until I go on a senior couple mission. Mom and Dad you should totally do it! It's the sweetest gig ever the way they have it set up! You don't go out and tract or do any of that either, it's more like office work almost like being a receptionist for the mission for you ma and for dad he would be put in charge of all the mission finances or the cars or apartments just things like that, but your always around awesome missionaries and get to hear all the miracles and be at zone conferences and all that good stuff. Plus you get to watch tv when your done for the day if you want! YES! Serve the Lord by day, ESPN by night! GREATEST THING EVER!!! ALRIGHT! Plus you get to choose where you go basically so you could go to like washington d.c. or florida, california, south carolina, new york, ohio, wherever you would want. Even australlia! Anyways I think im getting a little over anxious about that but just something you should think about. So what a great week! The Tarvins were at church again and are so close to baptism. They don't have a date, but they said they just need a little more time because they both want to finish the Book of Mormon all the way before they do it, They are already in Alma in like 2 weeks so should be soon! We recently reactivated a 17 year old named Eric Michaels. Hadnt been to church since he was a little kid, but we started teaching him and he has come the past 2 weeks. He loves it and he is tearing apart the Book of Mormon right now. He is so fired up he has starting talking to his friends and we are teaching one named Scott Sawyer who came to church yesterday and flat out said "I love it, I guess Im a mormon now" Then we had a lesson after church and he asked us if he could be baptized haha. Baptismal date December 17th!!! OH YEAH!!! The Coles, Cunninghams, Pat, and Kimmy are all doing awesome. All coming to church every week and the Cunninghams feed us dinner like 2 times a week! She is always making us crock pots full of food and sending them home with us! It's awesome! Im doing alot better with my weight this winter though. im doing lots of pushups and using the "bender ball" every morning and Im down to about 183 still. if i can set up shop right around 178 ill be feeling good. That'll mean i didn't gain any weight on the mission! We have been out just finding our butts off every day. Contacting lots of referals, tracting, seeing former investigators and trying to re light a spark, working with inactives and asking for referrals from them. We didn't have any success all week even though we were working hard and then Sunday came and Scott shows up to church! BADA BING BADA BOOM HE"S SWIMMIN WIT THA FISHES! That was so awesome! Found out Richie is still doing awesome! Comes every week! still 1st counselor in teacher's quorumn. He made the freshman basketball team at boone county high. I told him when he is a senior im gonna come back and watch one of his varsity games!  So guess what? For our Christmas Devo on December 12 guess who is coming? SHAWN BRADLEY IS IN THE HOUSE! all 7 feet 6 inches of him is coming to talk to us! How cool?  Pres, Nilsen and him are like best friends back home. Also P Nilly ( Pres. Nilsen) (little nickname I made up for him) is flying out Cafe Rio for the entire mission! HA! Sweet Pork Burritos and Salad will be in my belly come december 12th! It's gonna be great! Im super excited. The Lord has blessed me so much these past 2 years. Wow! This is just the icing on the cake. We are gonna go out this week and work our butts off. The Lord will lead us to a few more prepared people and it's gonna be epic! Hey family you have a great week alright. We are going downtown Cincy to get some pics and stuff again today. As far as gift cards go ma I was thinking Chilis for starters, That is the most important place. Also like subway is good. applebees. Pretty much anything you can think of they have our here where im at!  You guys are the best! Your gonna love the chirstmas card we make this year it's gonna be pretty funny. We had a great idea that some resources we have are gonna help us out with! Love you be safe. Ma Im getting on today and writing those essays and all that. I want to apply to BYU_I as well as BYU Provo for summer semester just to see what happens I really feel like i need to. See lindseys email i wrote for more details why. I think its the same application and you just click that you want to apply to both byu and byu i im pretty sure. Have an amazing week!

 

Elder Ingy