Heavenly Father... send us a miracle in our area

Hello family!! 

So this week has been really good. We've continued trying to be better by being more motivated and more organized. It's been really nice to have those lists of less actives and potentials to draw from. We've organized them by town and we've been able to just spend a whole day in one area instead of driving back and forth for hours.

This week something pretty cool happened. So Saturday night I pleaded with Heavenly Father to send us a miracle in our area. We've been trying to work hard and improve our area, and I've really needed to see some proof that our work is paying off. So the next day, we went to church and guess who we saw walk in....Darwin!! When we had talked to him on Monday, he had said that the only reason he came to church was that his dad wanted to come but didn't want to come alone, so he made him come. But this time he came all by himself!! And guess what...he brought his girlfriend! It was so neat!!

It was a little frustrating, though, because as soon as he walked in with his girlfriend, the sisters like attacked her almost haha. They were excited too, but I think they totally freaked her out because they were just hoarding her with questions. We set up a time to meet with him on Monday. That night the sisters then called her again to try and see her...and she got really nervous I think. Darwin called them right after hanging up with her and said that she got nervous and didn't really know what to say. He said that she was Catholic and was just there to support him. It was frustrating because the sisters did that. I know they were just trying to help, but it ended up being bad :/ it's okay though! Darwin came so that was so cool! It was what I needed.

Darwin juked us on Monday, but that's okay. Well just try and go over there again.

Well, other than that, I didn't have an incredibly different week. Just same 'ole same 'ole :) not that that's bad!! Everything is going really well. Me and Elder Prestwich are still doing well together :) he's great!!

I hope you all have an awesome week!!

-Elder Stafford

A picture of me on a rock...I felt like taking it, don't ask me why haha!

Driving selfie :) ...he doesn't like pictures even more than me haha!

Missionary Message from Elder Stafford

Elder Cade Stafford

20 hours ago

Looking for something a little better to base your family on? When it comes to something as important as your family (or domino towers), you HAVE to base it on the teachings of Christ. 

"...it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation...which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." -Helaman 5:12

Motivation...I give that mostly to the Lord

Hello everyone!!

This week has been great! I've been feeling a lot better personally
and am doing a lot better. It's been easier to become motivated, and I
give that mostly to The Lord. I've been praying for a lot of extra
help lately and it's definitely been working! We've been so blessed!!

This week we tried to knock out a lot of lookups. Lookups are going
over to a less active members home or a former/potential investigators
home. There's a big long list of people that we've never seen before,
so we went through our area book and organized everyone by the town
they live in, and then we set a few days aside to just look them all
up. We've had a few things come up that have kind of prevented us from
starting, but we figure that's just a barrier we gotta overcome! We
are excited to get to know who everyone is so that we can break down
who we should spend more time going to go see.

Joel is being a bum. He hasn't answered any of our calls/texts since
our last lesson with him like a month ago. The sisters gave him a call
last week and guess what? ......he picked up right away. He told them
that he would give us a call but he hasn't yet. It's super
frustrating. It can be slightly annoying to share a ward with sisters
sometimes. They're always running into people like Joel who say that
they want missionaries to come over merely because they think it's
going to be those nice, pretty girls. Then as soon as we show up, they
just kind of drop off the face of the map. It happens a lot with
men...as you could probably guess haha. But it's just one little
annoyance, having sisters is actually really good for the work. Women
investigators connect so much more easily to them, so they progress a
lot faster!

Ummmm.....so we did have a miracle happen! So last Sunday, a man and
his son who are family to a SUPER less active lady came to church!!
The father comes every few weeks, but I haven't seen the son here
since I've been here! He's like 19 or so and is really nice! So on
Monday we went over to go see the dad, but the son, Darwin, was there
instead! We didn't have to even ask him, and he was like "yeah let's
sit outside, have a seat". He's not super interested in the church
quite yet, but he's really friendly. We hope to work with both of
them. We think the way that both the father, Efrain, and Darwin will
join the church is just constantly being invited and exposed to the
church. It's going to be a long process, but we're willing to do it!

But yeah...so that was my week!! I figure if I just make my weeks
slowly get better and better, I'm gonna have some of the best weeks of
my life pretty soon! ;) well, I gotta go to transfers!! Me and Elder
Prestwich are staying together for another 6 weeks at least!! :) I
really like the kid. He's a good, kindhearted guy. He's still WAY
different than me. He's SO quiet. He opens up and acts fun and crazy
when were alone or in our apartment but other than that he's pretty
silent. I'm.....not that way :) haha I'm actually really proud of
myself and how I've developed to be able to talk with strangers and
still act like myself and be fun and crazy. I'm still pretty quiet in
large group setting...I'm just not a big group person. I don't think I
ever will be...but maybe! Haha I've gotten pretty close with a lot of
the members because of it. I don't know what it is, but all of the
little girls in the families just love me ;) I was at the Hippens last
night and their little girl Pip was like all over me. She kept putting
her face like super close to mine and telling me jokes and she'd
scoot her chair up close to me and lay her head on my arm every once
in awhile haha...it was soooo adorable :)

I gotta go though! I love you all so much! Keep praying for each
other. You're the best family ever :) and yes, you're ALL family!

Your goofy Elder,
Elder Stafford

The flickin' chicken. Elder Prestwich flicked it up on our cieling about 5 weeks ago and it's just stayed.  We haven't had the heart to take it down...he was hangin' on by a thread!!  We took him down and gave him to Elder Fuller as his parting gift :)

My district!!

Me with Elder Edmunds...my third companion

Me with Elder Fuller who is going home

Me at the Hippens!!  They are such an awesome family!  We had a party at their house yesterday to say goodbye to Elder Fuller and Sister Larson who are both leaving.

Missionary Message from Elder Stafford

Elder Cade Stafford

Yesterday

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalms 118:24

Every morning when we wake up, we have the choice to be happy or not. So make the right choice!

I Have The Power to Be Happy

Hey everyone!!!

So this email isn't going to be too terribly long. It's not that I
don't want to write you...I just don't have a whole lot to say. This
last week I was able to be interviewed by President Morgan for the
regular interviews and we had a good discussion about how I've been
feeling lately. He pretty much told me that Satan has all these tools
to get me to feel down...and I'm falling for every one of them!! I
need to just stop getting myself down!! I have the power to be happy.
I have the power to resist temptation. I have the power to feel the
Spirit in my life. I just need to use it!! :)
So that's what I'm going to try and do!! I know I'll slip up and feel
down on myself at some point...but when I wake up the next day, it's a
new day!!

This week was kinda rough when it comes to missionary work. SO many
people cancelled on us. It was so frustrating! But we've made a new
commitment to always be working, so guess what? We went tracting and
looked up less actives to fill in time! Haha that's kind of all we
have here in Newtown. We've tried to make it organized and everything
so it goes a lot quicker. It's been good. We figure if we knock on
doors and look up less actives all day SOMEONE will want us to come
back! ;)

Other than that there's not a whole lot of interesting things going
on. I hope you all have an awesome day!! Keep staying strong!! I love
you all so much! Pray for me please!! I'm praying for all of you!
Adios!

-Elder Stafford :)

This week was pretty rough...

Hello family!! (And yes, you're all family)

Alright...first things first. Thank you so much for my package!!!!!
Haha it was great!! :) :) just a tip, though, so you don't have to
send massive packages like that every time: don't worry about sending
me a lot of junk food. Trust me...I get SO much. I actually finally
finished off your Easter package a few weeks ago. I'm just not much of
a candy person at all...and so it just sits there and gets old. I will
accept moms baked goods, however...those I will never get tired of ;)

But anyways...so this week was pretty rough a lot of the time. Not
that the work isn't slowly getting better, and the ward isn't still
great...just having some personal issues with not feeling good enough.
It's hard for me to feel like I'm a better person than I was when I
woke up sometimes. I guess I'm just frustrated with how slow it is,
and how much work it takes for someone (including myself) to become
better. The Atonement is very real, and very eternal...it's just up to
us to access it. And that's the hardest part!
I guess that's probably good, though. It means I actually care about
wanting to repent...and that's the first step.

So this week was kind of a bugger just because Joel cancelled. He got
off work late and he said he'd rather do it another day. We told him
to text us a better day, but he never responded. He might just be
really busy. He's pretty good about answering when we call so well
probably call and try and set up something for Saturday.

Something really good did happen, though! We went back to look up
someone that we found tracting a couple weeks before, and as we walked
down the driveway, this man was walking out of his garage. He was
holding a big plate of uncooked hamburgers that he was about to put on
the grill, so he was a little busy, but he said we could come back
this Saturday. As we were walking away, he was like, "oh are you the
guys that gave us that little booklet (the Restoration pamphlet)?" And
we were like, "uh...yeah!" And he said, "yeah, we've been reading
it...it's very interesting!" ........................our mouths just
dropped. NO ONE reads the pamphlet!! That's a miracle!! :D

Me and Elder Prestwich are doing good. He's an awesome guy. He's
really started to come out of his mega thick, shy shell, and he's
funny!! I think he still thinks I, Elder Fuller, and Elder Sprunt are
crazy, though. We're pretty ridiculous still...like always. Oh
boy....you guys better be ready. I'm pretty sure that I've just gotten
weirder on the mission :)

Well, that was my week! Not super exciting. The best part is today!! I
just got out of the temple!!! It was incredible. I love the temple. I
think one of the best parts about going home, though, is that I can go
to the temple whenever. It's SUCH a hassle to go here in New York. So
many approvals, and so much time and money...and driving! Ugh I hate
driving. Our area is impossible to not drive in, so I always feel
trapped in the car. I just want to get out and feel like a missionary!

I love you all so much! You're all the best! Have an awesome week!! :)

-Elder Stafford :)

Play ball!!...and a new investigator!!

Hey mom! So I know you've been gone for a week but I'm probably not
going to be able to email back and forth today. We're going to....a
Yankees game!!! President Morgan got us all half priced tickets so the
whole mission almost is going!! We all have to wear our proselyting
clothes, still, so if you watch the game, you'll probably be able to
pick out a group of 275 missionaries dressed in church clothes ;) if
the camera pans over me I'll make sure and wave ;) anyways, I'll still
hopefully write a big long email about my awesome week but it probably
won't be til tonight. I love you! Have an awesome day!!

____________________________________________________________

Hey family!! Sorry it took so long to get this to you. I just haven't
had wifi until now so that's why you're getting it on Thursday. I
promise I'm not breaking any rules!

So this week was pretty awesome. Not a whole lot of exciting things
happened but it was still an overall, solid week. Right now we're at a
Yankees game and it's been super fun!! It's been a super long
game...super hot...super humid...but so much fun :) they did lose,
though...so that was a bummer.

Let's see, the most exciting thing that happened this week was that we
have an investigator finally!! So that Joel guy that I was talking
about last week, he's awesome!! We were able to meet with him on
Monday and he was so receptive!! He was like, "Well, God put me in the
path of you guys for a reason, and I can feel it, so I'm not going to
doubt anything that you say!.....that's like doubting God!!" Hahaha :)
we were like, "uh....YEAH!! :)"
We taught him a lot about the Book of Mormon and about prayer and he
was great!! He had already accepted to be baptized from the sisters,
but we gave him the invitation to be baptized on the 30th of
August...and he accepted!! :) we just gotta start planning a wedding
now...oh and I guess we'd better let him know that he's gotta get
married, too..

So yeah!! Ummm...last Thursday we had a really good meeting for just
the trainers and trainees. We talked a lot about faith and locking
truth in and locking Satan out. On Saturday we had a really awesome
day with one of the APs. One of them came down and wanted to hang with
us for the day. We went over to the Arends home (one of the super
great members in our ward) to help with some yard work (yes mom...I did
some yard work..) because they are having to move soon. After we did a
lot of spraying and pulling weeds, we had lunch, and then came out to
do some more hard work...but Sister Arend thought it'd be a good idea
to try and get us with some water balloons. Needless to say it turned
into an epic water fight. Haha We started breaking out the pots and
pans and were filling them with water and carrying them outside to get
each other! They wouldn't let us leave until we were all soaked.
So...not a whole lot more yard work got done... :)

Sorry that this email is so short. I thought that we would have more
time after the game to email but the last three innings took FOREVER
and we hit MAJOR traffic on the way home. An hour long drive turned
into a 2 1/2 hour one... I'm so glad we live in Idaho. The biggest
traffic jam we have there is when a cow decides it wants to walk
across the street... :)

I hope you all have an awesome week. I know that this Church is true!
There's no denying it...and I've found that the happiest I ever am and
the happiest others are is when they are keeping the commandments and
living the way that we should. It's interesting that almost all of the
people that fall away from the church or start going less active, do it
because they have trouble with a commandment(s). Oh, they'll tell you
that their faith is small and that they just "stopped believing in
Joseph Smith or whatever", but usually it's because they are
disappointed in themselves. I know that the Atonement makes everything
better. There isn't one sin that Christ didn't suffer for in that
Garden. There isn't one situation that He doesn't understand. Stopping
going to church or drawing away from God isn't going to remove any
guilt that we may feel. I know whenever I've felt far from God, the
natural man in me wants to hide and go away from Him...but it just
makes those feelings worse. I think the way that I've found out that
this Church is true and that Christ lived, and now lives, is through
repentance. The sweetness of repentance is unlike any amount of "fun"
this world has to offer. It may be more fun for me to go and play
games or go swimming with friends on Sunday, but no amount of fun will
make me actually happy. It's living the Gospel and sharing the Gospel
that makes me truly happy. And I hope all of you have been able to
experience that one way or another! And I know you have. Keep strong
and keep praying for me to be strong! I need it! I love you all. See
ya! :)

-Elder Stafford

YANKEE'S GAME!

These are all the pictures that we took at the game!! Everyone in it

are people in my district. The Elders are the ones that I live with
and the Sisters are also in my district. We're pretty ridiculous if ya
couldn't tell!