Mountains & Valleys

Elder Langford's Update: November 12, 2012

Hello everyone!

Whew ok I have almost zero time, all the time! So it’s time to write fast!

 So first off, we have this great young marine, who is just progressing like a jet, and is soaking everything in so well, just a solid investigator to the gospel! Hahaha and we were having a lesson with him, in a family in the ward’s house with their kids, and we pull out a scripture near the beginning where Nephi’s talking about faith to his brothers, and I ask him, “I’m sure you’ve read quite a bit about Laman and Lemuel so far?” and he said, “ oh yeah, Laman and Lemuel are *** holes” :) hahahahahahahaha! Oh man it shouldn’t be funny, but it really was! In front of the whole family! We were trying so hard not to laugh! He’s a great guy, and he’s going to be baptized on the 28^th, but, haha he’s got a marine’s mouth here and there… soooo funny.

We had a great miracle one day! We had this appointment scheduled for later in the day with a less active women who hadn’t been to church in over 20 years. She said that she felt she needed help, and that Satan was getting into her life. Elder Clegg and I really wanted to prepare for this lesson, so we did a little fast, and we really tried to stay focused and full of the spirit that day. When we got there, we had a perfect lesson with her. She spilled out a life story of all sorts of trials and tribulations that were tremendous and wide spread… we gave her some scriptures at the end, blessed her home, and gave her a blessing. It was such a powerful blessing given by the spirit… it was incredible how the connection was made between what she needed to hear, and how God wanted to tell her it. If we hadn’t  fasted, we wouldn’t have been able to have such a guided lesson for her. We sang her a hymn as well as we left, (me singing… and she still wants us to come back). She bonded with the members we took with us extremely well, and is getting great fellowship.... always a great reminder to see how much God loves all his children, and is always waiting for them to come back unto him, so that he can reward them with all the blessings he has waiting in store.

Ah don’t have too much time, but this week  has been a week of many mountains and valleys… we’ve had some high points, and some low points. I’m convinced that the mission field is probably best described, as a big, tall, mountain range… It takes so much work sometimes to get to the top of a peak, but when you’re at the top, it’s all worth it everytime. When you receive for even just a moment the perspective God has for the area and the people in it, and the role that you play in that process, every single hard day or moment seems to disappear, and only add to the joy of the feeling. But, it’s not just one mountain climbed and done, it’s a mountain range, meaning that you don’t always get to that point and stay, you have to climb up and down every second of every day. It’s a non-stop thing! It’s so key in those moments to remember what’s at the top, and that, there is a top of the mountain! There’s always hope, and a purpose to every steep area, and strenuous path we take as we climb! God knows what’s at the top, and he knows that there’s no point of getting to the top, unless we have the experience of scaling the slope, and working towards it. We’ve been on the peaks and the valleys of the mountains this week, and are staying positive and upbeat about everything! Wish I had more time, but Just a quick bare of the testimony that the whole range analogy applies to each one of us in every day lives! If you feel like the climb’s just ridiculous and pointless, give a call to the man at the top (God), and ask him for directions, and I know when you do, he’ll also remind you how great it is once you get to the top of your next mountain, so hang in there! I love you all sooo much! I’m eating my veggies and staying healthy! I pulled my arm out, but it’s feeling better! Hope no one’s seriously injured! ( if so let me know :) ) LOVE YOU!!!!  

Elder Langford

ldejjLlllllllLangLangford

"Little Drummer Elder"

November 5, 2012 

Hey everyone!  Crazy week! Some of this just got erased so I've got to be super quick! So we had a 'blitz' on Tuesday, which means the zone leaders come, and Elder Clegg and I switch up, and have to both make our separate plans, and back up plans! It was crazy! But it actually went really, really well! Tell you what though, they gave us quite the chastisement! Haha! They said we're doing great, but there's this and this and this... so we've been working on fixing around the edges! It's all about being confidently humble, and being willing to take criticism when it's offered so freely!

Then for Halloween, we went to a four hour meeting, with a two hour commute. Whoot! Whoot! After we got home though, we went to an investigator's house, and found out that he had literally nothing... he had nothing to feed both him and his mom... So right as we walked out, Elder Clegg and I had the same idea instantly. We have such a packed freezer with things we'll never really get to! So we bagged it, put it on his porch, and doorbell ditched him!! We came back the next day, and he said he had a miracle from God, and it had come at a perfect time! So awesome! We were both so glad, and so humbled to be able to be a tool in his hands like that!

We also had a really good lesson on the Plan of Salvation with the Rivera family. We've really gotten close to this family, and look forward to their baptism on the 17th :D It's such a blessing to see people change, and watching them really repent, and strive to live more as Christ. That's why I'm here!  Moments and lessons like that, make every single hard moment fade in the distance!!

Ohhhhhh baby!!! Dream came true this week! We taught a less active family and LOW AND BEHOLD there was a drum set in the main room!!!! After the lesson they wanted to hear if I could play, so I got to play for like a solid ten minutes! Man that was freaking awesome! That's my guilty pleasure of the week!! We're going back for dinner sometime, so perhaps we'll have to play a little bit more. Can't argue with that! HaHa tender mercy of the Lord!

One thing that has been awesome, is the relationship we have with the ward. When I first got to the area, the people were a little bit distant with the missionaries and didn't really know us too well. Now I can easily say that we're a big part of the ward, and work extremely close with them! We have a dinner basically every day this month at a member's house (here comes the weight), and sadly, now that I only have six weeks left here (I assume),  I'm starting to miss people! You really understand what it means to love the people on your mission when you experience it, and I can really see why people would come back to their mission areas... it's all about the people you're with, never the area!

Ahhhh man. It's just been a really great week overall. Miracles are happening left and right, and we're teaching more than we ever have! I can't wait to see what happens next, and I can't wait for the Rivera's baptism!

Oh another thing I forgot to mention, a less active we've been working with has had a MIGHTY change of heart! He's one of the most active people I know, and bore such a powerful testimony yesterday! Sooooo good :) I love so much to see people changing their lives and coming to Christ! People really can change! Never give up!

PS: The primary program's next week, and I couldn't be more excited! I love you allllllll so much!!!!!!!!!! I appreciate and try my best to put all your prayers to use!!!!! God bless you!  Love, Elder Langford

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! 

"I hope I don't get lead poisoning!" 

Update from Elder Langford, October 29, 2012

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Wooo! Very little time today! Long message to the madre! I’ll be quick!

Ok, so I’ve invented a spectacular lunch special, and it’s freakin awesome. So what it is, is ramen noodles (no flavor packet) mixed with some heated up frozen green beans, with some brussel sprouts or carrots, along with an egg scrambled and thrown in there! Then It’s topped off with a little bit of soy sauce, and a LOT of Siracha!!!!! (SUPER GOOD ASIAN HOT SAUCE!) It’s actually fairly healthy, gives me my nutrients, and is part of my attempt to continue to lose and not gain weight out here! So far so good standing strong at -7 since I’ve got here!

So miracle, we got referred to a less active, by the other ward’s elders, who just wanted to come back to church.  As we met with him, he told us to wait, because his friend was coming to hear the message as well! She was a non member (for now) and she really connected with the message! The spirit was so strong, and really did all the teaching! It was such a great lesson for both of them, and we’re looking forward to future lessons and meetings with them.

Also, we’ve had a few cases where my directionally impaired mind, takes us on ‘shortcuts’ to places. A couple times though, we have shown  up at exactly the right moment! Shows that the Lords works through our imperfections! Woooot!

 Ha, we did some crazy service! We moved like twelve 50 lb. buckets full of lead and copper for our investigator who’s handicapped a bit. He likes to melt lead. Hopefully I don’t get let poisoning. We also cleaned out his shed a bit, organized some stuff, and got fed the greasiest (but best tasting) bacon with Vermont maple syrup straight from the tree! Gooood stuff!

 We also had a ward Halloween party.   I wore an orange/black tie. That was my costume. We were in charge of a booth for the kids, where they had to make little airplanes, and throw them through a hula-hoop hanging from the ceiling! Turns out these were the hardest airplanes to put together! Haha! It was super fun and super chaotic, but we conquered and persevered, and our booth was the most popular. I probably helped 30 kids throw an airplane through a hula-hoop that day. Put it on the resume, and check it off the bucket list! 
 So last, church was sadly cancelled due to a ‘Hurricane Sandy’ with ’60 mile/hr winds’… that happened... somewhere else!! Sad because a lot of people who were making a lot of sacrifices to come for the first time, were not able to.  :(  Everything happens for a reason, and it’s all about safety! Just kinda blows… ha get it? Blows? Ho man XD so punny. Anyway it’s  been a great week, me and Elder Clegg are having a blast and doing great! We’re working our butts off and are seeing the fruits of our labors! We have a whole family of four who are really preparing for baptism, and are progressing rapidly! The husband  just got out of jail and smokes, but we’re making progress and leaping over the hurdles! The stumbling stones are being disintegrated! Ha! 0kay, out of time for today, I love you all sooooooooooo much and appreciate all of the prayers and thoughts! Know that you’re in mine as well, and that I love you!!!! A lot!  Elder Langford!

"HOORAH FOR ISREAL!!"  

ELDER JEFFREY LANGFORD'S WEEKLY UPDATE: OCTOBER 22, 2012

Hey everyone!  Blog time!

It’s been a fantastic week! Probably one of the most successful I’ve had in the mission field so far! We did a variety of things, and it’s been awesome!

One interesting tid bit, when I went on exchanges with the district leader, we talked all the way home about our area, what we were doing to improve even more, and how our unity as a companionship was going (Elder Clegg and I).  After we talked about it for a while, he started going off at how he thinks I should seriously consider going into marriage counseling… Haha I didn’t know what to think of that… what do you think?  Me a marriage counselor?  I’ve never considered that job before… Hmmm… interesting that he brought it up, and I gave it a little thought this week… I figure I should get into this whole marriage business myself before I start telling people how to do it.

Also, I found out that someone in my ward was really good friends and grew up with the Bracey family! Spread the message to them saying that Kevin Dick says hi! Crazy connections! The stars must be aligned and what not.

We had a crazy service opportunity! We helped a member clean out this shed outside his house… I have seriously never seen so many spiders, ants, cockroaches, crickets, and etc!!! Man I actually got a couple Goosebumps from that! Pleh… good thing we had a can of raid… we wiped out civilizations of infestation! Sooooo many bugs… Hollie’d be dead if she even saw it -_- A couple hours after that, we went over to help an investigator family with their pumpkins… they didn’t really think about the fact that pumpkins are veggies, and when left out in the sun for an extended period of time, will grow mold… In fact, about half of each of the pumpkins was covered in a delightsome smelling black, hairy, thick MOLD! Suuuuper nasty!!! So we cleaned those up, and shared a couple tips, such as carving your pumpkins a little later in the season… Haha please, for your own sakes as well, do not let your pumpkins grow afro molds… it’s not the style, and will ruin your appetite/Halloween.

Well, sadly time flies when you’re emailing on Preparation day! The shortest day of the week goes by quicker than a box of cereal! (that’s fast). I want to share a quick miracle before I have to write to "El Presidente" here. We met this family, where the mom was less active, and none of the family were members beside her. I guess they’ve had a little experience with the church here and there. We set up a time and were teaching about faith and how to increase it, and all of them, all the kids, the dad, and the mom were sooo excited! They want to do everything they can to achieve a more Christ centered home, and to create a foundation from the world. Truly inspiring! We got them rides to church, and sure enough they were able to come, and they all loved it! We met with them right after, and the parents said they wanted everyone to be baptized, and sealed in the temple as soon as possible! Can’t argue with those goals! We’ve made plans and set expectations for them to be able to reach those goals that they’ve set, and are really looking forward to seeing how this progresses  it was an amazing miracle this week, along with another one of our investigators finally being able to get out of the hospital after countless surgeries on his foot/getting five toes cut off. We’ve made plans with the ward to actually build him a wheelchair ramp for his house, so that he can access it through the wheelchair! It’s going to be spectacular! We’re really starting to see a lot of the benefits of really working with the ward closely, and continuing to strive for their trust in the missionaries!! Gotta cut it off now, but thank you all sooo much for being who you are and all you do where ever you are and what you’re doing! Hoorah for Israel! ( I want you to say it out loud when you read it… you know you want to anyway! I’ll even write it again)!  Hoorah for Israel!! Love you all!! Till next week!!!!!   Elder Langford

Elder Jeffrey Langford's Update:

 October 15, 2012

Hey everyone,

Alright!!! It’s time to write the blog! I have a lot of notes, so lets hope I can read them, and remember what they mean!

Elder Langford and Elder Clegg

First off I just want to say thank you for all the prayers I’ve received! They help me every single day, and lift me high enough to do this awesome work, so thank all of you who give a second for me every night, cause it means the world to me!

 So we have, well we had, (he disappeared), a huge pet spider right by our front door! He’d always catch huge bugs and slowly eat them. We named him ‘Shiblon’. It was sad to see him go. Also, crazy story… one of our investigators, the Spanish one, knows where we live because our ride to teach him dropped us off before dropping him off.  He decided to pop a visit to us… at four in the morning… we heard the doorbell and the knocking but didn’t really get up.  Then he called us and begged us to come see something for just a minute… so we got up, opened the door, and there he was, with a weight bench… He’s been asking for money from everyone in the ward, including us, and we just have to keep telling him we’re not allowed to give any away… So at four in the morning, he’d gotten a ride to our house, with the weight bench, to try and sell it to us for 20 bucks… When we told him repeatedly we couldn’t pay him, he just kind of left saying something in Spanish, and left the bench… so we don't know what to do with it.   Now we have a weight bench until he comes back to get it! Hahaha Crazy stories/people down here! We love them, and hope for the best!

We got new neighbors, and were helping them move in for a while. We talked to them about the church a bit, and they said they’d make us pie. So later that night, they brought over a hand made apple pie, and……………. I actually really like it! Super weird, don't know if it’ll ever happen again. Tender mercy right there. I’ve also become very attached and addicted to hot sauce and spicy things! I have three different hot sauces in the fridge now and I’m goin strong! This place is playing some serious tricks on my stomach…

Training, is going extraordinary! Elder Clegg is a hard worker, and he’s ready to go! He’s got so many new and revolutionary ideas storming in his brain, and he’s always ready to learn, and eager to take on the area! Training I’ve realized takes a lot of patience, humility, and LONG SUFFERING… jk more like short prospering! Because Elder Clegg and I get a long really well, and relate with a lot of things, we have really good unity, and I give him a lot of responsibility! He doesn’t hide behind his trainer at all, and loves all the opportunities to take a leap of faith, and so far, he hasn’t failed me yet! Haha in fact he’s probably almost as good as I am with directions already! But let’s be honest that surprises  probably no one.

Jeffrey still loves his cereal!! This was probably after fast Sunday!

 Also, I guess I should say this, the sister in charge of the packaging has said that ALL packages for Christmas need to be sent by DECEMBER 1st as PRIORITY MAIL! They also said, that just for packages, on the next transfer in a couple weeks, I can give out my address for only packages! I hope that makes sense… if not please refer to my mom J cause she probably ( I hope) understands! 

Sadly I must go here soon… :/ so much to talk about with like two seconds of reasonable writing time!! I’ll leave you with a really great miracle that I was able to be a part of this week. We have an investigator in the hospital, so we go meet with him here and there. One day as we were leaving and in the parking lot headed to our car, we saw two older looking ladies who were pretty sad looking! Our member who was giving us a ride said, “man, they look pretty sad..” When he said that and I looked at them again, I got this feeling that I really needed to go and talk to them! So at this point, they were almost to the hospital door, and we were in the parking lot pretty far out. So I told Elder Clegg we had to go talk to those people, and suddenly we turned around and headed for the hospital door! By the time we got in, they were making their way in the elevator, so we kinda walked fast and jumped inside the elevator,  We  just hit the highest floor there was , so we could be on there with them. I just asked how they were doing, and they said not too good, and that this was one of if not the last times they’d be able to see their dad, who was going through a fatal kidney problem of some sort. We got out of the elevator with them, and asked if we could share a scripture with them. We shared Alma 40, and gave them the promise of comfort and peace that they would be able to see their dad again someday, and that he’d be in a place far happier. We also asked if we could say a prayer with them for their father, and that was really helpful as well. It seemed like it really lifted them a bit higher than they were at the moment, and hopefully we’ll be able to get in touch with them when we call them back. To me I just felt walking back, that my purpose as a missionary, isn’t necessarily to fill the most numbers in or to teach and baptize as many people as possible, but that it is to invite others to come unto Christ, and to be a representative of Jesus Christ, and to do as he would do. I’m so thankful for the times that the Lord trusts me enough to be placed in a situation where I can help one of his children grow closer to Christ! Miracles happen every single day soooo many times! Anyone that doesn’t believe in miracles forgets that they are breathing! Look for and pray daily in thanks for all the miracles that happen in your life every single day, and pray that you’ll be placed with the  opportunity to serve someone else! I love you all sooo, soooo much!! Keep up all the great work that you do, and keep being the amazing examples you are to me! Elder Langford

 

Elder Langford's Weekly Update/General Conference Reaction:  October 8, 2012 

Hello Everyone,

Well bad news, I left my planner with all these great things to write at a member’s house on base last night… no bueno… Sadly that planner also had everything I wanted to write back! But obviously this crazy spin of events has put a lot of my time writing family today, so I don’t have too much time to write today anyways :/

First off, training’s been great! Again probably one of the hardest things that I’ve had to do in my whole life, but also one of the most rewarding! I got extremely lucky as well! My companion, Elder Clegg, from Eagle Mountain UT, is awesome! He came out of the MTC, and he’s ready to go and get to work! They’ve been stepping up their teaching down there, and sending out better and better missionaries every time!! He’s bold, and he’s ready to go out and get to work!  We’ve had a really diligent week and have done all we can to use the Lord’s time as wisely as possible!!  Man I had great things to share, but I guess this means I’ll have to squeeze two weeks into next week’s letter.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THE NEW MISSIONARY AGE RULES?!! Haha the sister missionaries were a little mad, saying “I could’ve been done already!” Haha, good stuff. But wow so that’s pretty crazy, and pretty relevant to me. I believe two things though. One being that it was very inspired and bold to drop the ages down. It’s sooo hard in that year when you’re getting ready to go, and a lot of good Young men fall in that scary area. Taking that gap out will produce much success and so many more worthy young men to come out and serve their God! Also the sisters!!! In an instant, I could no longer be the only one out here! That pretty much blew my brains right out of my mind! Crazy stuff!! But in fact, awesome. Number two, is the fact that I know that I was meant to leave at the time that I did. How things have worked out, the experiences I’ve had at college, the people that I’ve met and come to love, and the growth that I so needed before I left, have been so key to my success out here. I’m so grateful for how it’s all worked out and in that aspect have no regrets. It is odd to think though that at this very point, I already could be out for more than half of my mission… that’s a weird, weird, thought!!

Well, wish I had more time, but I do want to leave you with one thing, and that is an invitation to EVERYONE who is able to serve, to GO OUT AND DO IT!!!!! This is such an exciting time to be a missionary, and I feel we shouldn’t waste this privilege of time that the Lord has blessed us with!!  I love you all sooo much, and know that so many of you are going to be outstanding missionaries even sooner than later!!! Have a wonderful week! Be prepared for a huge blog of miracles, blessings, spiders, drugs, lost toes, cereal, and other awesome stuff next week! LOVE YOU!!! 

 Elder Langford

 

BIG NEWS FROM ELDER LANGFORD!

October 1, 2012 

Hello Everyone,
Ok so I don't have a lot of time, but wow I have a lot to say!!!  I'll do my best to get it all out on the table here...

 

We had a great FHE with a family in the ward, and we brought along a less active member with us.  He really liked it! Even though they had young kids, and they were in and out of the lesson, it really showed me the importance of the time, and to help families come closer, and learn more about our Savior. Awesome!

 

Also, one of our investigators got all of his toes cut off because of Gang-green.  Poor guy. He's been doing good though! Hopefully we'll get to see him this week!

 

I had another exchange taking over the area with another missionary for the day, and that went great! Real confidence booster!

 

We also had a really healthy dinner one night with peas, carrots, dairy free bread, RASPBERRYS :D, and cucumber tomato lasagna! Not too bad, felt full but not fat for once after the dinners here!

 

We've been talking to an investigator that's been solid, and she's a heavy smoker, but we'll see if she makes the decision to quit next week! It'll be a big lesson!

 

Haha, this is for Nate and Michael Freeman more than anyone, but look up James 4:14, and see what Kansas song pops in your head ;) Haha found that a couple days ago just reading over it.

We had dinner with the bishop on a Tuesday night, and I said the prayer to leave. For some reason, I don't know why, I said, "we;re grateful for this wonderful sabbath" hahaha we had a good laugh about that for a while... my bad! Prepare everyday for it! That's the message!

 

We had also the amazing experience of seeing someone offer up their very first vocal prayer. It was incredible, and he said he felt the difference. He said if he would learn more and know it better, he'd accept baptism! Great experience!

 

We were also talking to someone on their porch.  At first he was a little stand-offish, but he finally said it was just a hard time because his brother was  having surgery. He was about 50 as was his brother. I asked if we could offer a prayer for him with him, and he accepted. So we prayed, and then he said, "come sit down."  We had a great conversation with him and are meeting with him on Tuesday! Awesome experience! Great man, and a true seeker of.... Truth!!!

 

New Senior Companion!

Ha, Okay,  I've been kind of all over the place, and I would write more about them, but I don't have a lot of time!  PLUS... there's big news from transfers this week............. Hahaha so Friday night we got a call from the President, and first he said, "I need to talk to Elder Fowkes in private, then Elder Langford". I thought, holy crap, what does that mean?! So Elder Fowkes stepped out and talked, then he handed me the phone smiling all giddy and what not.  President Bernheisel said "Elder Langford! We'd like to extend a calling to you! We've called you to be a trainer this upcoming transfer!". I'M TRAINING A BRAND NEW MISSIONARY!!! I've only been out here 3 months, just barely finished mine, and now I'm taking over the area as senor companion, and training a new missionary at the same time!!! HOLY COW.... hahaha.  This is probably going to be one of the hardest, if not the hardest things I've done in my entire life so far... I'm training him from scratch, and I just came from scratch! It's like Emmalee teaching someone how to drive! ahhhhhhhhh! I'm way freaked out, but so excited at the same time! That's going to be such a crazy responsibility, and will require all of my love, patience, faith, hope, diligence, and everything else that I can muster! Literally this will be the hardest thing I've ever done, but I'm so grateful for the chance to grow exponentially from it, and am going to remain extremely positive through it!  Someones mission experience starts and is very centered on their time with me. I have a lot of trust on my hands with this, and am going to do my VERY best to train this newbie! Again he's going to teach me more than I could ever teach him, and I hope that I can do all I can to sufficiently prepare him for this!  My trainer was 14 months old! I'm 3!!!!!  So we'll see how that goes!!! I get to find out who he is on Tuesday, and then I'm taking him back!  On that same day, we have two lessons already planned, so he's getting his feet wet right away! I've been reading and pondering Moroni 8:16 about fearless love to do all I can to help him grow, and D& C  58, about being always anxiously engaged in a good cause, and never being compelled to do what's right, and never being slothful or an unwise servant... Keep me in your prayers and wish me luck!!! Haha this is gonna be CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like I'm having my first Kid... anyway Love you all soooo very much, and we'll all just see how this goes won't we? Haha ah man. Hope he doesn't die or something. I'd feel pretty bad.  
Love, Elder Langford